GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS CONCLUDE ROAD SWING TONIGHT IN HERSHEY
Dec 19, 2021TONIGHT'S GAME OVERVIEW
The Rochester Americans (14-8-0-0) put the finishing touches on their four-game road swing tonight at Giant Center when they take on Hershey Bears (17-7-2-1) in the final stop of their week-long trek through the Atlantic Division. The 5:00 p.m. matchup will be the second and final meeting between the AHL’s two oldest teams his season and will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.
Coming off last night’s 4-3 shootout win over Lehigh Valley, Rochester is 7-3-0-0 over its last 10 games dating back to Nov. 19 while the Bears have won three straight and boast a 6-4-0-0 mark over that same stretch.
HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES SNAPSHOT
Tonight’s contest is the first against the Bears in Hershey since the Amerks suffered a 4-1 loss back on Jan. 19, 2020. With Rochester’s 7-3 win over the Bears earlier this season, the Amerks have collected at least one point in five of their last 10 games against Hershey, going 4-5-1-0 dating back to the start of the 2016-17 campaign.
In each of the of the 11 previous matchups, the winning club has posted three or more goals. Coming into tonight’s 462nd all-time regular-season meeting between the two teams, Rochester is 191-216-53 lifetime against Hershey, which includes a 4-2-1-0 mark in the last five years.
VIEW FROM ROCHESTER
With five players performing at or near a point-per-game pace, the Amerks have the AHL’s second-best offense and are currently averaging just under four goals per game. Collectively, Rochester’s 85 goals this season are most in the North Division and rank fourth overall in the AHL.
The Amerks enter the weekend with four of the league’s top 20 point-getters in Jack Quinn, JJ Peterka, Sean Malone and Michael Mersch. Quinn led all AHL rookies in scoring for the second straight month and is currently sixth in the league in points (24) and goals (11) through 17 games this season
Peterka enters tonight with 14 points (3+11) over his last 17 games dating back to Oct. 30. With 19 points (4+15) on the season, he’s tied for the team lead in assists (15) with Peyton Krebs and is fourth on the team in scoring.
Coming off his league-leading 13th and 14th goals last night against Hershey, Mersch is on pace to reach the 15-goal mark for the fifth time in eight years. He has totaled 23 points (14+9) and six multi-point outings over his last 20 games. The Amerks captain began that stretch with a five-game goal-scoring streak, the longest of his career and the longest in the AHL this season, while his five-game point marked his longest since posting a career-best seven-game point streak back in 2015.
Malone has been one of Rochester’s most consistent point-getters as of late. Malone, who became the second Amerk this season to reach the 20-point mark, has produced 11 points (7+4) over his last eight games, including three power-play tallies over that span. The fifth-year pro has recorded multi-point showings in four of his last eight games.
Rochester’s power-play is presently tops in the AHL after scoring 21 times on 79 opportunities for a league-best 26.6% conversion rate. In just the last seven games, the Amerks have gone 10-for-27 on the man-advantage, including scoring four in the 7-3 win over Hershey back on Nov 26. Mersch, Malone and Quinn share the team lead with four power-play goals each.
FANTASTIC FOUR
The Amerks currently own four of the AHL’s top scoring rookies in Jack Quinn, JJ Peterka, Peyton Krebs and Linus Weissbach who have combined for 68 points (21+47) through the team’s 20 games this season.
Despite missing the last five games, Quinn, Buffalo’s eighth overall pick in 2020, ranks second among all AHL rookies in goals (11) and points (24). Named the AHL Rookie of the Month for October, he is one of only 19 players in the AHL this season to reach the 20-point mark and he, Sean Malone and Michael Mersch are the only Amerks to accomplish the feat.
Peterka, meanwhile, is third amongst all first-year players with a team-high 15 assists while his 19 points are tied for sixth-most. He and Quinn, taken just 26 picks apart from one another by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2020 NHL Draft, currently make up one of only four rookie duos across the entire AHL to rank inside the top four on their team in scoring.
With an assist Tuesday against Charlotte, Krebs has amassed 17 points on two goals and 15 assists in 17 games this season, tying for 10th among all AHL rookie skaters.
Despite missing the previous eight games, Weissbach comes into the contest with three points (1+2) over his last four games. Weissbach, who was Buffalo’s seventh-round selection (192nd overall) in the 2017 NHL Draft, has totaled eight points through his first 14 games.
