The Rochester Americans battled back from a four-goal deficit, but fell just short to the Cleveland Monsters on Friday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
JJ Peterka recored a hat trick in Rochester’s 5-4 loss. He scored one in the first and two in the second. Josh Teves scored the other goal for the Amerks.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 29-of-34 shots in the loss.
Robbie Payne tallied twice for Cleveland while Cole Cassels, Jake Christiansen and Cole Fonstad also netted goals.
Cam Johnson turned aside 38-of-42 shots to earn the victory.
Rochester finished 0-for-4 on the power play and 1-for-3 on the penalty kill.
The two teams will square off again on Saturday night at 7 p.m.
Kyle leads sports coverage and hosts the Concrete Jungle podcast. Have a lead or question? Send it to [email protected].