Sun. roundup: Amerks stun Crunch

Sunday’s AHL boxscores

ROCHESTER 5, SYRACUSE 4
Mired in an 0-for-22 slump, Rochester’s power play struck for three goals in 52 seconds late in the third period, lifting the Americans to a 5-4 victory over Syracuse at the Blue Cross Arena on Sunday evening.

The Amerks, who had lost four in a row overall and seven of eight on home ice this season, took advantage of three quick Crunch penalties to get two goals from Evgeny Dadonov and one from Mike Kostka. Chris Taylor assisted on all three tallies.

Former Amerk defenseman Nathan Paetsch had two goals and an assist for the Crunch, who are now winless (0-4-0-1) in five straight games.

Rochester struck first and took a 1-0 lead at the 14:47 mark of the first period when P.J. Fenton poked home a rebound for his first goal in three games since joining the Americans. Syracuse answered just 14 seconds later on Maxime Macenauer’s second goal of the year.

The game remained 1-1 until the final minute of the second period, when Macenauer set up Paetsch for the Crunch’s first shorthanded goal of the season. Rochester has surrendered a league-high eight SHG on the year.

Kyle Palmieri scored early in the third period and Nicolas Deschamps recorded two assists as Syracuse built a 4-2 lead, but penalties to Josh Brittain (hooking) at 11:39, Matt Beleskey (slashing) at 12:03 and Brett Festerling (delay of game) at 12:25 gave the Amerks the chance to end their power-play drought.

The Crunch had a late power play of their own when Scott Timmins was called for holding at the 17:09 mark, but they could not convert.

Jacob Markstrom made 24 saves for Rochester; Jean-Philippe Levasseur finished with 33 stops for Syracuse.

HAMILTON 3, TORONTO 1
Gabriel Dumont broke a 1-1 tie with 1:08 left in regulation to send Hamilton to a 3-1 win over Toronto in a nationally televised contest at Ricoh Coliseum on Sunday afternoon.

The Bulldogs moved to 3-1-0-1 against the Marlies this season and are now 3-1-0-3 on the road in 2010-11.

After a scoreless first period, Max Pacioretty got Hamilton on the board first 31 seconds into the middle frame with his fourth goal in the last two games.

The lead held until rookie Brayden Irwin tied the score with 9:10 left in the third.

Dumont’s goal, his first since Oct. 22, was followed in the final seconds by an empty-netter from J.T. Wyman.

The game featured two of the AHL’s top goaltenders. Curtis Sanford (6-1-0, 1.56, .937) stopped 28 of 29 shots for his third straight win, while Jussi Rynnas (3-4-2, 1.87, .939) finished with 21 saves in defeat.

BRIDGEPORT 3, PORTLAND 0
Jon Sim scored twice and Kevin Poulin made 29 saves for his first professional shutout as Bridgeport defeated Portland, 3-0, at the Arena at Harbor Yard.

Sim’s goals were his sixth and seventh in seven AHL games this season, and both came on the power play.

For the second time in three games, Robin Figren gave the Sound Tigers a first-period lead, collecting a loose puck in the right faceoff circle and firing from on a sharp angle, sneaking the puck between Jhonas Enroth‘s pads.

At 12:14 of the second period, Sim deflected a Travis Hamonic shot from the point past Enroth to give Bridgeport a 2-0 lead, and then he hammered a rebound home with just 15.3 seconds remaining in the period to make the score 3-0.

Sim’s second of the night gave him seven goals for the season, tying him with the aforementioned Figren for the team lead.

Poulin improved to 5-2-0 this season with the win. Enroth, who joined the Pirates earlier in the day after a stint in Buffalo, made 33 saves in the loss.

PROVIDENCE 4, MANCHESTER 1
Three goals in the second period were the Manchester Monarchs’ demise as the Providence Bruins took Sunday’s contest, 4-1, at the Verizon Wireless Arena.

Jeremy Reich, Joe Colborne and Steven Kampfer scored in a span of 5:05 early in the second to break a 1-1 tie and send Providence to its sixth win in eight road games (6-1-1-0) this season.

Kampfer added two assists for a three-point performance and was also a plus-4 for the game. Blueline partner Jeff Penner was also a plus-4 with a goal.

Michael Hutchinson made 27 saves in the win for the Bruins, including a stop on a David Meckler penalty shot in the second period.

Oscar Moller had the only Monarchs goal as Manchester saw its four-game winning streak come to an end.

WORCESTER 4, SPRINGFIELD 3
The Worcester Sharks scored twice in the third period and handed Springfield a 4-3 setback at the DCU Center on Sunday.

Down 3-2, Dan DaSilva scored the game-tying goal at 8:47 of the final period, and the Sharks took their first lead of the night at 14:03 when Andrew Desjardins scored his third marker on the campaign.

The game started well for the Falcons as they generated some offense in the Worcester defensive zone. Springfield took the game’s first lead when Tomas Kubalik opened the scoring at 15:20 of the first period, his fourth goal in the last four games.

Later in the first period, the Sharks bit back on Kevin Henderson’s shorthanded goal at 16:58.

Steven Goertzen and Nick Tarnasky gave the Falcons a 3-1 lead early in the second period, but Sean Sullivan scored his fifth marker of the year at 3:05 of the second to start the Worcester comeback.