THE BEST OFFENSE IS A GOOD DEFENSE
Second-year defenseman Oskari Laaksonen has recorded an assist in six of his last 10 games. The Finnish blueliner leads the league with a team-high 11 power-play assists as all but one of his 12 assists this season have come on the power-play.
With his second goal of the season during Wednesday’s contest with the Checkers, Amerks rookie defenseman Mattias Samuelsson has notched 11 points (2+9) over his last 13 outings and is already within one point of matching his offensive output from his truncated 2020-21 campaign. Samuelsson ranks fourth among all Amerks rookies with 12 points and is tied for third in the AHL among all first-year blueliners with 10 assists. Samuelsson had entered the week having produced multi-point efforts in back-to-back outings for the first time in his pro career.
SCOUTING THE BEARS
Hershey comes into the matchup having won three straight and four of its last five while also recording points in six of its last eight games. Dating back to the start of December, the Bears have outscored its opposition 19-8.
Eight of the first 22 games this season for Hershey have been decided beyond regulation, which included five straight from Oct. 23 to Nov. 5. The Bears show a record of 4-2 in overtime and a 1-1 mark in the shootout.
Fourth-year forward Joe Snively leads the Bears in all offensive categories in goals (8), assists (14) and points (22) through 21 games this season. Three of his eight goals have came on the power-play, which are also tied for most on the team. Since Nov. 7, Snively, who enters tonight riding a seven-game point streak (3+9), has posted eight goals and 11 assists for 19 points. He has earned six mult-point games over that span, including a hat trick in Hershey’s 5-3 win over Springfield back on Nov. 7.
SERIES NOTABLES
In addition to Jack Quinn (8th overall, 2020) Rochester’s Peyton Krebs (17th, 2019) and Hersehy’s Dylan McIlrath (10th overall, 2010), Alex Alexeyev (31st overall, 2018) and Lucas Johansen (28th overall, 2016) all were taken in the first round of the NHL Draft.
Both Rochester (7-2-0-0) and Hershey (4-3-2-0) enter tonight with winning records this season when scoring the game’s first goal. The Amerks have also scored 21 goals in the third period of play, which are tied for most in the AHL this season.
Goaltender Aaron Dell has backstopped the Amerks to four straight wins through his first four starts with Rochester. Until now, the netminder has never began a season with a win in each of his first four starts at either the NHL or AHL level. He’s is on pace to match his career-best seven-game win streak he posted from March 20 to April 7, 2015 with Worcester. In each of his four appearances this season, he has made 30 or more saves, three of which he finished with 30.
During the last meeting on Nov. 26, the two clubs combined for 10 goals, 135 penalty minutes and seven players finished with multi-point performances. Rochester went 4-for-9 on the man-advantage and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.
Rochester Americans vs Hershey Bears: Head To Head Stats
Summary
|
Description |
Result |
|
| Head to Head Record 2021-22 Regular Season | Rochester 1-0-0-0 | Hershey 0-1-0-0 |
| Head to Head Record 2020-21 Regular Season | Rochester 0-0-0-0 | Hershey 0-0-0-0 |
| Last 5 Years record between teams | Rochester 4-2-1-0 | Hershey 3-3-0-1 |
| Rochester vs. Hershey Last 5 Years record at Rochester | Rochester 3-1-0-0 | Hershey 1-2-0-1 |
| Rochester vs. Hershey Last 5 Years record at Hershey | Rochester 1-1-1-0 | Hershey 2-1-0-0 |
| Previous Meetings This Season | Hershey 3 @ Rochester 7 (Nov 26 2021) Final |
How the 2 teams match up
|
Hershey |
Rochester |
|
| Team Record | 12-7-2-1 -- 27 points | 14-8-0-0 -- 28 points |
| Division Ranking | 3rd Atlantic | 2nd North |
| Conference Ranking | 5th Eastern | 4th Eastern |
| League Ranking | 9th | 7th |
| Past 10 Games | 6-4-0-0 | 7-3-0-0 |
| Streak | 3-0-0-0 | 1-0-0-0 |
| Last Game | 8-3 W vs Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (Dec 18 2021) Final | 4-3 W @ Lehigh Valley (Dec 18 2021) Final SO |
| Home Record | 7-4-1-1 | 7-3-0-0 |
| Away Record | 5-3-1-0 | 7-5-0-0 |
| GF | 67 | 85 |
| GA | 68 | 82 |
| PP (Overall) | (16/86) 18.6% | (21/79) 26.6% |
| PP (Home) | (12/54) 22.2% | (10/37) 27.0% |
| PP (Away) | (4/32) 12.5% | (11/42) 26.2% |
| PK (Overall) | (22/108) 79.6% | (15/78) 80.8% |
| PK (Home) | (15/66) 77.3% | (7/41) 82.9% |
| PK (Away) | (7/42) 83.3% | (8/37) 78.4% |
| PP vs. Opp. | (0/5) 0% | (4/9) 44.4% |
| PK vs. Opp. | (4/9) 55.6% | (0/5) 100% |
| Leading Rookie | Protas (1-4-5) | Quinn (11-13-24) |
| Most PIM | Kessy - 55 | Pekar - 37 |
