GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS CLOSE OUT 2022 WITH MATINEE NORTH OF THE BORDER
Dec 31, 2022TODAY'S GAME OVERVIEW
The red-hot Rochester Americans (15-9-1-1) look to extend their winning streak today as they close out the 2022 calendar year with a matinee north of the border against the first-place Toronto Marlies (19-8-1-1) at Coca-Cola Coliseum. Game time is slated for a 4:00 p.m. start and will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.
Today's matchup is the fourth between the two teams this season and second this month after the Amerks came back to take a 4-3 shootout win back on Dec. 10. The North Division foes will meet four more times this season with three of the four taking place in Rochester.
HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES SNAPSHOT
After going just 2-3-0-1 in the six-game series in 2021-22, the Amerks come into today's contest having recorded points in four of the last five meetings between the two teams. The Amerks have earned wins in three of the last five games in Toronto dating back to last season and over the last five years show a 9-5-0-0 record in Toronto compared to a 5-6-1-1 mark in Rochester.
Since the start of the 2016-17 season, Toronto and Rochester have each scored 113 goals but the Marlies have outshot the Amerks 1,144-1,116. There have been six shutouts since 2016-17 with four of the six coming in Toronto.
In the last 36 games against Toronto, the Amerks have scored two or more goals in 27 contests, which includes 11 games where they have produced five or more tallies. Coming into today’s matchup, the Amerks are 14-11-1-1 in their last 27 games against the Marlies spanning the last six seasons.
LAST TIME OUT
Michael Mersch broke a 3-3 deadlock with 6:04 remaining in the third period and the Amerks held off a late push a from the Belleville Senators in the closing minutes to claim a 5-3 win Friday at The Blue Cross Arena.
With his six straight two-point effort, Brandon Biro (1+1) has recorded a team-leading 16 points (6+9) in nine games in the month of December, while Linus Weissbach (0+2) and Mason Jobst (1+1) also logged multi-point outings. Brett Murray and rookie Aleksandr Kiskakov each found the back of the net to round out the scoring. Joseph Cecconi, Peter Tischke, Ethan Prow, and Anders Bjork all chipped in one assist apiece.
Goaltender Malcolm Subban (7-2-0) made his fifth straight start and ninth of the season. Over his last eight outings, the Toronto, Ontario native shows a 7-1-0 record, which includes a five-game winning streak, his longest since the 2015-16 campaign.
A DECEMBER TO REMEMBER FOR SUBBAN
After suffering a defeat in his season-debut, Subban has gone 7-1-0 since, including five straight wins dating back to a 4-3 shootout victory against the first-place Marlies on Dec. 10.
Subban had his arguably best performance of the season during a 75-save weekend in Rochester’s two-game sweep over the Charlotte Checkers. A night after stopping a regular-season career-high 45 saves, Subban was flawless in a 30-save shutout on Dec. 17, his first in the AHL since April 8, 2017, with the Providence Bruins.
Earlier this week, Subban picked up his 100th career win in the 5-4 overtime win over Utica.
WELL BALANCED OFFENSE
Brett Murray, one of four Amerks with at least 20 points on the season, is on pace to surpass the career-high 15 goals he scored in 2021-22 after recording his team-leading 12th of the season on Friday. The fourth-year pro comes into tonight with seven points (3+4) in his last four games and seven goals over his last 11 dating back to a two-goal effort against Providence on Nov. 23. He needs just two more points to reach 100 as an Amerk.
With another assist last night against Belleville, Lukas Rousek enters the weekend with eight goals and 13 assists while being one of four Amerks to appear in all 27 games. He's accounted for half of his eight goals this month alone with an impressive four goals in his last six games.
With 10 points (4+6) over his last 12 games, including a two-assist effort last night against Belleville, Linus Weissbach is six points back from the team-lead with 21 points (10+11) through 27 games. He, too, remains on pace to match his career-high of 16 goals from last season and has already established a new personal-best of three game-winning goals.
Despite being two of the youngest players in the AHL, rookie forwards Jiri Kulich (6+10) and Isak Rosen (3+12) remain among the team's scoring leaders. Kulich's 16 points tie him for 24th among all AHL rookies while Rosen's 12 assists are tied for 12th-most. Both players are representing their respective countries at the 2023 World Junior Championship. They each have three points through their first three games of the tournament while Kulich currently leads all Czechia players with three goals.
BIRO PILING UP THE POINTS
Despite missing six games due to injury, third-year forward Brandon Biro has blazed his way atop the team's scoring lead following an impressive run of six straight multi-point outings. He currently paces the Amerks in assists (18) and points (27) through 21 games and his six-game point streak is tied for the fourth-longest active streak in the AHL currently.
