GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS FACE MARLIES IN MIDDAY MATINEE AT SCOTIABANK ARENA
Feb 19, 2024TODAY'S GAME OVERVIEW
The Rochester Americans (23-17-5-1) make their way north of the border today for a midday matinee against the Toronto Marlies (21-16-7-2) at Scotiabank 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. NHL Network will also carry the matchup with coverage beginning at 2:00 p.m.
The Amerks, who had points in five straight games entering yesterday’s game with Utica, enters the week ranked third in the AHL’s North Division standings. The club is seven points back of the second-place Syracuse Crunch with one game in hand.
Toronto comes into the matchup occupying the fifth-place spot in the North Division with a 26-21-16-7 record having lost three of its last four games.
HEAD-TO-HEAD RESULTS AGAINSTY MARLIES
Today is the first meeting between the two teams since Rochester rallied twice from three-goal deficits for a 5-4 in overtime victory back on Oct. 14.
Rochester’s three third-period goals against the Marlies were the first by the club since a three-goal frame in the final 20 minutes on Mar. 24, 2019 at Toronto (also a 5-4 overtime win).
In the last 25 regular season games against Toronto, Rochester has scored at least one goal in the first period 18 times, which includes a four-goal outing in the series-opener on Oct. 23, 2021. Toronto, on the other hand, has scored 23 times in the final 20 minutes of regulation, which includes a five-goal frame on Jan. 14, 2023.
LAST TIME OUT
Despite opening the scoring for the sixth straight game, the Amerks were unable to keep pace with the intrastate rival Utica Comets, who came away with a 7-3 win Sunday at The Blue Cross Arena.
Forwards Tyson Jost and Brett Murray scored in the first and second periods, respectively, for the Amerks while defenseman Jeremy Davies also found the back of the net. Zach Metsa, Isak Rosen, Ethan Prow, and Lukas Rousek all added an assist to complete the scoring.
Devin Cooley (6-6-2) and Dustin Tokarski (7-7-2) split the goaltending duties with Cooley drawing the starting nod. Cooley finished with 23 saves, while Tokarski stopped three of four shots he faced in 13 minutes of relief.
THE BEST OFFENSE IS A GOOD DEFENSE
Jeremy Davies and Kale Clague are among the AHL’s top scoring defensemen, having combined for 10 goals and 43 points this season.
Davies, who has in points in back to-back games for the fourth time this season since closing out the month of October on a five-game point streak, scored his seventh goal of the year Sunday against Utica. He enters the week tied for 14th in goals by a defenseman and remains on pace to match the career-high 11 he scored last season. He’s never gone more than four straight games without a point.
Clague is tied for 18th among all blueliners with 20 assists. With two assists Wednesday at Utica, he has now reached the 20-assist mark for the second time in his career and has eclipsed the 20-point mark for the third time since producing a career-high 29 points during his rookie campaign in 2018-19.
ROUSEK RACKING UP THE POINTS
Lukas Rousek has been the team’s most consistent point-getter since the turn of 2024, having recorded points in 13 of his 17 games in that stretch.
Rousek, a sixth-round selection (160th overall) by the Sabres in the 2019 NHL Draft, currently leads the team with 26 assists and 35 points while his nine goals are tied for seventh. Among all Amerks who have appeared in at least 30 games, he is tops in points per game (0.85).
The third-year pro and AHL All-Star saw his career-long point streak come to an end on Jan. 26, stopping at 13 games. He totaled 14 points between Dec. 20 and Jan. 20, the second-longest point streak in the league behind only Toronto’s Alex Steeves, who had a point in 16 straight games.
Rousek’s point streak was the longest by an Amerk in 24 years since Hall of Famer Domenic Pittis had points in 14 straight contests from Jan. 22 to March 4 during the 1999-2000 campaign. In 130 career AHL games with the Amerks, Rousek has amassed 95 points on 27 goals and 68 assists.
NEW YEAR, NEW NEUCHEV
After producing just five points in his first 23 games, rookie foward Viktor Neuchev has unsurprisingly emerged as one of the team’s leading scorers through the middle of February.
Dating back to Dec. 29 and the turn of the New Year, Neuchev has erupted for 14 points on five goals and nine assists over his previous 13 games.
Neuchev has recorded at least one point in eight 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 five games with the game-winning goal along with two assists in the 7-4 win over Laval. Since Jan. 6, Neuchev has recorded four multi-point games, which includes a pair of three-point efforts.
Of Neuchev’s seven goals this season, five 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 19 points (7+12) and 54 shots in 34 games.
APPERT REACHRS CENTURY MARK
The 3-2 win at Charlotte on Jan. 12 was a milestone win for Seth Appert, who became just the seventh head coach in the 68-year history of the franchise to reach 100 career victories with Rochester. He joins an impressive list that includes the likes of Amerks Hall of Famers Randy Cunneyworth, John Van Boxmeer, Joe Crozier, Mike Keenan, Chris Taylor and Brian McCutcheon.
