GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS HOST ROCKET IN BATTLE FOR THIRD PLACE TONIGHT
Jan 27, 2024TONIGHT'S GAME OVERVIEW
It’s a battle for third place in the American Hockey League’s North Division tonight as the Rochester Americans (19-14-3-1) continue their four-game homestand against the Laval Rocket (18-15-4-2) at The Blue Cross Arena. Game time is slated for a 5:05 p.m. start and will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.
The Amerks, who saw their three-game winning streak halted last night, enter the weekend in a third-place tie with the Rocket in the AHL’s North Division standings. Rochester, however, has two games in hand on Laval, which suffered its first regulation loss since Dec. 28 last night in Syracuse.
Laval, which is 8-1-1-0 over its last 10 games, is looking to avoid back-to-back regulation losses for the first time since the first week of December.
HEAD-TO-HEAD RESULTS AGAINST LAVAL
Dating back to last season, Amerks forward Jiri Kulich has recorded eight goals, including four through the first four games of the 2023-24 season series, as well as five assists in 13 career contests against the Rocket.
Rochester has picked up at least one point in 15 of its first 20 road games in Laval, going 13-5-2-0 over that span. Conversely, since the start of the 2017-18 campaign, the Amerks have posted a near-perfect 13-3-0-0 mark at The Blue Cross Arena versus Laval, including all three meetings this season.
Rochester has never had a losing season versus the Rocket and have gone 4-3-1-0 each of the last two seasons. The Amerks have a 4-1-0-0 mark through the first five games of the 2023-24 campaign.
LAST TIME OUT
The Amerks were unable to solve goaltender Isaac Poulter and the Utica Comets as they were shutout 4-0 on Friday night at The Blue Cross Arena.
With the defeat, Rochester saw its three-game win streak come to an end as well as its three-game home win streak dating back to Jan. 5.
Forwards Brett Murray and Jiri Kulich both recorded a team-high four shots on goal for Rochester while rookie defenseman Nikita Novikov topped the club’s blueliners with three.
Goaltender Devin Cooley (6-5-2) made his 13th appearance of the campaign, stopping 24 shots he faced.
THE BEST OFFENSE IS A GOOD DEFENSE
Jeremy Davies and Kale Clague are among the AHL’s top scoring defensemen, having combined for eight goals and 36 points this season. Davies’ five goals are tied for 21st-most amongst all blueliners.
Davies, who scored a career-high 11 goals last season, including three game-winning tallies, is 16th amongst all defensemen with 83 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 15 of his first 33 games this season, never going more than four straight games without a point.
Clague, meanwhile, is tied for 17th among all blueliners with 16 assists in 34 games. Clague opened the campaign with three multi-point performances and enters the weekend with five points (2+3) over his last five games.
DYNAMIC DUO: ALL-STAR BOUND
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. Both were named to the North Division All-Star roster for the upcoming 2024 AHL All-Star Classic, which will take place Feb. 4-5 in San Jose, California.
Kulich’s torrid start to the season has him tied for 11th in the AHL with a team-high 16 goals despite having only appeared in 29 games for Rochester. Among the 10 players ahead of him, all but one have skated in at least 37 games. Of his 16 goals, four of them have been overtime game-winners, most in the league in that category. Only Ontario’s Samuel Fagemo, who has 20 goals in 24 games this season and is currently on recall with the LA Kings, has scored more goals in fewer games across the AHL than Kulich.
Kulich, whose 24 goals last season were the second-most ever by an 18-year-old in league history, recently captained Czechia to a bronze medal at the 2024 World Junior Championship. He led all Czech skaters and tied for first in overall scoring with 12 points (6+6) in seven games, including his second four-point outing of the tournament in the bronze medal game.
He was named to the tournament’s All-Star Team for the second straight year in his final appearance. The 8-5 win, which saw Czechia overcome a 5-2 deficit with four goals in less than a minute, gave the Czechs their second straight medal finish after winning silver last year.
With 13 points over his last 20 games, which includes a career-best four point (2+2) effort on Nov. 18, Rosen has a share of the team scoring lead with 26 points after returning from a seven-game stint with the Sabres last month. He is third amongst all Amerks in goals (10) and has matched his totaled from last season in game-winning tallies through just 33 games.