Dating back to last season, Biro has totaled 30 points (11+19) over his last 24 games and hasn't gone more than one game without a point over that span. More impressively, Biro has amassed 73 points (23+50) in 84 career games with the Amerks since joining Rochester for the 2020-21 campaign.
Since the start of the 2022 the calendar year, Biro has posted 19 multi-point outings in 50 games, totaling 56 points on 18 goals and 38 assists over that span. The Amerks are 12-5-1-1 when Biro records more than two points in a game and have outscored the opposition 78-64.
SCOUTING THE MARLIES
The Marlies come into the matchup leading the AHL's North Division with a 19-8-1-1 overall record. Toronto's 19 wins are tied for second-most in the league while its 40 points are second-most in the AHL. The Marlies are 7-5-0-1 at home compared to a 12-3-1-0 mark on the road.
Toronto captain and 10-year veteran Logan Shaw tops all Marlies skaters with 20 assists and 30 points through 29 games this season. He is tied for 11th in the AHL both those respective categories. Over his last 22 games since Nov. 2, Shaw has registered 25 points (9+16).
Forward Adam Gaudette leads all Marlies skaters with 12 goals while being tied for fifth on the team in points (19). Despite having gone five games without a goal, his longest stretch of the season, the former Hobey Baker Award winner has scored goals in four straight games twice this season.
SERIES NOTABLES
So far this season, the Amerks have used 13 different defensemen, which is third-most in the AHL behind Belleville, San Diego, Toronto and Cleveland. Eleven of the 13 have recorded at least one point while seven have scored. Ethan Prow is the only defenseman to appear in all 27 games this season and has skated in 97 of the 103 games dating back to the start of the 2021-22 campaign.
Of the 40 different players the Marlies have used this season, 31 have produced at least one point while 22 have scored. Toronto has dressed five different goaltenders, three of which have been rookies. They are the only team in the league to use five netminders and three first-year players.
In 22 of the last 31 meetings between the two teams dating back to the
2016-17 season, the team that scored first has gone on to come away with the victory. Additionally, in 20 of the last 23 meetings, the winning team has scored at least four goals dating back to the 2017-18 season.
Rochester Americans vs Toronto Marlies: Head To Head Stats
Summary
|
Description |
Result |
|
| Head to Head Record 2022-23 Regular Season | Rochester 2-1-0-0 | Toronto 1-1-0-1 |
| Head to Head Record 2021-22 Regular Season | Rochester 2-3-0-1 | Toronto 4-2-0-0 |
| Last 5 Years record between teams | Rochester 10-7-1-1 | Toronto 9-7-1-2 |
| Rochester vs. Toronto Last 5 Years record at Rochester | Rochester 4-3-1-1 | Toronto 5-3-0-1 |
| Rochester vs. Toronto Last 5 Years record at Toronto | Rochester 6-4-0-0 | Toronto 4-4-1-1 |
| Previous Meetings This Season | Rochester 4 @ Toronto 3 (Dec 10 2022) Final SO Rochester 1 @ Toronto 3 (Oct 15 2022) Final Toronto 2 @ Rochester 4 (Oct 14 2022) Final |
How the two teams match up
|
Toronto |
Rochester |
|
| Team Record | 19-8-1-1 -- 40 points | 16-9-1-1 -- 34 points |
| Division Ranking | 1st North | 2nd North |
| Conference Ranking | 3rd Eastern | 4th Eastern |
| League Ranking | 6th | 12th |
| Past 10 Games | 7-2-0-1 | 6-4-0-0 |
| Streak | 6-0-0-1 | 5-0-0-0 |
| Last Game | 4-2 W @ Belleville (Dec 28 2022) Final | 5-3 W vs Belleville (Dec 30 2022) Final |
| Home Record | 7-5-0-1 | 9-3-1-0 |
| Away Record | 12-3-1-0 | 7-6-0-1 |
| GF | 102 | 92 |
| GA | 89 | 90 |
| PP (Overall) | (34/120) 28.3% | (20/94) 21.3% |
| PP (Home) | (18/56) 32.1% | (17/52) 32.7% |
| PP (Away) | (16/64) 25.0% | (3/42) 7.1% |
| PK (Overall) | (24/119) 79.8% | (21/82) 74.4% |
| PK (Home) | (8/48) 83.3% | (9/38) 76.3% |
| PK (Away) | (16/71) 77.5% | (12/44) 72.7% |
| PP vs. Opp. | (5/13) 38.5% | (3/13) 23.1% |
| PK vs. Opp. | (3/13) 76.9% | (5/13) 61.5% |
| Leading Rookie | Abruzzese (8-11-19) | Kulich (6-10-16) |
| Most PIM | Hoefenmayer - 70 | Weissbach - 30 |
| Team PIM/GM | 14.1/Game | 9.5/Game |
| Leading Scorers | Shaw (10-20-30) | Biro (9-18-27) |
| Steeves (10-17-27) | Murray (12-10-22) | |
| Der-Arguchintsev (8-19-27) | Weissbach (10-11-21) | |
| Hoefenmayer (9-15-24) | Rousek (8-13-21) | |
| Gaudette (12-7-19) | Kulich (6-10-16) | |
| Last 5 Games | 4-2 W @ Belleville (Dec 28 2022) Final | 5-3 W vs Belleville (Dec 30 2022) Final |
| 3-2 W vs Belleville (Dec 26 2022) Final | 5-4 W vs Utica (Dec 28 2022) Final OT | |
| 5-2 W vs Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (Dec 20 2022) Final | 4-0 W @ Charlotte (Dec 17 2022) Final | |
| 6-5 W @ Milwaukee (Dec 17 2022) Final | 4-2 W @ Charlotte (Dec 16 2022) Final | |
| 4-3 W @ Rockford (Dec 16 2022) Final | 4-3 W @ Toronto (Dec 10 2022) Final SO | |
| Leading After 1st | 12-0-1-1 | 8-2-0-0 |
| Leading After 2nd | 15-0-1-1 | 11-1-1-0 |
| Tied After 1st | 5-6-0-0 | 4-3-1-1 |
| Tied After 2nd | 2-3-0-0 | 0-2-0-1 |
| Trailing After 1st | 2-2-0-0 | 4-4-0-0 |
| Trailing After 2nd | 2-5-0-0 | 5-6-0-0 |
| Out Shooting Opponents | 8-4-0-0 | 5-3-0-0 |
