GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS, CRUNCH CLOSE OUT SEASON SERIES TONIGHT IN SYRACUSE
Mar 27, 2024TONIGHT'S GAME OVERVIEW
The Rochester Americans (31-22-6-3) close out their season series against the Syracuse Crunch (36-20-4-2) tonight in one final get-together at Upstate Medical University Arena. The North Division showdown will be carried live on FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.
The Amerks, who have points in 20 of their last 28 games dating back to Jan. 17, currently sit in third-place in AHL's North Division standings with just 10 games remaining in the regular season. Rochester is seven points back of the first-place Crunch, who also have 10 games left on the docket.
Syracuse, which comes into the matchup looking for its third straight win on home ice, has collected points in seven of its last 10 games overall, going 6-3-0-1 over that span.
SEASON SERIES SNAPSHOT
The season series has favored the visiting team as eight of the first 11 meetings thus far has been won by the road team and seven of the 11 have been one-goal decisions.
The Amerks have scored at least one power-play goal in 28 of their 47 games (38-for-167) against Syracuse since Seth Appert took over as head coach prior to the 2020-21 season.
Forwards Isak Rosen (2+6) and Brandon Biro (3+4) have combined for 15 points against the Crunch this season, with Rosen appearing in all 11 contests. Veteran netminder Dustin Tokarski posted back-to-back road wins against his former team while Michael Houser, who's earned the start in back-to-back games, has appeared in 12 minutes this season against the Crunch, making four saves.
LAST TIME OUT
Jeremy Davies (2+0) opened the scoring in the second period and then sealed the 4-1 win for the Amerks with his second of the day in the weekend finale against the Utica Comets Sunday at The Blue Cross Arena.
In addition to Davies (2+0) scoring twice, Isak Rosén (1+1), Brett Murray (1+1), and Jiri Kulich all recorded two points each for the Amerks. Joseph Cecconi (0+1), Mason Jobst (0+1), and Michael Mersch (0+1) all registered an assist.
Goaltender Michael Houser (3-1-1) made his sixth appearance of the season for the Amerks and second straight. The Youngstown, Ohio, native stopped 19 of the 20 shots he faced for the second consecutive game while also earning the victory, his first in the AHL since Oct. 28 which also came against Utica.
WAHLBERG ASSIGNED TO ROCHESTER
The Buffalo Sabres reassigned forward Anton Wahlberg to the Amerks over the weekend for the team's final 10 games of the 2023-24 regular season.
A second-round pick (39th overall) by the Sabres in the 2023 NHL Draft, the 18-year-old forward spent this season with Malmo of the Swedish Hockey League, where he tallied 10 points (5+5) in 43 games.
The 6-foot-3 forward also represented Sweden at the IIHF World Junior Championship, where he had three points (1+2) in seven games and won a silver medal.
RACE TO 20
After seeing three players reach the 20-goal mark last season, the Amerks could potentially have the same or more by the season's end.
With goals in two of his last five games, Jiri Kulich is on the brink of his second straight 20-goal season. Kulich, whose 19 goals lead all Rochester skaters, can become the first Amerks player to score 20 or more goals in back-to-back seasons since Cole Schneider and Justin Bailey each did so in 2015-16 and 2016-17.
Mason Jobst, the team's leading point-getter with a career-high 44 points in 54 games this season, needs just two more goals to reach the mark for the first time in his pro career. He, too, has goals in two of his last five games and prior to Friday was riding a season-long six-game point streak (2+6).
Brett Murray (17) remains on pace for his second straight 20-goal season while Isak Rosen is also within reach after scoring his career-high 16th goal of the season on Sunday, reaching the mark in 10 fewer games compared to his rookie campaign.
NEW YEAR, NEW NEUCHEV
After producing just five points in his first 23 games, rookie foward Viktor Neuchev has unsurprisingly emerged as Rochester’s top scoring rookie through the final full month of the regular season.
Dating back to Dec. 29 and the turn of the New Year, Neuchev has erupted for 21 points on eight goals and 13 assists over his previous 26 games.
Neuchev has recorded at least one point in 14 games over that span, including a season-long six-game point streak from Dec. 29 to Jan. 20 which saw him score three goals and record eight points.
Buffalo’s third-round selection (74th overall) in 2022, Neuchev’s most impressive performance of the season came back on Jan. 27, finding the back of the net for the third time in four games with the game-winning goal while also adding two assists in the 7-4 win over Laval. Since Jan. 5, Neuchev has recorded six multi-point games, which includes a pair of three-point efforts.
Of Neuchev’s 10 goals this season, seven have been scored on home ice and three have come against Laval. Neuchev, who had a 40-goal season while playing for Russia’s junior league during the 2021-22 campaign, currently leads all Amerks rookies with 26 points (10+16) and 69 shots in 47 games
WORKING OVERTIME
The 2-1 shootout loss against Toronto last Friday was the fifth game over the last 16 for Rochester that went beyond regulation, with three of the four producing a 2-1 score. Overall, the Amerks have gone to extra time on 20 different occasions, the second-most by any team this season (Cleveland), including each of the first three games of the campaign.