Back on Nov. 25, Kulich and Rosen both made their NHL debuts with the Buffalo Sabres against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center
The duo have combined for 133 points (64+69) in 189 regular season games. Rochester boasts an impressive 22-3-2-1 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.
ROUSEK RACKING UP THE POINTS
Lukas Rousek has been the team’s most consistent point-getter over the last month, performing at nearly a point-per-game pace as he shows 26 points (7+19) in 32 games with the Amerks.
Rousek, a sixth-round selection (160th overall) by the Sabres in the 2019 NHL Draft, has a team-best 19 assists and is tied with Rosen for the overall scoring lead while his seven goals are sixth. Among all Amerks who have appeared in at least 28 games, he is third in points per game (0.81).
The third-year pro and AHL All-Star saw his career-long 13-game point streak come to an end last night. Dating back to Dec. 20, he totaled 14 points (4+10). It marked the longest point streak in the league with only Toronto’s Alex Steeves having posted a longer point streak (16 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. Since the start of 2021-22 season, Rousek has recorded 86 points (24+62) in 121 games.
APPERT REACHES 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 103-85-18-8 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.
WORKING OVERTIME
The 6-5 overtime loss in Cleveland earlier this month was the third game over the last 12 for Rochester that went beyond regulation, which includes three shootout decisions last month. Overall, the Amerks have gone to extra time on 13 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 13 games decided beyond regulation this season. Dating back to last season, 21 of Rochester’s previous 50 regular-season games have required overtime to determine a winner.
Of the 80 games Rochester played since start of 2023, 25 have been decided beyond regulation. Jiri Kulich scored the game-winning goal in four contests over that span while Linus Weissbach sealed the victory in the shootout twice.
The Amerks show a 14-11 mark over that span, which includes an 11-5 record on the road, compared to 3-6 on home ice. In the 16 road contests decided after 60 minutes of play outside Rochester, the Amerks hold a 7-3 in overtime and are 4-2 in the shootout.
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 7-6-2 in his first 15 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 six wins away from tying Red Almas for 11th all-time in career wins (218). He’s also one game away from tying Neil Little for 16th all-time (415) 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, a former first-round selection (10th overall) of the Colorado Avalanche in the 2016 NHL Draft.
The St. Albert, Alberta, native made his Amerks debut on Dec. 29 against Hershey and has since recorded seven points (2+5) through his first 10 games, having earned at least one point in all but five games thus far.
Jost has totaled 14 points (7+7) in 23 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.
Jost spent one season at the University of North Dakota in 2016-17, amassing 35 points (16+19) in 33 games. He finished the campaign second on the club in both assists and points while ranking third in goals.
Before joining North Dakota, Jost totaled 149 points (97+65) in 97 career contests with the Penticton Vees (BCHL) from 2013-2016. During his final season, Jost was named Hockey Canada’s Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL) National Player of the Year, as well as the CJHL’s MVP and Top Forward. Additionally, he was also named the BCHL MVP as he amassed 42 goals and 104 points in 48 games, leading the BCHL in assists (62).
Internationally, Jost led Canada at the 2016 Under-18 World Championship in Grand Forks, where he set a new Canadian scoring record with 15 points in seven games. He led the tournament in scoring and was named the Top Forward while also earning a gold medal with Canada at the 2015 World Junior ‘A’ Challenge.
SABRES, AMERKS SWAP GOALIES
Earlier this week, the Buffalo Sabres recalled rookie goaltender Devin Levi from Rochester and loaned Eric Comrie from the big club.
Comrie began the campaign with the Sabres, showing a 1-5-0 record and a .863 save percentage in seven appearances. In 54 career NHL games with Buffalo, Winnipeg, New Jersey and Detroit, Comrie has posted a 23-24-2 record to go along with a pair of shutouts.
The former second-round selection (59th overall) of Winnipeg in 2013 has appeared in 21 games at the AHL level. The Edmonton, Alberta, native boasts a 93-95-21 record and 11 shutouts since the start of 2013-14 with Rochester, Manitoba, Tucson and St. John’s.
Last Wednesday, Comrie logged his first career shutout with the Amerks and first in the AHL since April 24, 2024 as the club blanked Lehigh Valley.
With his first start of the season for the Amerks on Jan. 5 versus Cleveland, Comrie became the fifth different netminder to appear in a game this season for the Amerks. It marked the third straight year Rochester has had five or more goaltenders play in its crease and first since a three-year stretch between 1995 and 1998.