GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS, CRUNCH OPEN HOME-AND-HOME SERIES TONIGHT IN SYRACUSE
Dec 23, 2023TONIGHT'S GAME OVERVIEW
The Rochester Americans (12-10-2-1) play their final game before the annual Christmas break tonight as they open a home-and-home series against the intrastate rival Syracuse Crunch (15-9-1-2) at Upstate Medical University Arena. The North Division showdown will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.
The Amerks are winless in their last three games and show a 3-6-0-1 mark over their last 10 contests. Rochester sits in fourth place in the North Division with 27 points but have two games in hand against the Crunch.
Syracuse, which enters the weeked holding the second place spot in the North with 33 points, show a 5-4-1-0 record over its last 10 contests.
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 23 of their 38 games (33-for-136) 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 just the third matchup between the two teams after meeting twice in a three-day span to begin the month of November. Rochester evened the season-series with a 5-4 win in a shootout on Nov. 4 in Syracuse after dropping a 7-2 contest on Nov. 1 in the Flower City.
LAST TIME OUT
The Amerks scored once in each period but were unable to keep up with the Providence Bruins, who relied on a three-goal third-period on their way to a 6-3 win Friday at The Blue Cross Arena.
Brett Murray and Linus Weissbach both scored their third goals of the season in the second and third periods, respectively, while Filip Cederqvist netted his first tally in the opening frame for Rochester. Lukas Rousek, Isak Rosen, Mason Jobst, Michael Mersch, Kale Clague, and Nikita Novikov all tallied an assist.
Goaltender Devin Cooley (5-3-2) made 17 saves in his 10th appearance of the campaign and suffered his first regulation loss since Nov. 11.
THE BEST OFFENSE IS A GOOD DEFENSE
The Amerks own two of the league’s top scoring defensemen in Jeremy Davies and Kale Clague, who have combined for five goals and 28 points this season. Davies’ four goals are tied for 20th-most amongst all blueliners.
Davies, who scored a career-high 11 goals last season, including three game-winning tallies, is tied for 11th amongst all defensemen with 61 shots. He’s recorded at least one shot in all but three games this season. Davies, who closed out the month of October on a five-game point streak, has recorded one point in 11 of his first 24 games this season, never going more than three straight games without a point.
Clague, meanwhile, is tied for 15th among all rearguards with 13 assists in 23 games. Clague opened the campaign with three multi-point performances and enters the weekend with assists in five of his last 10 games.
DYNAMIC DUO: THE SEQUEL
Jiri Kulich and Isak Rosen both return for their second seasons in Rochester after putting up one of the most impressive and productive seasons as teenagers in the history of the AHL during the 2022-23 campaign.
Kulich continued his torrid start to the season with three more goals over the team’s recent three-game road trip last week, taking over the league’s goal-scoring lead with 16 goals in just 23 games. Kulich, who also leads the AHL with four overtime game-winning tallies, remains on pace to become the first AHL player to reach the 20-goal mark in the fewest number of games to begin the season since Frank Vatrano scored 20 goals in just 18 games to begin the 2015-16 campaign.
Kulich, whose 24 goals last season were the second-most ever by an 18-year-old in league history, has been officially reassigned to Czechia’s national junior team ahead of the 2024 World Junior Championship. The annual event is scheduled to get underway on Tuesday, Dec. 26 in Sweden.
With eight points over his last eight games, which includes a career-best four point (2+2) effort in Cleveland on Nov. 18, Rosen is one behind Kulich for the team lead in scoring with 21 points as he recently returned from his first recall with the Sabres earlier last week. The Swedish forward is second amongst all Amerks in goals (8) and has matched his totaled from last season in game-winning tallies through just 20 games.
Back on Nov. 25, Kulich and Rosen both made their NHL debuts with the Buffalo Sabres against New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center
The duo has combined for 126 points (62+64) in 170 regular season games. Rochester boasts an impressive 21-3-2-1 record when they each record at least one point in the same game as well as a near-perfect 8-1-0-0 mark when they both score in the same game.
BRYSON BACK IN ROCHESTER
Rochester’s blueline received another significant boost earlier this week following the reassignment of defenseman Jacob Bryson to the Amerks. Bryson, a former fourth-round selection (99th overall) of the Sabres in the 2017 NHL Draft, began his professional career with Rochester.
Bryson appeared in three games with the Sabres this season as one of eight defensemen on Buffalo’s roster.
The London, Ontario, native made his Amerks season debut Wednesday against Cleveland, and has totaled 30 points (4+26) in 68 career American Hockey League games with the Amerks over parts of two seasons. He’s also recorded 28 points (3+25) over 173 career NHL games for Buffalo.