Five of the 11 games against Syracuse this season have needed extra time to determine a winner,
Four of Jiri Kulich’s team-high five game-winning goals this season have come by way of overtime while Isak Rosen, Brandon Biro, Jeremy Davies, and Zach Metsa have each netted the clinching goal during the extra frame.
Never before in the near 68-year history of the franchise have the Amerks opened a season with three consecutive overtime contests.
Of Rochester’s 12 games in February, five were decided past regulation. The club was 1-3 in overtime in the month and showed an 0-1 record in the shootout.
Dating back to Jan. 20 of last season, 30 of Rochester’s previous 99 regular-season games have required overtime to determine a winner. Of the Amerks 47 wins during that same span, 16 have come came following the end of regulation.
The Amerks show a 8-6 record in overtime this season and are 3-3 in the shootout.
Rochester tied an AHL record with 29 overtime games in 2017-18, showing a 9-11 record in overtime and 3-6 in the shootout.
LEANING ON LEVI
Devon Levi has earned the start in 17 of the last 24 games since being reassigned to Rochester on Jan. 20, including five straight to open the month of February. Currently on NHL recall with Buffalo, he enters the week end having won four straight and five of his last six dating back to March 1.
Levi, who boasts a 11-5-3 record in 19 appearances with the Amerks, totaled 130 saves on 136 shots he faced over a three-game win streak in February, boasting an impressive 1.95 goals-against average and a .956 save percentage over that span.
His career-high 52 saves in the Amerks overtime win at Toronto on Feb. 19 were the most by an Amerks goaltender since Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen had 54 in a 2-1 win at Syracuse on Feb. 25, 2022.
Levi, who ranks fifth among all rookie netminders with a 2.52 goals-against average, has held the opposition to three or fewer goals in 16 of his 19 starts. He’s 11-2-3 this season in those games.
Levi won the Mike Richter Award, given annually to the top goaltender in men’s college hockey, for the second straight year following the 2022-23 season.
The only two-time winner in the award’s history, Levi led the nation again with a .933 save percentage, and tied for third in both shutouts (6) and saves (1,183).
TOKARSKI ON THE MOVE
Veteran goaltender Dustin Tokarski, who missed the first eight games of the season due to an injury he sustained in training camp, made his season debut back on Nov. 3 against Utica.
In doing so, the two-time Calder Cup winner and AHL All-Star became 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).
Tokarski, who’s in his second stint with the Amerks and 10th different AHL franchise, 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.
Last Wednesday, he earned his second straight start and appeared in his 500th pro game. He has played in 80 NHL contests and 420 AHL games.
Tokarski, who’s 8-9-3 in his first 21 appearances, surpassed the 10,000-save mark for his AHL career following a 31-save effort against Utica on Nov. 10. He also reached the 12,000-save mark for his pro career the week prior when he made his season debut against the Comets.
Entering tonight, the 34-year-old Tokarski is only five wins away from tying Red Almas for 11th all-time in career wins (218). He’s also 20 games away from tying Drew MacIntyre for 13rd all-time (440) and will tie Yann Danis for eighth all-time on his next shutout.
JOBST HAVING A CAREER YEAR
Forward Mason Jobst enters the contest with 29 points (11+18) over his last 30 games, the most by an Amerk since the turn of the new year. Jobst, who hasn't gone more than one game without a point over that span, recorded a career-best three-assist outing on Feb. 16 against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and followed that up by scoring goals in three straight games, including his career-high 16th goal of the season against Belleville on Feb. 23.
Since then, the fifth-year forward has already surpassed his goal total in 18 fewer games this season and successfully reached the 40-point mark for the first time in his career with another three-assist effort back on March 13 in Syracuse to take over the team's scoring lead.
Jobst has totaled 95 points (36+59) in 141 career games as an Amerk and has amassed 120 points (47+73) over 214 career American Hockey League games with Rochester, San Jose, Bridgeport, and Binghamton.
SERIES NOTABLES
Amerks captain Michael Mersch enters the week having played 604 professional games. Mersch, who has 150 points (63+87) with the Amerks since the start of the 2020-21 season, became the 58th forward in franchise history to skate in at least 200 games back on March 1 at Belleville.
Amerks defenseman Ethan Prow comes into tonight's contest having played 403 career AHL games. Since the start of the 2015-16 campaign, the Sauk Rapids, Minnesota native has totaled 51 goals and 170 assists for 221 points while also logging 13 points (2+11) in 31 postseason contests with Rochester, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Springfield.
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.
Crunch defenseman Devante Stephens, who was originally a fifth-round selection (122nd overall) of the Buffalo Sabres in the 2015 NHL Draft, played seven games with the Amerks over parts of two seasons (2017-19).