| Out Shot by Opponents | 10-4-1-1 | 11-4-1-1 |
| 1-Goal Games | 8-1-1-1 | 8-3-1-1 |
| 2-Goal Games | 5-4-0-0 | 5-1-0-0 |
| 3-Goal Games | 6-1-0-0 | 0-1-0-0 |
Rochester Americans
| # | Player | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Lukas Rousek | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 10 | Brandon Biro | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| 17 | Sean Malone | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| 18 | X Isak Rosen | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | -1 |
| 13 | Linus Weissbach | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 26 | Mason Jobst | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 81 | Brett Murray | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 27 | Chase Priskie | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 71 | Filip Cederqvist | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 25 | X Jiri Kulich | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 |
| 20 | Lawrence Pilut | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| 16 | Peter Tischke | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 43 | Matt Bartkowski | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 56 | X Kale Clague | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 4 | Jeremy Davies | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 52 | Mitch Eliot | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 51 | Aleksandr Kisakov | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 44 | Tyson Kozak | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 2 | X Oskari Laaksonen | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 1 | X Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | Michael Mersch | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | Kohen Olischefski | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 7 | Ethan Prow | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 47 | Malcolm Subban | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 45 | Brendan Warren | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| # | Player | GP | W | L | OT | MIN | GA | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | X Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 117:37 | 4 | 2.04 | 0.937 |
| 47 | Malcolm Subban | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 64:18 | 3 | 2.80 | 0.885 |
Toronto Marlies
| # | Player | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 46 | Alex Steeves | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 1 |
| 11 | Logan Shaw | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | -1 |
| 85 | Semyon Der-Arguchintsev | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | -1 |
| 74 | Bobby McMann | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 89 | X Nicholas Robertson | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | -1 |
| 22 | Max Ellis | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 71 | Adam Gaudette | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | Joseph Blandisi | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | -2 |
| 2 | Noel Hoefenmayer | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 23 | -1 |
| 81 | Mac Hollowell | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 29 | X Pontus Holmberg | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | Marshall Rifai | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| 76 | William Villeneuve | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| 95 | Mikhail Abramov | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 26 | Nick Abruzzese | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -4 |
| 28 | X Joey Anderson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 92 | Orrin Centazzo | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | Ryan Chyzowski | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 43 | Kyle Clifford | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 53 | X Curtis Douglas | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 1 | Dylan Ferguson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | Marc Johnstone | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 50 | Erik Källgren | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 84 | Mikko Kokkonen | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 82 | Filip Kral | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 98 | X Victor Mete | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | Tommy Miller | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 80 | Keith Petruzzelli | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | Matteo Pietroniro | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 90 | Graham Slaggert | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| # | Player | GP | W | L | OT | MIN | GA | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 80 | Keith Petruzzelli | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 60:00 | 1 | 1.00 | 0.962 |
| 50 | Erik Källgren | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 91:23 | 5 | 3.28 | 0.909 |
| 1 | Dylan Ferguson | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 29:45 | 2 | 4.03 | 0.714 |