| Team PIM/GM | 16.6/Game | 13.8/Game |
| Leading Scorers | Snively (8-14-22) | Quinn (11-13-24) |
| Vecchione (3-14-17) | Mersch (14-9-23) | |
| Pilon (7-8-15) | Malone (9-12-21) | |
| Sgarbossa (8-6-14) | Peterka (4-15-19) | |
| Moulson (4-10-14) | Krebs (2-15-17) | |
| Last 5 Games | 8-3 W vs Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (Dec 18 2021) Final | 4-3 W @ Lehigh Valley (Dec 18 2021) Final SO |
| 2-0 W @ Springfield (Dec 17 2021) Final | 4-2 L @ Charlotte (Dec 15 2021) Final | |
| 4-1 W @ Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (Dec 14 2021) Final | 11-1 L @ Charlotte (Dec 14 2021) Final | |
| 4-2 L vs Laval (Dec 12 2021) Final | 5-3 W vs Laval (Dec 10 2021) Final | |
| 3-2 W @ Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (Dec 11 2021) Final OT | 4-3 W vs Utica (Dec 8 2021) Final OT | |
| Leading After 1st | 6-1-1-0 | 10-2-0-0 |
| Leading After 2nd | 6-1-1-0 | 9-0-0-0 |
| Tied After 1st | 3-2-1-0 | 1-0-0-0 |
| Tied After 2nd | 4-2-0-1 | 2-1-0-0 |
| Trailing After 1st | 3-4-0-1 | 3-6-0-0 |
| Trailing After 2nd | 2-4-1-0 | 3-7-0-0 |
| Out Shooting Opponents | 4-6-1-1 | 3-5-0-0 |
| Out Shot by Opponents | 6-1-1-0 | 11-3-0-0 |
| 1-Goal Games | 6-0-2-1 | 6-2-0-0 |
| 2-Goal Games | 3-2-0-0 | 4-2-0-0 |
| 3-Goal Games | 2-3-0-0 | 0-1-0-0 |
Rochester Americans
| # | Player | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | X Mark Jankowski | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| 22 | Jack Quinn | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| 19 | Peyton Krebs | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | -1 |
| 77 | JJ Peterka | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| 28 | Michael Mersch | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | Ethan Prow | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 26 | Mason Jobst | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 72 | Ryan MacInnis | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | -2 |
| 17 | Sean Malone | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 2 | Oskari Laaksonen | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -2 |
| 44 | Josh Teves | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | Brandon Biro | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 5 | Casey Fitzgerald | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | -1 |
| 1 | X Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | Matej Pekar | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
| 24 | Mattias Samuelsson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 91 | Ryan Scarfo | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -1 |
| 16 | Peter Tischke | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | -2 |
| 45 | Brendan Warren | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| # | Player | GP | W | L | OT | MIN | GA | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | X Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 60:00 | 3 | 3.00 | 0.925 |
Hershey Bears
| # | Player | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | Joe Snively | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 36 | Kody Clark | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | Mason Morelli | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| 18 | Garrett Pilon | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 1 |
| 5 | Lucas Johansen | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 26 | Matt Moulson | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | Alex Alexeyev | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | -1 |
| 31 | Pheonix Copley | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 12 | Ryan Dmowski | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Cody Franson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 10 | Shane Gersich | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -3 |
| 14 | Axel Jonsson-Fjallby | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Michal Kempny | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -1 |
| 22 | Kale Kessy | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | -1 |
| 42 | Dylan McIlrath | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 37 | Bobby Nardella | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 20 | Drake Rymsha | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | -1 |
| 24 | Riley Sutter | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | Eddie Wittchow | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| # | Player | GP | W | L | OT | MIN | GA | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | Pheonix Copley | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 59:36 | 7 | 7.05 | 0.650 |