GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS CARRY THREE-GAME WIN STREAK INTO NOVEMBER TONIGHT AGAINST CRUNCH
Nov 1, 2023
Amerks PR | @AmerksPR
TONIGHT'S GAME OVERVIEW
The Rochester Americans (5-1-1-0) turn the page to November tonight as they welcome the intrastate rival Syracuse Crunch (4-2-0-0) to The Blue Cross Arena for a 7:05 p.m. contest. The North Division showdown will be carried live on 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.
The Amerks and Crunch, who enter their 30th AHL season, will meet a total of 12 times during the 2023-24 regular season.
Tonight’s matchup is the third of 11 straight against North Division opponents for the Amerks and the first of three games between these two teams over Rochester’s next five games.
HEAD-TO-HEAD RESULTS AGAINST SYRACUSE
After earning wins in five of the first seven meetings with the Crunch last season, Rochester finished the campaign with a 6-3-2-1 record in 12 games.
The Amerks have scored at least one power-play goal in 22 of their 36 games (32-for-131) games against Syracuse since Seth Appert took over as head coach prior to the 2020-21 season. The team has registered multiple power-play tallies in seven games overall, including three games where they had three.
Tonight is the first matchup between the two teams since meeting in the North Division Semifinals of the Calder Cup Playoffs this past spring. Rochester came back to win the best-of-five series after being down 2-0 on its way to the Eastern Conference Finals.
LAST TIME OUT
The Amerks built a 4-1 lead in the second period before holding off the Utica Comets for a 5-4 victory Saturday at Adirondack Bank Center.
Brandon Biro (1+1), Mason Jobst (1+1), and Kale Clague (0+2) all turned in their second consecutive multi-point effort to lead the Amerks to their third straight win against three different opponents. Lukas Rousek (1+0), Michael Mersch (1+0), Jiri Kulich (1+0) and Ethan Prow (1+1) all scored one goal each.
Goaltender Michael Houser (2-1-0) made 14 saves in his third contest of the season while also earning his second win. Dating back to the start of last season, the veteran netminder shows a 5-2-0 record along with one shutout in seven appearances against the Comets.
STREAKING INTO NOVEMBER
The Amerks closed out the month of October with wins in three straight and five of their last six games, finishing the first month atop the AHL’s North Division with a 5-1-1-0 record.
By recording 11 points in the standings through the opening seven games of the season, Rochester is off to its best start in 14 years. The 2009-10 Amerks started 5-1-1-0 and ultimately jumped out to a 12-1-1-0 to start to the year, a run that included a franchise-best 11-game win streak.
The Amerks 11 points and five wins this season are good for second in the Eastern Conference. Rochester’s 33 goals scored are second-most in the AHL while its 32.0% success rate on the power-play remains the best in the Conference. The club is tied for most in the AHL with eight power-play goals and is only one of six teams without a home regulation loss.
DYNAMIC DUO: THE SEQUEL
Jiri Kulich and Isak Rosen both return for his second season in Rochester after putting up one of the most impressive and productive seasons as teenagers in the history of the American Hockey League during the 2022-23 campaign.
Through the first seven games of the season, Kulich is tied for ninth in overall scoring with nine points (6+3) while his six goals are tied for third. Additionally, he is one of 11 skaters in the league with a pair of game-winning goals. He shows seven goals and 10 points over his last nine games dating back to the 2023 Calder Cup Playoffs.
Rosen, meanwhile, is also tied for ninth with nine points (4+5) while his four goals are tied for 14th through seven games. Like Kulich, he is one of 11 skaters in the league with a pair of game-winning goals. Prior to Saturday’s contest, the Swedish forward began the season by owning the AHL’s longest active point streak by notching a point in each of his first six games.
The duo have combined for 111 points (48+53) in 142 regular season games.
YOUTH MOVEMENT CONTINUES IN ROCHESTER
Of the 28 players on Rochester’s current roster, half are Buffalo Sabres draft picks, including four first-round selections.
Isak Rosen (14th overall) and Jiri Kulich (28th overall) both return for their second seasons in Rochester as members of Buffalo’s first-round selections in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Kulich recorded 46 points (24+22) during his rookie campaign to be named to the inaugural AHL Top Prospects Team. He topped all Amerks in goals and finished eighth in the league in scoring amongst all rookies. Rosen ranked ninth on the team in points (37), recording 14 goals and 23 assists in 66 contests.
Ryan Johnson (1st round, 2019), Viktor Neuchev (3rd round, 2022), Olivier Nadeau (4th round, 2021), and Nikita Novikov (6th round, 2021) all began their North American professional careers after being selected by Buffalo. Zach Metsa, the captain of Quinnipiac’s 2023 national championship team, will make his regular season debut after he skated in 13 games during Rochester’s run to the Eastern Conference Finals this past spring.
Matt Savoie (1st round, 2022) Aleksandr Kisakov (2nd round, 2021), Brett Murray (4th round, 2019), Filip Cederqvist (5th round, 2019), Lukas Rousek (6th round, 2019), Linus Weissbach (7th round, 2017), Tyson Kozak (7th round, 2021) round out the Sabres NHL Draft picks.
ANOTHER FIRST-ROUNDER IN ROCHESTER
Last week, the Buffalo Sabres loaned rookie forward Matt Savoie to Rochester on a conditioning assignment. Savoie made his regular season debut on Wednesday after starting the campaign on the injured reserved.
Prior to joining the Amerks in Games 2 and 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals against Hershey this past May, the highly touted 19-year-old totaled 192 points (73+119) in 149 career games with the WHL’s Winnipeg Ice from 2019-23. He was named a WHL East First All-Star Team selection in 2022.
