GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS LOOK FOR THIRD STRAIGHT WIN TONIGHT IN BELLEVILLE
Oct 27, 2021TONIGHT'S GAME OVERVIEW
The Rochester Americans (2-1-0-0) are back north of the border tonight as the they continue their four-game Canadian road swing with a North Division matchup against the Belleville Senators (1-3-0-0) at CAA Arena. The 7:00 p.m. contest game will be the first between the two teams since March 7, 2020 and will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM ESPN Rochester as well as AHLTV.
The Amerks and the Senators will meet a total of eight times during the 2021-22 campaign, with tonight’s matchup representing the first of four in Belleville. Following tonight’s tilt, the teams are idle until the Senators make their first trip to Rochester next Wednesday on Nov. 3.
HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES SNAPSHOT
Rochester is 9-9-0 all-time against Belleville despite being outscored 61-59 through the first 18 meetings with the Senators. The Amerks also boast a 6-0-3-0 all-time record on the road against Belleville, having earned at least one point in all nine meetings thus far north of the border.
Over the last 18 games in the head-to-head series with the Senators, the Ameks have scored two or more goals in 15 contests, which includes 11 games where they have produced four or more tallies.
In the last meeting with Belleville on March 7, 2020, the Amerks faced a one-goal deficit going into the final period of regulation, but thanks to three unanswered goals, including a pair in the final 1:12, the Amerks completed the weekend sweep over the then North Division-leading Senators with a 4-2 victory in the season series finale between the two teams. The season would then be paused five days later as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
LAST TIME OUT
The Amerks erupted for four first-period goals and saw five different forwards record multi-point efforts, including three-point outings from Michael Mersch (1+2) and Mark Jankowski (0+3), as the team began its four-game Canadian road swing with a convincing 7-3 win over the Toronto Marlies Saturday afternoon at Coca-Cola Coliseum.
The victory, Rochester’s first in Canada since March 24, 2019, improved the club to a 10-3-1-0 record in the last 14 meetings against the Marlies, which includes a near-perfect 5-1-0-0 mark in 2018-19. Over the last 29 games in the head-to-head series with Toronto, the Amerks have scored two or more goals in 23 contests, which includes 10 games where they have produced five or more tallies.
In addition to Mersch and Jankowski’s multi-point outings, Jack Quinn continued his hot start to the year, scoring twice in the opening period, including the eventual game-winner. The rookie forward has opened the season with at least one goal in each of his first three games while already doubling his total from last season. After combining for five points (3+2) in two games, he starts the week tied for first among all AHL rookies in goals (4) and second in points (6).
Ryan MacInnis and Brendan Warren completed the scoring on the night with their first goals of the season.
Goaltender Aaron Dell made his Amerks debut and earned his first win of the season as he stopped 27 of the 30 shots he faced.
APPER YEAR TWO
Seth Appert is in his second season as head coach of the Amerks in 2021-22 after being named to the position on August 18, 2020.
In his first campaign behind the Amerks bench, he guided the team to an 11-15-2-1 record over a condensed 29-game season in 2020-21. Despite the shortened season, however, player development was still very much a priority for Appert and his staff as evidenced by more than a dozen players earning recalls to the parent Buffalo Sabres, including Appert himself at one point. Excluding Andrew Oglevie and Casey Fitzgerald, who were recalled to the team’s taxi squad but never saw any game action, nine made their Sabres debuts and five made their National Hockey League debuts.
Rochester also had five different goaltenders dress during the 2020-21 season, the most since the club used seven in 2014-15. All three goaltenders to play with both Rochester and Buffalo earned a win with each club, with both Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Michael Houser picking up their first NHL victories, respectively.
QUINN-TISSENTIAL QUALITIES
Jack Quinn comes into the week as one of 10 AHL rookies currently leading his respective team in scoring.
His three-game goal-scoring streak is currently the longest active streak in the AHL.
Coming off goals in three straight games to open the season, the Ottawa, Ontario, native has totaled nine points (4+5) in his last six games dating back to last season.
Just three games into the 2021-22 season, Quinn has already doubled his goal total from last season and is within three points of his career point total.
He is the third eighth overall pick of the Sabres in the last five years to spend time in Rochester, joining Alexander Nylander (2016) and Casey Mittelstadt (2017), and the second to make his pro debut with the Amerks.
HEAD OF THE ROOKIE CLASS
The Amerks currently own three of the AHL’s top scoring rookies in Jack Quinn, JJ Peterka and Linus Weissbach, who have combined for 14 points (7+7) through their first three games of the season.
Quinn, Buffalo’s eighth overall pick in 2020, comes into the week tied for the league lead in goals (4) and second in points (6) among all AHL rookies. His six points also place him inside the league’s top five point-getters overall.
Peterka, meanwhile, is tied for fourth among all first-year players with four assists while his five points are also fourth-most. He and Quinn, taken just 26 picks apart from one another by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2020 NHL Draft, make up the only rookie duo across the AHL to rank first and second on their respective team in scoring.
