GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS HOST ROCKET IN THANKSGIVING EVE MATCHUP
Nov 22, 2023TONIGHT'S GAME OVERVIEW
The Rochester Americans (8-4-2-0) continue their stretch of 11 straight games against North Division opponents tonight when they host the Laval Rocket (5-9-1-0) in the first of back-to-back meetings at The Blue Cross Arena. The pre-Thanksgiving showdown will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.
The Amerks and Rocket, who enter their seventh season in the AHL and third under head coach Jean-François Houle, will meet eight times during the 2023-24 regular season, with tonight being the second of four in Rochester. Through three games of the season-series, the North Division rivals have combined for 32 goals with each scoring 16 times.
HEAD-TO-HEAD RESULTS AGAINST LAVAL
Dating back to last season, Amerks forward Jiri Kulich has recorded seven goals and three assists in 11 career contests against the Rocket.
Including Kulich, who scored his first career hat trick back on Oct. 18 in Laval, Rocket forward Joshua Roy and Amerks forward Mason Jobst have also recorded three-goal outings on Oct. 20 and Oct. 27, respectively.
Rochester has picked up at least one point in 14 of its first 19 road games in Laval, going 12-5-2-0 over that span. Conversely, since the start of the 2017-18 campaign, the Amerks have posted a near-perfect 12-3-0-0 mark at The Blue Cross Arena versus Laval.
Rochester has never had a losing season versus the Rocket and have gone 4-3-1-0 each of the last two seasons.
LAST TIME OUT
Isak Rosen recorded a career-high four points (2+2) to help the Amerks earn a 7-5 win over the Cleveland Monsters in a high-scoring, back-and-forth affair Saturday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Along with Rosen amassing a multi-point performance, Ethan Prow, Michael Mersch, and Lukas Rousek all notched two assists each. Jiri Kulich, Mason Jobst, and Riley Stillman each had one goal in the win. Jeremy Davies, Tyson Kozak, Nikita Novikov, Viktor Neuchev rounded out the scoring as they added an assist while Brandon Biro had two goals.
Goaltender Dustin Tokarski (3-1-1) made his fifth appearance of the season and second straight against the Monsters.
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 10 and nine points, respectively, through Rochester’s first 14 games of the season.
Davies, who scored a career-high 11 goals last season, including three game-winning tallies, ranks fifth amongst all AHL blueliners with a team-high 41 shots. He’s recorded at least one shot in all but two games this season. Davies, who closed out the month of October on a five-game point streak, has recorded at least one point in eight of his first 14 games this season, never going more than three straight games without a point.
Clague, meanwhile, currently is tied for seventh among all rearguards with eight assists in 12 games. Clague opened the campaign with three multi-point performances through his first six 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 this past weekend in Cleveland, scoring his team-leading 10 goal in just his 14th game. Kulich, whose 24 goals last season were the second-most ever by an 18-year-old in league history, is currently tied for fourth in the AHL in goals. The second-year forward, who hasn’t gone more than three games without a goal this season, joined Luke Adam (2013-14) and Jack Quinn (2021-22) as the only other Amerks skaters to score nine goals through their first 11 games.
Coming off a career-best four points (2+2) Saturday in Cleveland, Rosen is tied for seventh in scoring in the AHL with a team-best 17 points while his 10 assists are tied for 15th-most.
The duo has combined for 114 points (55+59) in 154 regular season games. Rochester boasts an 18-3-2-1 record when they each record at least one point in the same game as well as a near-perect 8-1-0-0 mark when they both score in the same game.
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 on Nov. 3rd 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 3-1-1 in his first five starts, recently 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 appeared in his 400th AHL game against the Comets.
Entering this week, the 34-year-old Tokarski is three wins away from tying Nick Damore for 12th all-time in career wins (208). He also ranks 18th all-time in games played (404) 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.
SCORING IN BUNCHES
The Amerks come into the holiday week with the AHL’s second-best offense, averaging 3.86 goals per game through 14 games of the season. Their 54 goals are the fifth-most in the AHL and one off the league lead.
Rochester has put up at least four goals in nine of its first 14 games, including six outings with five goals or more.
The Amerks are a perfect 5-0-0-0 this season when scoring five goals in a game. Rochester is also tied for second in the AHL with 18 first-period tallies this season.
SERIES NOTABLES
Laval goaltender Strauss Mann was credited with a goal in the first meeting between the two teams on Oct. 18, an 8-4 win for the Rocket.
First-year forward Joshua Roy is currently tied for first in the AHL in rookie scoring with 18 points (7+11) in his first 15 games. Roy, who, paces all first-year players in assists (11), had a season-best five-point effort against the Amerks on Oct. 20, which featured a natural hat trick and two assists.
Rocket forward Joel Armia spent parts of two seasons (2013-15) with the Amerks, recording 52 points (17+35) in 87 career games. Armia was formerly a first-round pick (16th overall) of the Buffalo Sabres in 2011.