GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS HEAD NORTH OF THE BORDER TO BELLEVILLE TONIGHT
Nov 12, 2022TONIGHT'S GAME OVERVIEW
The Rochester Americans (7-4-1-0) close out their busy three-game week tonight as they travel to CAA Arena to face the Belleville Senators (4-6-1-0) for the first time this season tonight at 7 p.m. All the action will be carried live on 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.
Tonight’s contest is the second of eight meetings this season and the first between the two teams in Belleville since the Amerks eliminated the Senators in the play-in round of the 2022 Calder Cup Playoffs. Rochester swept Belleville courtesy of back-to-back overtime victories to embark on its first extended playoff run in 18 years.
HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES SNAPSHOT
Both teams have near-perfect records this season when leading after the second period. Belleville is 2-0-1-0 while Rochester is 4-1-1-0. The Amerks also boast a perfect 3-0-0-0 record when outshooting the opponent, whereas the Senators are 2-4-1-0 in that regard.
Despite boasting a 3-3-1-1 record in the eight-game series last season against Belleville, Rochester shows a 13-8-5-1 mark over the last five years between the two teams. The Amerks earned four points in the four meetings in Rochester last season, and over the last five years show a 4-6-2-1 mark compared to a 8-2-3-0 record north of the border.
Rochester is 13-13-1 all-time against Belleville despite being outscored 97-93 through the first 27 meetings with the Senators. Four of the last seven matchups between the two clubs have been decided beyond regulation, and including the two postseason games, Rochester has won three consecutive contests in overtime by way of a 4-3 score.
LAST TIME OUT
Four different skaters recorded multi-point efforts, including Filip Cederqvist (2+1) and Aleksandr Kisakov (1+1), but the Amerks couldn’t hold off a late push by the Cleveland Monsters, who scored in the final minute of regulation before prevailing in overtime to escape with a 6-5 win Friday at The Blue Cross Arena.
Despite the Amerks suffering their first loss on home ice this season, the club extended its point streak to six games, going 5-0-1-0 over that span. Overall, Rochester is 7-4-1-0 through the first 12 games of the season and have points in five of its last six games to remain in second place in the AHL's North Division standings with 15 points.
Along with Cederqvist and Kisakov notching their first multi-point outings, Isak Rosen (0+2) and Mitch Eliot (1+1) both earned two points each. Chase Priskie, who returned to the lineup Friday following a seven-game absence due to injury, opened the scoring in the first period while Jeremy Davies, Linus Weissbach, Riley Sheahan, and Matt Bartkowski all recorded an assist.
POWER-PLAY PROFICIENCY
Coming into tonight, 11 of the Amerks' 42 goals this season have come on the power-play, which are tied for seventh-most among any team in the AHL. By going 11-for-45 while on the man-advantage, Rochester is ranked sixth in the league with a 24.4% conversion rate.
The Amerks' 10 power-play goals at home are tied for most in the league this season, going for 10-for-28 through their first six home matchups.
YOUTH MOVEMENT LEADING ROCHESTER
Third-year forward Brandon Biro has emerged as the team's early-season leader, picking up where he left off last season with a team-high nine assists and 12 points through his first 12 games. Dating back to last season, the Sherwood Park, Alberta native has totaled 14 points (5+9) over his last 15 games and hasn't gone more than one game without a point over that span. He enters the weekend tied for 17th in the AHL in overall scoring.
Second-year forwards Lukas Rousek and Linus Weissbach remain at a close second with 11 points each, including a team-high six goals from Weissbach. He comes into tonight with a goal in three of his last six appearances as well as points in four of his last six. His six goals tie him for 12th in the AHL and are currently three off the league-lead. Like Biro, Rousek hasn't gone more than two games all season without a point.
Rookie forwards Isak Rosen (2+7) and Jiri Kulich (2+6) pace the team's rookies with nine and eight points, respectively, while being tied for 11th and 13th in the AHL scoring race amongst all first-year skaters.
Rosen, the Sabres’ first-round selection in 2021 (14th overall), spent the 2021-22 season with Leksands in Sweden, where he made his debut in the Swedish Hockey League. He led all 17-year-olds with the Leksands U20 as he posted 35 points (21+14) in 38 games.
