GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS CLOSE OUT ATLANTIC DIVISION SWING TONIGHT IN ALLENTOWN
Nov 26, 2022TONIGHT'S GAME OVERVIEW
The Rochester Americans (10-5-1-1) close out their three-game trek through the Atlantic Division tonight as they travel to Allentown to meet up with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (7-6-1-1) at PPL Center. Game time is slated for a 7:00 p.m. start and will be carried on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.
After tonight's contest, the two teams remain idle until after the New Year when Rochester welcomes the Phantoms to The Blue Cross Arena for the only time this season. The contest on Jan. 6 will begin at 7:05 p.m. and will be sandwiched in-between a pair of North Divisional games.
HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES SNAPSHOT
Tonight’s contest is the first against the Phantoms in Allentown since the Amerks recorded a 4-3 shootout win back on Dec. 18, 2021. The road win was Rochester's first-ever in Allentown.
With Rochester claiming 5-4 overtime win and 4-3 shootout victory over the Phantoms last season, the Amerks show a 4-0-1-0 record against Lehigh Valley over the last five years on home ice as well as a 1-2-0-1 mark in Allentown in that same time frame.
Rochester has earned at least one point in seven of the last nine games against Lehigh Valley dating back to Dec. 30, 2016, going 5-2-1-1 over that span. In each of the nine contests over that stretch, the winning team has scored at least three goals.
Both teams own nearly identical records when leading after the second period and each has at least five when leading after the first 40 minutes.
LAST TIME OUT
Forward Sean Malone (3+1) recorded his first career hat trick and Brett Murray (1+2) capped off a thrilling high-scoring affair 2:01 into overtime to lead the Rochester Americans (10-5-1-1) to a 6-5 win over the visiting Bridgeport Islanders (10-3-4-0) Friday night at The Blue Cross Arena.
The Amerks have earned at least one point in eight of their first nine home contests so far this season, owning a 7-1-1-0 mark over that span.
Along with Malone, who also added an assist for first four-point night, and Murray recording multi-point games, Ethan Prow (0+2), Isak Rosen (0+2), Michael Mersch (0+2), and Kale Clague (1+1) all produced a pair of points. Mersch appeared in his 100th game as an Amerk. Jiri Kulich (1+0) rounded out the scoring in the win while Linus Weissbach and Anders Bjork each notched an assist.
Goaltender Malcolm Subban earned his first win as an Amerk to even his record to 1-1-0 on the season. The netminder’s last win in the AHL came on Dec. 1, 2021, as a member of the Rockford IceHogs.
POWER-PLAY PROFIENCY
Coming into tonight, 15 of the Amerks' 59 goals this season have come on the power-play, which are tied for ninth-most among any team in the AHL. By going 15-for-60 while on the man-advantage, Rochester is tied for fourth in the league with a 25.0% conversion rate.
The Amerks' 13 power-play goals at home are fourth-most in the league this season, going for 13-for-37 through their first nine home matchups.
YOUTH MOVEMENT LEADING ROCHESTER
On the heels of his fourth multi-point effort of the season on Wednesday, and an assist last night, second-year forward Linus Weissbach currently paces all Rochester skaters with 14 points and is one back of the team-lead with seven goals through 17 games. He comes into the weekend with seven points over his last 11 appearances, including goals in three straight games over that span. His seven goals are currently six off the league-lead.
Brett Murray scored twice in a span of 1:51 in the third period Wednesday night before capping off last night's 6-5 overtime win with his third point (1+2) of the night. It was Murray’s third multi-point outing in four games and Wednesday was his first multi-goal effort since Nov. 19 of last season when he scored twice in a 5-4 win over the Phantoms. Murray is within half of his career-high 15 goals he scored last season in only 17 games in 2022-23.
First-year forward Isak Rosen notched two assists on Friday, including the primary helper on Murray’s overtime game-winner. Following last night’s performance, he’s tied for fourth amongst all AHL rookies with a team-high 10 assists and tied for seventh in points (13).
Lukas Rousek and Brandon Biro remain at a close fourth with 12 points each. Rousek began the season with four goals and seven assists in the first 11 games but snapped a four-game scoreless drought as he picked up an assist to spark Rochester's overtime win on Wednesday. Despite missing the last five games, Biro has nine assists through 12 games.
HOME-COOKING FOR THE AMERKS
The Amerks have earned at least one point in eight of their first nine home contests so far this season, boasting a 7-1-1-0 mark within the friendly confines of The Blue Cross Arena. Rochester opened the season with five straight home wins, marking the team's best start since 2006-07.
Five of the seven victories this season in the Flower City have come when the team trailed entering the final 20 minutes of regulation while all seven wins have come by way of four or more goals. Rochester has outscored its opposition 18-8 after the start of the third period and has outshot the visitors 88-74.
Rochester is one of only three teams to have just one regulation loss at home this season, joining Hershey and Hartford in that regard.
SCOUTING THE PHANTOMS
Lehigh Valley, returning home from a recent four-game road swing, comes into the matchup with only seven wins through its first 15 games so far on the campaign. Despite dropping their last two, the Phantoms opened the month of November with five straight wins, with all but one being a one-goal game.
The Phantoms are fueled by forward Tyson Foerster (4+7) and defenseman Cam York (3+8), both of whom have 11 points through 15 games. Forester, who shares the team-lead in shots (38), has produced four points (2+2) over his last four outings. York, meanwhile, has notched seven points (2+5) through eight games in November and leads the team with eight assists.