In 121 collegiate games during a three-year career at Providence College, he totaled 73 points on 11 goals and 62 assists. In his final season with the Friars, he earned Hockey East Second Team All-Star honors after recording 28 points (4+24) in 42 games and serving as a team captain.
As a senior, Bryson set career-highs in both assists (24) and points (28), both of which topped the club’s defensemen, and ranked second and third overall, respectively. He also recorded an assist in all three NCAA Tournament games to help lead his team to a Frozen Four appearance and was the recipient of Hockey East’s Len Ceglarski Sportsmanship Award for the second straight year in 2019.
SCORING IN BUNCHES
The Amerks come into the weekend with the AHL’s seventh-best offense, averaging 3.36 goals per game through their first 25 games of the season. Their 84 goals are tied for 10th-most in the AHL.
Rochester has put up at least four goals in 10 of its first 25 games, including six outings with five goals or more.
The Amerks are a perfect 6-0-0-0 this season when scoring five goals in a game. Rochester is fourth in the AHL with 29 first-period tallies this season
WORKING OVERTIME
Last Friday’s overtime win in Hartford was the fifth game over the last 11 for Rochester that went beyond regulation, which includes two shootout decisions this month. Overall, the Amerks have gone to extra time on 10 different occasions this season, including each of the first three games of the campaign.
Never before in the near 68-year history of the franchise have the Amerks opened a season with three consecutive overtime contests.
Rochester is the only team in the league with 10 games decided beyond regulation this season. Dating back to last season, 18 of Rochester’s previous 38 regular-season games have required overtime to determine a winner.
A (JOB)ST WELL DONE
Mason Jobst is making the most with the Amerks as the fifth-year pro is in the process of duplicating his career year from 2022-23.
Through 21 games this season, the Speedway, Indiana, native has already scored half as many goals (7) from his career-high 38-point campaign last season when he notched 14 goals and 24 assists in 61 games.
Jobst reached the 30-point plateau for the first time in his pro career last season, being one of 10 different Amerks to eclipse the mark. He also was one of 10 to score double figures in goals as he finished with a person-best 14 in 61 games.
Since the turn of the New Year, Jobst has amassed 18 goals and 40 points over his previous 58 games, which includes two hat tricks, both of which have come on home ice. He comes into tonight with eight goals and 13 assists over his previous 29 contests and has only been held with a point in back-to-back appearances just three over that span.
Jobst has totaled 66 points (25+41) in 108 career games with the Amerks dating back to the 2021-22 season.
TOKARSKI AMONG ELITE COMPANY
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.
Currently in his 15th season, he joins Marcel Paille and Michael Leighton as the only goaltenders all-time to play at least 15 seasons in the AHL.
Tokarski, who’s 4-5-1 in his first 10 starts, 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 this weekend, the 34-year-old Tokarski is two wins away from tying Nick Damore for 12th all-time in career wins (211). He also ranks 18th all-time in games played (409) and will tie Yann Danis for eighth all-time with his next shutout.
In addition to being a two-time Calder Cup winner (2012, 2019), Tokarski won a Memorial Cup with Spokane in 2008 followed by a gold medal with Canada at the 2009 World Junior Championship.
Tokarski has reached the 20-win mark five times over his 15-year pro career, including a career-best 32 wins in 2011-12 when he backstopped the Norfolk Admirals to a professional hockey record of 28 straight wins while leading the club to its and only Calder Cup.
SERIES NOTABLES
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.
During the last meeting between Rochester and Syracuse back on Nov. 4, the Amerks jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, which featured Olivier Nadeau’s first-career professional goal. After Syracuse forced the game into overtime, the Amerks earned a 5-4 win in the shootout as Jiri Kulich and Filip Cederqvist’s attempts were successful. Netminder Dustin Tokarski made both saves in the skills competition while finishing with 42 in the contest to log the victory.
Amerks assistant coach Nathan Paetsch played half a season with the Crunch during the 2010-11 campaign. After beginning the year in Rochester, Paetsch closed out the season with 17 points in 34 games for Syracuse.
Last Saturday’s game against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton marked head coach Seth Appert’s 200th regular-season game as Rochester’s bench boss. Since the start of the 2020-21 campaign, Appert has guided the Amerks a 96-81-17-8 record as well as two straight playoff appearances, which included a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2023.
He became just the seventh head coach in franchise history to reach the mark. He’s also four wins away from 100 career coaching victories, a list that also includes only six others before him.
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