After going scoreless in his pro debut, Weissbach has recorded three points over his last two games, including a two-goal effort Saturday in Toronto. Buffalo’s seventh-round selection in 2017, Weissbach comes into the week tied for sixth in goals (2) and 13th in scoring among all AHL rookies. He’s in his first pro season following four years at the University of Wisconsin.
SERIES NOTABLES
Tonight’s contest features five players selected in the 2020 NHL Draft which includes Belleville’s Egor Sokolov (2nd round, 61st overall), Roby Javentie (2nd round, 33rd overall) and Cole Reinhardt (6th round, 181st overall) and Rochester’s Jack Quinn (1st round, 8th overall) and JJ Peterka (2nd round, 34th overall).
Casey Fitzgerald, Sean Malone and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen are the only three Amerks that were on Rochester’s roster during the last meeting with the Belleville.
In 19 combined games all-time against the Senators, Malone (17 games, 3+7) and Fitzgerald (2 games, 0+0) have posted 10 points. Luukkonen has two appearances versus Belleville while showing a 1-0-1 career record.
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.
Belleville Senators vs Rochester Americans: Head To Head Stats
Summary
|
Description |
Result |
|
| Head to Head Record 2021-22 Regular Season | Belleville 0-0-0-0 | Rochester 0-0-0-0 |
| Head to Head Record 2020-21 Regular Season | Belleville 0-0-0-0 | Rochester 0-0-0-0 |
| Last 5 Years record between teams | Belleville 9-7-2-0 | Rochester 9-5-4-0 |
| Belleville vs. Rochester Last 5 Years record at Belleville | Belleville 3-4-2-0 | Rochester 6-0-3-0 |
| Belleville vs. Rochester Last 5 Years record at Rochester | Belleville 6-3-0-0 | Rochester 3-5-1-0 |
How the 2 teams match up
|
Rochester |
Belleville |
|
| Team Record | 2-1-0-0 -- 4 points | 1-3-0-0 -- 2 points |
| Division Ranking | 3rd North | 7th North |
| Conference Ranking | 7th Eastern | 14th Eastern |
| League Ranking | 12th | 27th |
| Past 10 Games | 2-1-0-0 | 1-3-0-0 |
| Streak | 2-0-0-0 | 0-2-0-0 |
| Last Game | 7-3 W @ Toronto (Oct 23 2021) Final | 2-1 L vs Cleveland (Oct 23 2021) Final |
| Home Record | 1-0-0-0 | 1-2-0-0 |
| Away Record | 1-1-0-0 | 0-1-0-0 |
| GF | 14 | 8 |
| GA | 12 | 14 |
| PP (Overall) | (0/9) 0.0% | (2/22) 9.1% |
| PP (Home) | (0/3) 0.0% | (1/16) 6.3% |
| PP (Away) | (0/6) 0.0% | (1/6) 16.7% |
| PK (Overall) | (2/9) 77.8% | (1/12) 91.7% |
| PK (Home) | (1/6) 83.3% | (1/9) 88.9% |
| PK (Away) | (1/3) 66.7% | (0/3) 100.0% |
| PP vs. Opp. | (0/0) 0% | (0/0) 0% |
| PK vs. Opp. | (0/0) 0% | (0/0) 0% |
| Leading Rookie | Quinn (4-2-6) | Wedman (2-0-2) |
| Most PIM | MacInnis - 12 | Agozzino - 6 |
| Team PIM/GM | 16.7/Game | 7.0/Game |
| Leading Scorers | Quinn (4-2-6) | Åberg (1-2-3) |
| Peterka (1-4-5) | Lucchini (2-0-2) | |
| Jankowski (0-4-4) | Wedman (2-0-2) | |
| Weissbach (2-1-3) | Chartier (1-1-2) | |
| Malone (1-2-3) | Aspirot (0-2-2) | |
| Last 5 Games | 7-3 W @ Toronto (Oct 23 2021) Final | 2-1 L vs Cleveland (Oct 23 2021) Final |
| 5-3 W vs Syracuse (Oct 22 2021) Final | 4-0 L vs Cleveland (Oct 22 2021) Final | |
| 6-2 L @ Utica (Oct 17 2021) Final | 5-2 W vs Laval (Oct 16 2021) Final | |
| 6-2 L @ Laval (Oct 15 2021) Final | ||
| Leading After 1st | 1-0-0-0 | 0-1-0-0 |
| Leading After 2nd | 2-0-0-0 | 1-0-0-0 |
| Tied After 1st | 1-0-0-0 | 1-1-0-0 |
| Tied After 2nd | 0-0-0-0 | 0-0-0-0 |
| Trailing After 1st | 0-1-0-0 | 0-1-0-0 |
| Trailing After 2nd | 0-1-0-0 | 0-3-0-0 |
| Out Shooting Opponents | 0-1-0-0 | 1-1-0-0 |
| Out Shot by Opponents | 2-0-0-0 | 0-2-0-0 |
| 1-Goal Games | 0-0-0-0 | 0-1-0-0 |
| 2-Goal Games | 1-0-0-0 | 0-0-0-0 |
| 3-Goal Games | 0-0-0-0 | 1-0-0-0 |