Alex Stalock earned the win for the Sharks, making 24 saves. Gustaf Wesslau stopped 26 of 30 shots for Springfield.

WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON 2, BINGHAMTON 1
Jesse Boulerice and Zach Sill both doubled their season’s offensive totals with a goal and an assist each as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton edged Binghamton, 2-1, at the Mohegan Sun Arena.

Boulerice and Sill, who both entered the game with 1-1-2 in 16 games played, combined first at the 9:40 mark of the first period. A Binghamton pass attempt deflected off Boulerice’s skate and went to Sill, whose wrister beat Robin Lehner to tie the game at 1-1.

Late in the second period, Sill returned the favor by working a pass to Boulerice, who found the net with what would be the game-winning goal.

Brad Thiessen improved to 9-1-0 on the season with 31 saves, allowing only an early Geoff Kinrade goal.

Robin Lehner made 19 stops for the Senators.

PEORIA 3, ROCKFORD 2 (SO)
Looking to snag an extra point before returning home from a five-game road swing, the Rockford IceHogs couldn’t sneak by the Peoria Rivermen in the shootout, falling 3-2 at Carver Arena on Sunday.

The IceHogs return home with a 1-3-0-1 record on a trip where they scored just six goals.

Nathan Oystrick gave Peoria a 1-0 first period lead. Oystrick followed up a Derek Nesbitt rebound and hammered his fourth goal of the season over the shoulder of Alec Richards at 9:54 of the opening frame.

In the second period Rockford tied the game at 1-1 moments after a power play expired. Nick Leddy found Jeremy Morin on the left wing and the rookie forward notched his team best sixth goal of the season, beating Jake Allen at 23 seconds.

The Rivermen responded with a power-play goal from David Spina, who was sprung on a breakaway from Ian Cole and beat Richards five hole at 3:57.

Brian Connelly later notched his first goal of the season to tie the game at 2-2. Connelly picked up a Rob Klinkhammer pass and snuck his first goal through traffic and past Allen at 9:44 of the middle frame.

After a scoreless overtime, the game went to a shootout that lasted six rounds. After Hugh Jessiman tied the shootout in round five for the IceHogs, Peoria won it when Oystrick blasted his chance past Richards in the sixth round.

Rockford racked up a season-high 41 shots on goal while holding Peoria to 25 shots. The IceHogs were held scoreless on the power play while allowing one power-play goal on five chances against.

CHICAGO 5, LAKE ERIE 2
Andre Deveaux had a hat trick to lead Chicago past Lake Erie, 5-2, at Allstate Arena on Sunday.

The Wolves, who did not score more than two goals in any contest during a seven-game losing streak, hung five on the board for the second straight day, both wins.

Deveaux ended a seven-game drought with his sixth, seventh and eighth goals of the season. Spencer Machacek and former Monster Darren Haydar also scored for Chicago, and Peter Mannino made 33 saves to improve to 3-3-0.

Mark Olver scored both Lake Erie goals as the Monsters saw a three-game winning streak come to an end. It was Olver’s second two-goal game in the last five days.

HERSHEY 4, HARTFORD 3
Hershey scored four second-period goals and held on for a 4-3 victory over Hartford in front of 10,799 fans at Giant Center on Sunday evening.

The Bears, coming off back-to-back losses to start the weekend, broke a scoreless tie with two quick goals early in the second period as Mathieu Perrault and former Wolf Pack defenseman Brian Fahey scored in the first 90 seconds of the frame to make it 2-0.

Mats Zuccarello cut the deficit in half with a power-play goal for Hartford, but Perreault netted his second of the night and Brian Willsie picked up his 10th of the season in the final minute of the period to give the Bears a 4-1 lead after 40 minutes.

Jared Nightingale and Dale Weise scored 79 seconds apart midway through the third period to bring Hartford back within a goal, but the Pack couldn’t get the equalizer and saw their modest two-game win streak snapped.

Semyon Varlamov turned aside 19 of 22 shots to get the win for Hershey. Cameron Talbot finished with 30 saves for the Wolf Pack.

HOUSTON 4, TEXAS 2
Jarod Palmer scored the winning goal with 1:39 remaining in the third period and Houston picked up its fourth win in five games, a 4-2 decision over Texas at the Toyota Center.

Palmer and former Stars forward Warren Peters had a goal and an assist each for the Aeros, who are 8-2-0-2 in their last 12 games overall and now have four straight victories at home.

Anton Khudobin, who allowed three goals on nine shots in a loss to Chicago on Saturday, made 31 saves to pick up the win.

Greg Rallo had a goal and an assist for Texas and Tyler Beskorowany, a second-round draft pick by Dallas in 2008, stopped 27 of 30 shots in his AHL debut.

OKLAHOMA CITY 5, MILWAUKEE 2
Ben Ondrus scored twice as Oklahoma City knocked off Milwaukee, 5-2, at the Cox Convention Center on Sunday.

Colin McDonald and Teemu Hartikainen scored on the power play for the Barons, Jeff Petry notched a shorthanded goal and Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers made 27 saves as Oklahoma City improved to 4-2-0-1 with one game remaining on an eight-game homestand.

Linus Klasen and Aaron Johnson scored for the Admirals, whose winless slide reached three games (0-2-0-1) on the heels of a five-game winning streak.

The teams meet again Tuesday in OKC.