At age 18, Kulich, Buffalo's first-round selection (28th overall) in 2022, is among the youngest players in the AHL. Kulich shows six assists in his first 12 games of the young season, tying him for 11th in the league among all first-year players in that category. The Kadan, Czech Republic, native also leads all Rochester skaters with 34 shots on goal.
HOME-COOKING FOR THE AMERKS
The Amerks have a earned at least one point in all six home games so far this season, boasting a 5-0-1-0 mark within the friendly confines of The Blue Cross Arena. It's the team’s best start at home since 2006-07, when the club posted a 10-0-1-0 start, including winning their first nine straight. The team's win streak was snapped in last night's 6-5 overtime loss to Cleveland.
Four of the five victories this season on home ice have come when the team trailed entering the final 20 minutes of regulation while all five wins have come by way of four or more goals. Rochester has outscored its opposition 13-5 after the start of the third period and has outshot the visitors 49-45.
Linus Weissbach has helped sparked the third-period scoring as he has tallied three goals and four assists in six games while Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has made 34 saves.
SCOUTING THE SENATORS
The Senators, who begin a four-game North Division homestand, come into tonight with a 4-6-1-0 record through their first 11 games this season.
In addition to dropping three of its last four contests, Belleville has struggled at home as of late, showing only two wins over its five games in CAA Arena.
After topping all Belleville skaters with a career-high 20 goals and 31 assists for in 72 games in 2021-22, forward Jake Lucchini currently paces the Senators offense with 13 points through the first 11 contests this season.
Belleville has used three different goaltenders this season with Kevin Mandolese, Mads Sogaard and Antoine Bibeau.
SERIES NOTABLES
So far this season, the Amerks have used 12 different defensemen, which is tied for most in the AHL with Toronto. Seven of the 12 have recorded at least one point while four have scored. Ethan Prow is the only defenseman to appear in all 12 games this season and has skated in 82 of the 88 games dating back to the start of the 2021-22 campaign.
Amerks goaltender Ukko-Pekka Lukkonen has stopped 98 of the 108 shots he faced this season after the second period, which includes 49 of 52 in his last four outings. The Finnish netminder is tied for the league-lead with six wins, while ranking second in minutes (527) and saves (238).
Luukkonen made his professional debut against Belleville on April 14, 2019 as he stopped 32 of 34 shots while earning his first-career AHL victory. After allowing one goal in each of the first two periods, he made 20 saves to help preserve the win.
Amerks goaltender Malcolm Subban played his junior career with the Belleville Bulls of the OHL, who play at the CAA Arena. Subban totaled a 64-42-6 record and eight shutouts in 118 career games. During his final season with the Bulls, he helped Belleville finish first in the East during the regular season by posting a career-best 29 wins in 46 appearances.
Rochester Americans vs Belleville Senators: Head To Head Stats
Summary
|
Description |
Result |
|
| Head to Head Record 2022-23 Regular Season | Rochester 1-0-0-0 | Belleville 0-0-1-0 |
| Head to Head Record 2021-22 Regular Season | Rochester 3-3-1-1 | Belleville 5-2-1-0 |
| Last 5 Years record between teams | Rochester 9-6-3-1 | Belleville 10-6-3-0 |
| Rochester vs. Belleville Last 5 Years record at Rochester | Rochester 3-4-2-1 | Belleville 7-2-1-0 |
| Rochester vs. Belleville Last 5 Years record at Belleville | Rochester 6-2-1-0 | Belleville 3-4-2-0 |
| Previous Meetings This Season | Belleville 3 @ Rochester 4 (Oct 19 2022) Final OT |
How the 2 teams match up
|
Belleville |
Rochester |
|
| Team Record | 4-6-1-0 -- 9 points | 7-4-1-0 -- 15 points |
| Division Ranking | 4th North | 2nd North |
| Conference Ranking | 12th Eastern | 4th Eastern |
| League Ranking | 27th | 5th |
| Past 10 Games | 3-6-1-0 | 6-3-1-0 |
| Streak | 0-2-0-0 | 1-0-1-0 |
| Last Game | 4-2 L @ Syracuse (Nov 11 2022) Final | 6-5 L vs Cleveland (Nov 11 2022) Final OT |
| Home Record | 2-3-0-0 | 5-0-1-0 |
| Away Record | 2-3-1-0 | 2-4-0-0 |
| GF | 33 | 42 |
| GA | 45 | 40 |
| PP (Overall) | (13/58) 22.4% | (11/45) 24.4% |
| PP (Home) | (6/28) 21.4% | (10/28) 35.7% |
| PP (Away) | (7/30) 23.3% | (1/17) 5.9% |
| PK (Overall) | (12/59) 79.7% | (11/40) 72.5% |
| PK (Home) | (2/27) 92.6% | (6/22) 72.7% |
