Rochester Americans kept the top spot in the AHL standings with a 2:0 win over Syracuse Crunch on Friday night. The host side, already sitting first after three games, extended their advantage with a clean sheet against the visitors who had been fifth in the table. By then we'd looked at the numbers — three games, two wins for Rochester, one win for Syracuse — but the result told a simpler story.
We'd given Syracuse as the slight favourite at 46 per cent confidence, but the match didn't go that way. The hosts let the game flow in their own rhythm, while the away side never really got over the line. One mistake ends it in this league, and Syracuse found themselves chasing rather than directing play.
Rochester come in off mixed recent results — a 2:3 loss to Belleville Senators followed by a 3:1 victory over Toronto Marlies — but this performance carried the side back to winning ways. Syracuse, meanwhile, had been inconsistent: a 1:6 hammering against Laval Rocket followed a 2:0 win over the same opponents just days earlier. The history between them adds an edge, but tonight the visitors were left exposed.
The Americans now sit top with two wins from three, while the Crunch remain fifth with just one victory. The gap between them in the standings hasn't shifted dramatically, but momentum tends to accumulate quickly when teams start stringing results together. Rochester have shown they can control games against divisional rivals.