On Dec. 16 against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Appert also became the seventh head coach in team history to be behind Rochester’s bench for 200 games.
Since the 2020-21 season, Appert has guided the Amerks to a 106-89-20-8 record as well as two straight playoff appearances, which included a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2023.
It was the team’s deepest playoff run in nearly 20 years and their first to the Conference Finals since the 2004 Calder Cup Playoffs.
LEANING ON LEVI
Devon Levi has earned the start in seven of the last 10 games since being reassigned to Rochester on Jan. 20, including five straight.
Levi, who boasts a 5-2-2 record in nine appearances with the Amerks, joins, Eric Comrie, Michael Houser, Devin Cooley and Dustin Tokarski to man the blue paint for Rochester this season. It marks the third straight year Rochester has had five or more goaltenders play in its net and first since a three-year stretch between 1995 and 1998.
Levi, who ranks 12th among rookie netminders with a 2.56 goals-against average, has held the opposition to three or fewer goals in eight of his nine starts, including each of the last six. He’s 5-1-2 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, one year after he set the second-best mark in NCAA history with a .952 save percentage. He tied for third in the nation in both shutouts (6) and saves (1,183). Levi’s 16-career shutouts are a Northeastern University school record.
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.
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 7-7-2 in his first 17 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 this week, the 34-year-old Tokarski is six wins away from tying Red Almas for 11th all-time in career wins (218). He’s also one game away from tying Ed Chadwick for 16th all-time (417) and will tie Yann Danis for eighth all-time on his next shutout.
A JOLT OF JOST
Rochester’s forward group was bolstered at the end of the 2023 calendar year with the addition of veteran forward Tyson Jost. .
The St. Albert, Alberta, native made his Amerks debut on Dec. 29 against Hershey and has since recorded 13 points (3+10) through his first 19 games. His 10 assists are tied for 11th amongst all Rochester skaters.
A former first-round selection (10th overall) of the Colorado Avalanche in the 2016 NHL Draft, Jost has totaled 20 points (8+12) in 32 career AHL games with the Amerks, San Antonio Rampage and Colorado Eagles over parts of three seasons. He’s also recorded 138 points (56+82) over 442 career NHL games for Buffalo, Minnesota and Colorado, including 29 this season with the Sabres.
SERIES NOTABLES
Amerks forward Mason Jobst enters tonight with 16 points (6+10) over his last 17 games since the turn of the new year. Last Wednesday in Utica, Jobst appeared in his 200th professional game only to follow up with a career-best three-assist outing this past Friday against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. In 202 career games, all in the American Hockey League with Rochester, San Jose, Bridgeport, and Binghamton, the Ohio State product has notched 42 goals and 65 assists for 107 points.
After enjoying a career-best 14 goals, 24 assists and 38 points in 61 games last season with Rochester, Jobst has nearly matched those totals in 2023-24 (13 goals, 18 assists, 31 points) in only 41 games.
Both Rochester (11-4-1-2) and Toronto (12-2-2-0) come into the matchup sporting winning records when leading after the first period. The Marlies are 16-1-1-2 this season when carrying a lead into the second period while the Amerks remain a perfect 14-0-0-0 in that regard.
In the first meeting of the season between Rochester and Toronto back on Oct. 14, nine different players recorded multi-point outings while both teams scored a pair of power-play goals.
Since the start of the 2022-23 campaign, Rochester has gone 7-for-38 (18.4%) on the power-play against the Marlies while also showing a 72.2% success-rate on the penalty kill (26-for-36).
In 25 of the last 37 meetings between the two teams dating back to the 2016-17 season, the team that scored first has come away with the victory. Additionally, in 25 of the last 29 meetings, the winning team has scored at least four goals dating back to the 2017-18 season.