| PK (Away) | (10/32) 68.8% | (5/18) 72.2% |
| PP vs. Opp. | (1/3) 33.3% | (2/6) 33.3% |
| PK vs. Opp. | (2/6) 66.7% | (1/3) 66.7% |
| Leading Rookie | Crookshank (3-4-7) | Rosen (2-7-9) |
| Most PIM | Sabourin - 72 | Weissbach - 20 |
| Team PIM/GM | 19.3/Game | 9.6/Game |
| Leading Scorers | Lucchini (5-8-13) | Biro (3-9-12) |
| Sokolov (1-8-9) | Weissbach (6-5-11) | |
| Reinhardt (2-6-8) | Rousek (4-7-11) | |
| Chartier (6-1-7) | Rosen (2-7-9) | |
| Crookshank (3-4-7) | Jobst (2-6-8) | |
| Last 5 Games | 4-2 L @ Syracuse (Nov 11 2022) Final | 6-5 L vs Cleveland (Nov 11 2022) Final OT |
| 5-2 L vs Toronto (Nov 5 2022) Final | 3-1 W @ Syracuse (Nov 9 2022) Final | |
| 3-2 W vs Lehigh Valley (Nov 4 2022) Final | 2-1 L @ Utica (Nov 5 2022) Final | |
| 8-2 L @ Rockford (Oct 29 2022) Final | 5-3 W vs Utica (Nov 4 2022) Final | |
| 4-2 L @ Milwaukee (Oct 28 2022) Final | 7-2 W vs Syracuse (Nov 2 2022) Final | |
| Leading After 1st | 1-0-1-0 | 4-1-0-0 |
| Leading After 2nd | 2-0-1-0 | 4-1-1-0 |
| Tied After 1st | 3-2-0-0 | 1-1-1-0 |
| Tied After 2nd | 2-0-0-0 | 0-0-0-0 |
| Trailing After 1st | 0-4-0-0 | 2-2-0-0 |
| Trailing After 2nd | 0-6-0-0 | 3-3-0-0 |
| Out Shooting Opponents | 2-2-0-0 | 3-0-0-0 |
| Out Shot by Opponents | 2-4-1-0 | 4-2-1-0 |
| 1-Goal Games | 3-1-1-0 | 2-1-1-0 |
| 2-Goal Games | 0-2-0-0 | 3-1-0-0 |
| 3-Goal Games | 1-2-0-0 | 0-0-0-0 |
Rochester Americans
| # | Player | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | Sean Malone | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 11 | Lukas Rousek | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | Brandon Biro | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| 96 | Anders Bjork | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 56 | X Kale Clague | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | Jiri Kulich | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| 28 | Michael Mersch | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | X Lawrence Pilut | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Ethan Prow | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | Isak Rosen | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 71 | Filip Cederqvist | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 4 | Jeremy Davies | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 51 | Aleksandr Kisakov | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -1 |
| 44 | Tyson Kozak | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 2 | Oskari Laaksonen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 81 | Brett Murray | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 27 | Chase Priskie | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 13 | Linus Weissbach | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| # | Player | GP | W | L | OT | MIN | GA | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 63:29 | 3 | 2.84 | 0.870 |
Belleville Senators
| # | Player | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | Rourke Chartier | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | Angus Crookshank | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 7 | Viktor Lodin | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| 10 | Philippe Daoust | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 22 | X Tyler Hinam | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | Roby Jarventie | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 44 | Kristians Rubins | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| 13 | Egor Sokolov | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 24 | X Jacob Bernard-Docker | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | Maxence Guenette | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 8 | Jayce Hawryluk | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -1 |
| 3 | Dillon Heatherington | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Jacob Larsson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 9 | Jake Lucchini | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 31 | Kevin Mandolese | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | X Cedric Pare | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | Cole Reinhardt | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 33 | Lassi Thomson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 20 | Matthew Wedman | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| # | Player | GP | W | L | OT | MIN | GA | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | Kevin Mandolese | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 63:22 | 4 | 3.79 | 0.867 |