GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS EYEING PLAYOFFS AS THUNDERBIRDS FLY INTO TOWN
Rochester can clinch a Calder Cup Playoff berth on home ice
Apr 2, 2025
By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48
The Rochester Americans (39-18-4-3) begin the month of April with the opportunity to officially become playoff bound as they welcome the Springfield Thunderbirds (33-26-2-4) to Blue Cross Arena Wednesday night.
GET TICKETS! CALDER CUP PLAYOFF PRIMER: APRIL 2, 2025
Wednesday will be the first of eight games in April that the Amerks will play in to round out their 72-game regular season campaign. The game with Springfield also marks the final time Rochester will play outside the North Division. The next opportunity to face a team from the Atlantic would come in May during the conference finals, should the Amerks return there as they did in 2023.
This is the second and final meeting of the season between the Thunderbirds and Amerks, marking the lone visit for Springfield this season. The Amerks visited Massachusetts to start 2025, where Zachary Metsa’s three-assist night helped guide Rochester to a 5-2 win over the T-Birds to kick-off the new year.
LAST TIME OUT
After fending off a Syracuse rally on Saturday, the Amerks were unable to repeat the feat the next afternoon, as a 2-0 lead vanished late in what ended in a 3-2 overtime win for the Crunch to wrap up the season series. Despite the sour note to end on, the Amerks posted a winning record against the Crunch, going 7-3-1-1 over their 12-game slate.
Noah Östlund and Brett Murray each found the back of the net for the Amerks. Östlund’s goal was his 18th of the season, while Murray recorded his 100th professional goal and 98th all-time with Rochester, surpassing Steve Langdon for 20th all-time in Amerks franchise history. Devon Levi suffered the loss with a 21-save performance in his 36th game of the season. The red, white, and blue finished their final three-in-three of the season picking up five of a possible six points as they went 2-0-1-0 on the weekend.
Springfield was one point better, as the St. Louis Blues’ affiliate had a perfect weekend, going 3-0-0-0 with a pair of wins over the Iowa Wild, followed by a 3-2 win Sunday afternoon in Providence. Veteran Matthew Peca was a driving force in the wins over Iowa with a goal and assist in each of the two contests, while Nikita Alexandrov was the story in Sunday’s win.
Down 2-1 with 1:24 to play against the Bruins, Alexandrov scored the game-tying goal, then the go-ahead conversion with only 18 seconds to play in regulation, guiding the Thunderbirds to a third straight win as the team leapfrogged the Lehigh Valley Phantoms for fifth place in the Atlantic Division.
PLAYOFF POSSIBILITIES
While the Amerks have looked to be nothing short of a lock for playoffs practically all season, Wednesday marks the first time the team has a chance to make it official.
It's fairly simple: win and in!
Here's the full set of potential scenarios which would lock up a playoff spot for Rochester for the sixth straight year:
The T-Birds are also playing for a chance to get back into the postseason as their magic number is down to four in the Atlantic Division. While Springfield cannot secure a playoff berth Wednesday, they can cut their number in half and inch closer to Providence for fourth in the division as they currently trail the Bruins by seven points.
After Laval won Tuesday over Manitoba, the Amerks are back to being five points out of first in the North Division with both teams having eight games left in their seasons. On the positive, Rochester is 10 points in front of third place-Toronto. To secure home ice advantage for at least the North Division Semifinal round, the Amerks are looking at a magic number of seven. The team finished second last season with 88 points in a tie for first in the North. They already yield 85 points entering April this time around.
WHAT A MONTH
It’s been more than a month at this point, but Amerks’ rookie forward Noah Östlund was recognized by the AHL for his 14-point outburst in March, as the league named him Rookie of the Month.
Östlund began the month by scoring on March 1 at Syracuse and again six days later at Laval. He registered his first AHL hat trick on March 22 at Syracuse, converting once on the power-play, once shorthanded and once at even strength in a 4-1 Amerks win. Östlund scored a go-ahead third-period goal in a 4-3 win over Utica the next day, and had another shorthanded tally in a 6-0 victory over Bridgeport on the 28th. His success against the Crunch continued the following night, with the Stockholm, Sweden, native posting three points via a goal and two assists in Rochester’s final win in the month to help the Amerks secure a 4-2 victory.
A first-round choice (16th overall) by Buffalo in the 2022 NHL Draft, Östlund has totaled 18 goals and 17 assists for 35 points in 43 games with the Amerks this season. The 21-year-old leads all AHL rookies in plus/minus rating at plus-20, and his 14 goals since the All-Star break are fourth-most in the entire league.
THAT’S WHERE THE SIMPSONS LIVE, RIGHT?
Springfield enters Wednesday fresh off their three-game winning weekend. Colton Ellis has been the story in goal for the T-Birds this season, manning a 22-10-3 record with three shutouts, including a 36-save display Friday over Iowa. His .923 save percentage over 38 games is third-best in the AHL and second overall in the Eastern Conference.
Up front, Peca continues to be a dominant player, ranking fifth in league scoring with 60 points (29+31). The Thunderbirds have four 20-goal scorers on their team, with Peca leading the way, followed by Alexandrov, Matt Luff, and Dalibor Dvorsky, who is currently on recall to St. Louis.
The game against the Amerks is the beginning of a three-game road trip for Springfield, who travel to Utica Friday, then face Lehigh Valley Saturday night.