Rookie goaltender Samuel Ersson has handled a majority of the goaltending duties this season for the Phantoms as he has appeared in a 10 games. The Falun, Sweden, native began the campaign winless through his first five appearances but has since posted a 5-0-0 mark.
SERIES NOTABLES
So far this season, the Amerks have used 12 different defensemen, which is second-most in the AHL behind Toronto. 10 of the 12 have recorded at least one point while five have scored. Ethan Prow is the only defenseman to appear in all 17 games this season and has skated in 87 of the 93 games dating back to the start of the 2021-22 campaign.
Lehigh Valley captain and five-time AHL All-Star Cal O’Reilly spent two seasons with the Amerks, recording 71 points on 15 goals and 56 assists in 94 games from 2015 to 2017. O’Reilly served as Rochester’s captain during both seasons and represented the Amerks at the 2016 AHL All-Star Classic.
Phantoms forward Alex Kile spent parts of two seasons in the Amerks organization, recording two goals and one assist in 11 games from 2016-18.
Lehigh Valley goaltender Pat Nagle posted an 0-2-0 record in two appearances with Rochester during the 2014-15 campaign.
Both Rochester and Lehigh Valley have played in five games decided beyond regulation, including the previous game for each team. The Amerks are 3-2 in overtime this season while the Phantoms are also 3-2.
Lehigh Valley Phantoms vs Rochester Americans: Head To Head Stats
Summary
|
Description |
Result |
|
| Head to Head Record 2022-23 Regular Season | Lehigh Valley 0-0-0-0 | Rochester 0-0-0-0 |
| Head to Head Record 2021-22 Regular Season | Lehigh Valley 0-0-0-2 | Rochester 2-0-0-0 |
| Last 5 Years record between teams | Lehigh Valley 3-0-1-2 | Rochester 3-1-1-1 |
| Lehigh Valley vs. Rochester Last 5 Years record at Lehigh Valley | Lehigh Valley 2-0-0-1 | Rochester 1-1-0-1 |
| Lehigh Valley vs. Rochester Last 5 Years record at Rochester | Lehigh Valley 1-0-1-1 | Rochester 2-0-1-0 |
How the two teams match up
|
Rochester |
Lehigh Valley |
|
| Team Record | 10-5-1-1 -- 22 points | 7-6-1-1 -- 16 points |
| Division Ranking | 2nd North | 7th Atlantic |
| Conference Ranking | 6th Eastern | 11th Eastern |
| League Ranking | 8th | 24th |
| Past 10 Games | 6-2-1-1 | 5-4-0-1 |
| Streak | 3-0-0-0 | 0-1-0-1 |
| Last Game | 6-5 W vs Bridgeport (Nov 25 2022) Final OT | 3-2 L @ Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (Nov 25 2022) Final SO |
| Home Record | 7-1-1-0 | 3-2-1-0 |
| Away Record | 3-4-0-1 | 4-4-0-1 |
| GF | 59 | 40 |
| GA | 56 | 46 |
| PP (Overall) | (15/60) 25.0% | (11/59) 18.6% |
| PP (Home) | (13/37) 35.1% | (4/24) 16.7% |
| PP (Away) | (2/23) 8.7% | (7/35) 20.0% |
| PK (Overall) | (13/51) 74.5% | (22/68) 67.6% |
| PK (Home) | (7/30) 76.7% | (11/27) 59.3% |
| PK (Away) | (6/21) 71.4% | (11/41) 73.2% |
| PP vs. Opp. | (0/0) 0% | (0/0) 0% |
| PK vs. Opp. | (0/0) 0% | (0/0) 0% |
| Leading Rookie | Rosen (3-10-13) | Attard (4-5-9) |
| Most PIM | Weissbach - 24 | Wilson - 34 |
| Team PIM/GM | 8.4/Game | 15.1/Game |
| Leading Scorers | Weissbach (7-7-14) | Foerster (4-7-11) |
| Murray (8-5-13) | York (3-8-11) | |
| Rosen (3-10-13) | Attard (4-5-9) | |
| Rousek (4-8-12) | Desnoyers (6-2-8) | |
| Biro (3-9-12) | Wilson (3-5-8) | |
| Last 5 Games | 6-5 W vs Bridgeport (Nov 25 2022) Final OT | 3-2 L @ Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (Nov 25 2022) Final SO |
| 4-3 W vs Providence (Nov 23 2022) Final OT | 6-4 L @ Springfield (Nov 20 2022) Final | |
| 3-2 W @ Utica (Nov 19 2022) Final | 3-2 W @ Providence (Nov 19 2022) Final SO | |
| 3-2 L vs Utica (Nov 18 2022) Final | 4-2 W @ Providence (Nov 18 2022) Final | |
| 3-2 L @ Belleville (Nov 12 2022) Final SO | 3-2 W vs Laval (Nov 12 2022) Final | |
| Leading After 1st | 5-1-0-0 | 5-2-0-1 |
| Leading After 2nd | 6-1-1-0 | 5-0-1-1 |
| Tied After 1st | 2-2-1-1 | 1-1-1-0 |
| Tied After 2nd | 0-1-0-1 | 2-3-0-0 |
| Trailing After 1st | 3-2-0-0 | 1-3-0-0 |
| Trailing After 2nd | 4-3-0-0 | 0-3-0-0 |
| Out Shooting Opponents | 4-1-0-0 | 4-2-0-0 |
| Out Shot by Opponents | 6-2-1-1 | 3-4-1-1 |
| 1-Goal Games | 5-2-1-1 | 6-2-1-1 |
| 2-Goal Games | 3-1-0-0 | 1-2-0-0 |
| 3-Goal Games | 0-0-0-0 | 0-2-0-0 |