Savoie is the second member of Buffalo’s 2022 Draft class to appear in one game with the Amerks, joining Kulich, and the sixth first-rounder since the start of 2016 (Alexander Nylander, Casey Mittelstadt, Ryan Johnson, Jack Quinn, Isak Rosen, Jiri Kulich). With the exception of Nylander and Mittelstadt, all players began their professional careers in Rochester.
SERIES NOTABLES
Entering the week, Nikita Novikov leads all AHL rookie defensemen in assists (5) while Ryan Johnson is tied for fourth with three.
Amerks goaltender Dustin Tokarski spent the 2012-13 season with the Crunch, going 18-8-4 with a 2.46 goals-against average over 33 contests.
Tokarski rejoined the organization for his second stint. The netminder of 399 career AHL games went 1-1-0 during a brief two-game stint with Rochester as part of the COVID-shortnened 2020-21 campaign. He went 12-20-7 in 42 appearances with the Buffalo Sabres from 2021-23.
With his next game in the AHL, the two-time Calder Cup winner and AHL All-Star will become just the 18th goaltender in league history to play in 400 career games, a list that also includes former Amerks Bobby Perreault (512), Michael Leighton (507), Drew MacIntyre (440) and Ed Chadwick (417). The 34-year-old Tokarski comes into the 2023-24 season ranked 18th all-time in games played and remains the only active goaltender on the list.
Dating back to last season, 11 of Rochester’s previous 22 regular-season games have required overtime to determine a winner.
Rochester Americans vs Syracuse Crunch: Head To Head Stats
Summary
|
Description |
Result |
|
| Head to Head Record 2023-24 Regular Season | Rochester 0-0-0-0 | Syracuse 0-0-0-0 |
| Head to Head Record 2022-23 Regular Season | Rochester 6-3-2-1 | Syracuse 6-5-1-0 |
| Last 5 Years record between teams | Rochester 21-17-6-1 | Syracuse 24-15-5-1 |
| Rochester vs. Syracuse Last 5 Years record at Rochester | Rochester 8-8-5-1 | Syracuse 14-6-2-0 |
| Rochester vs. Syracuse Last 5 Years record at Syracuse | Rochester 13-9-1-0 | Syracuse 10-9-3-1 |
How the two teams match up
|
Syracuse |
Rochester |
|
| Team Record | 4-2-0-0 -- 8 points | 5-1-1-0 -- 11 points |
| Division Ranking | 3rd North | 1st North |
| Conference Ranking | 7th Eastern | 2nd Eastern |
| League Ranking | 13th | 5th |
| Past 10 Games | 4-2-0-0 | 5-1-1-0 |
| Streak | 1-0-0-0 | 3-0-0-0 |
| Last Game | 5-0 W vs Laval (Oct 28 2023) Final | 5-4 W @ Utica (Oct 28 2023) Final |
| Home Record | 2-1-0-0 | 2-0-1-0 |
| Away Record | 2-1-0-0 | 3-1-0-0 |
| GF | 22 | 33 |
| GA | 13 | 31 |
| PP (Overall) | (8/30) 26.7% | (8/25) 32.0% |
| PP (Home) | (4/15) 26.7% | (3/9) 33.3% |
| PP (Away) | (4/15) 26.7% | (5/16) 31.3% |
| PK (Overall) | (2/27) 92.6% | (10/31) 67.7% |
| PK (Home) | (1/12) 91.7% | (4/13) 69.2% |
| PK (Away) | (1/15) 93.3% | (6/18) 66.7% |
| PP vs. Opp. | (0/0) 0% | (0/0) 0% |
| PK vs. Opp. | (0/0) 0% | (0/0) 0% |
| Leading Rookie | Crozier (1-2-3) | Novikov (0-5-5) |
| Most PIM | Element - 21 | Cecconi - 26 |
| Team PIM/GM | 15.2/Game | 14.6/Game |
| Leading Scorers | Robert (5-3-8) | Kulich (6-3-9) |
| Chaffee (1-6-7) | Rosen (4-5-9) | |
| Goncalves (0-5-5) | Jobst (4-3-7) | |
| Walcott (3-1-4) | Davies (2-5-7) | |
| Edmonds (2-2-4) | Clague (1-6-7) | |
| Last 5 Games | 5-0 W vs Laval (Oct 28 2023) Final | 5-4 W @ Utica (Oct 28 2023) Final |
| 4-2 L vs Utica (Oct 27 2023) Final | 7-4 W vs Laval (Oct 27 2023) Final | |
| 4-2 L @ Cleveland (Oct 21 2023) Final | 4-3 W vs Charlotte (Oct 25 2023) Final | |
| 5-0 W @ Cleveland (Oct 20 2023) Final | 8-4 L @ Laval (Oct 20 2023) Final | |
| 4-2 W vs Bridgeport (Oct 14 2023) Final | 5-4 W @ Laval (Oct 18 2023) Final OT | |
| Leading After 1st | 4-0-0-0 | 3-0-0-0 |
| Leading After 2nd | 3-0-0-0 | 3-0-0-0 |
| Tied After 1st | 0-0-0-0 | 0-0-0-0 |
| Tied After 2nd | 1-0-0-0 | 0-0-1-0 |
| Trailing After 1st | 0-2-0-0 | 2-1-1-0 |
| Trailing After 2nd | 0-2-0-0 | 2-1-0-0 |
| Out Shooting Opponents | 2-2-0-0 | 3-1-0-0 |
| Out Shot by Opponents | 2-0-0-0 | 2-0-1-0 |
| 1-Goal Games | 1-0-0-0 | 4-0-1-0 |
| 2-Goal Games | 1-2-0-0 | 0-0-0-0 |
| 3-Goal Games | 0-0-0-0 | 1-0-0-0 |