Rochester Americans vs Toronto Marlies: Head To Head Stats
Summary
|
Description |
Result |
|
| Head to Head Record 2023-24 Regular Season | Rochester 1-0-0-0 | Toronto 0-0-1-0 |
| Head to Head Record 2022-23 Regular Season | Rochester 4-4-0-0 | Toronto 4-3-0-1 |
| Last 5 Years record between teams | Rochester 8-9-1-1 | Toronto 11-6-1-1 |
| Rochester vs. Toronto Last 5 Years record at Rochester | Rochester 3-4-1-1 | Toronto 6-3-0-0 |
| Rochester vs. Toronto Last 5 Years record at Toronto | Rochester 5-5-0-0 | Toronto 5-3-1-1 |
| Previous Meetings This Season | Rochester 5 @ Toronto 4 (Oct 14 2023) Final OT |
How the two teams match up
|
Toronto |
Rochester |
|
| Team Record | 21-16-7-2 -- 51 points | 23-17-5-1 -- 52 points |
| Division Ranking | 5th North | 3rd North |
| Conference Ranking | 10th Eastern | 8th Eastern |
| League Ranking | 19th | 15th |
| Past 10 Games | 5-2-2-1 | 4-4-2-0 |
| Streak | 1-0-1-0 | 0-1-0-0 |
| Last Game | 3-2 L vs Hershey (Feb 17 2024) Final OT | 7-3 L vs Utica (Feb 18 2024) Final |
| Home Record | 9-9-5-0 | 10-9-3-0 |
| Away Record | 12-7-2-2 | 13-8-2-1 |
| GF | 164 | 152 |
| GA | 144 | 167 |
| PP (Overall) | (36/193) 18.7% | (27/149) 18.1% |
| PP (Home) | (15/94) 16.0% | (9/67) 13.4% |
| PP (Away) | (21/99) 21.2% | (18/82) 22.0% |
| PK (Overall) | (29/167) 82.6% | (35/162) 78.4% |
| PK (Home) | (17/83) 79.5% | (16/66) 75.8% |
| PK (Away) | (12/84) 85.7% | (19/96) 80.2% |
| PP vs. Opp. | (2/5) 40% | (2/3) 66.7% |
| PK vs. Opp. | (2/3) 33.3% | (2/5) 60% |
| Leading Rookie | Tverberg (8-19-27) | Neuchev (7-12-19) |
| Most PIM | Clifford - 82 | Davies - 57 |
| Team PIM/GM | 14.2/Game | 11.3/Game |
| Leading Scorers | Steeves (19-21-40) | Rousek (9-26-35) |
| Blandisi (14-26-40) | Jobst (13-18-31) | |
| Bellows (19-15-34) | Biro (12-16-28) | |
| Shaw (19-15-34) | Rosen (11-17-28) | |
| Abruzzese (8-24-32) | Kulich (17-10-27) | |
| Last 5 Games | 3-2 L vs Hershey (Feb 17 2024) Final OT | 7-3 L vs Utica (Feb 18 2024) Final |
| 4-3 W @ Belleville (Feb 16 2024) Final | 5-3 W vs Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (Feb 16 2024) Final | |
| 6-1 L vs Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (Feb 14 2024) Final | 6-2 W @ Utica (Feb 14 2024) Final | |
| 7-1 L vs Laval (Feb 10 2024) Final | 3-2 L @ Syracuse (Feb 10 2024) Final OT | |
| 6-1 W vs Laval (Feb 9 2024) Final | 3-2 L vs Syracuse (Feb 9 2024) Final OT | |
| Leading After 1st | 12-2-2-0 | 11-4-1-1 |
| Leading After 2nd | 16-1-3-0 | 14-0-0-0 |
| Tied After 1st | 7-5-4-2 | 5-6-2-0 |
| Tied After 2nd | 3-3-1-1 | 5-4-4-0 |
| Trailing After 1st | 2-9-1-0 | 7-7-2-0 |
| Trailing After 2nd | 2-12-3-1 | 4-13-1-1 |
| Out Shooting Opponents | 14-11-4-2 | 8-7-1-0 |
| Out Shot by Opponents | 7-5-3-0 | 14-9-4-1 |
| 1-Goal Games | 6-6-7-2 | 14-3-5-1 |
| 2-Goal Games | 2-5-0-0 | 4-5-0-0 |
| 3-Goal Games | 4-1-0-0 | 2-2-0-0 |
Rochester Americans
| # | Player | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Jeremy Davies | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 52 | Aleksandr Kisakov | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | Jiri Kulich | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 18 | Isak Rosen | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 23 | X Ryan Johnson | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 28 | Michael Mersch | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 81 | Brett Murray | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 74 | Nikita Novikov | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | Lukas Rousek | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | Brandon Biro | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -1 |
| 3 | Joseph Cecconi | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 0 |
| 21 | X Filip Cederqvist | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 56 | X Kale Clague | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 29 | X Michael Houser | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 44 | Tyson Kozak | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 79 | Viktor Neuchev | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Ethan Prow | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 16 | Justin Richards | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 | Linus Weissbach | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| # | Player | GP | W | L | OT | MIN | GA | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 | X Michael Houser | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 62:26 | 4 | 3.84 | 0.907 |
Toronto Marlies
| # | Player | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Logan Shaw | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 74 | X Bobby McMann | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| 89 | X Nicholas Robertson | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | -2 |
| 26 | Nick Abruzzese | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 47 | Topi Niemelä | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -2 |
| 83 | X Marshall Rifai | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 2 |
| 43 | Kyle Clifford | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 90 | Max Ellis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 57 | Dylan Gambrell | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 33 | Roni Hirvonen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 29 | X Pontus Holmberg | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 84 | Mikko Kokkonen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 |
| 85 | X William Lagesson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 48 | X Max Lajoie | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -1 |
| 8 | Tommy Miller | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 80 | Keith Petruzzelli | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | Josiah Slavin | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 46 | Alex Steeves | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 77 | Ryan Tverberg | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| # | Player | GP | W | L | OT | MIN | GA | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 80 | Keith Petruzzelli | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 62:10 | 5 | 4.83 | 0.844 |