GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS LOOK FOR THIRD STRAIGHT WIN TONIGHT IN UTICA
Oct 28, 2023TONIGHT'S GAME OVERVIEW
The Rochester Americans (4-1-1-0) bring the month of October to a close tonight when they take on the intrastate rival Utica Comets (1-1-2-0) at Adirondack Bank Center. The North Division showdown will be carried on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.
The Amerks and Comets, who enter their third season under the affiliation of the New Jersey Devils, will meet 12 times during the 2023-24 season.
Tonight’s matchup is the second of 11 straight against North Division opponents for the Amerks and the first of four meetings between the two teams over the next six games.
HEAD-TO-HEAD RESULT AGAINST UTICA
After earning just a pair of wins through the first five games of the season series with the Comets in 2022-23, Rochester finished the campaign with a 7-3-0-0 record in 10 games.
Rochester has won six straight games on the road against Utica, which includes this season’s preseason contest. Rochester has outscored Utica 22-12 during that same time.
The Amerks have scored at least one power-play goal in 19 of their 33 games (27-for-116) games against Utica since Seth Appert took over as head coach prior to the 2020-21 season. The team has registered multiple power-play tallies in six games overall, including two contests where they had three.
LAST TIME OUT
Forward Mason Jobst (3+0) recorded his second career hat trick while the Amerks erupted for a season-high seven goals to defeat the Laval Rocket Friday at The Blue Cross Arena.
Along with Jobst’s three-point night, Kale Clague (0+3) also tallied three points as he matched a career-high with three assists. Brandon Biro (1+1) and Lukas Rousek (1+1) each notched two points while Isak Rosen (1+0) extended his season-opening point streak to an AHL-best six straight games with a goal. Matt Savoie also scored his first pro goal in the win.
Goaltender Devin Cooley (3-0-1) made 36 saves in his fourth contest of the season while also earning his third straight win. With the victory, he’s tied for the league-lead in wins and is fifth in saves (130). Since Dec. 31, 2022, Cooley has gone 10-2-3 in the crease over his last 21 appearances.
KEEPING IT KULICH
Jiri Kulich returns for his second season in Rochester after putting up one of the most impressive and productive seasons as teenager in the history of the American Hockey League during the 2022-23 campaign.
Through the first six games of the season, Kulich is tied for eighth in overall scoring with eight points while his five goals are tied for third. Additionally, he is one of nine skaters in the league with a pair of game-winning goals. He shows six goals and nine points over his last eight games dating back to the 2023 Calder Cup Playoffs.
In 68 career AHL games, the Buffalo Sabres’ first-round selection (28th overall) in 2022 has totaled 29 goals and 25 assists for 54 points. Of his 54 points, Kulich has produced 22 career points (10+12) on the power-play.
APPERT YEAR FOUR
Seth Appert is in his fourth season as head coach of the Amerks in 2023-24 after being named to the position on August 18, 2020.
Appert is 88-72-16-7 through his first 183 regular season games behind the Amerks bench, which includes a 37-win campaign in 2021-22 that culminated with an extended playoff run as part of team’s first playoff appearance in four years.
Appert led the club to its most impressive and deepest playoff run in 23 years last season when they reached the Eastern Conference Finals. After losing three straight to close out the month of January, the resilient Amerks closed out the 2022-23 regular season going 14-8-4-2, earning points in 20 of their final 28 games.
After dropping their first two games of the Calder Cup Playoffs, the Amerks rattled off seven straight wins to complete the series comeback over the Syracuse Crunch before sweeping the top-seeded Toronto Marlies. The Amerks then came within two wins of advancing to the Calder Cup Finals.
YOUTH MOVEMENT CONTINUES IN ROCHESTER
Of the 28 players on Rochester’s current roster, half are Buffalo Sabres draft picks, including four first-round selections.
Isak Rosen (14th overall) and Jiri Kulich (28th overall) both return for their second seasons in Rochester as members of Buffalo’s first-round selections in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Kulich recorded 46 points (24+22) during his rookie campaign to be named to the inaugural AHL Top Prospects Team. He topped all Amerks in goals and finished eighth in the league in scoring amongst all rookies. Rosen ranked ninth on the team in points (37), recording 14 goals and 23 assists in 66 contests.
Ryan Johnson (1st round, 2019), Viktor Neuchev (3rd round, 2022), Olivier Nadeau (4th round, 2021), and Nikita Novikov (6th round, 2021) all began their North American professional careers after being selected by Buffalo. Zach Metsa, the captain of Quinnipiac’s 2023 national championship team, will make his regular season debut after he skated in 13 games during Rochester’s run to the Eastern Conference Finals this past spring.
Matt Savoie (1st round, 2022) Aleksandr Kisakov (2nd round, 2021), Brett Murray (4th round, 2019), Filip Cederqvist (5th round, 2019), Lukas Rousek (6th round, 2019), Linus Weissbach (7th round, 2017), Tyson Kozak (7th round, 2021) round out the Sabres NHL Draft picks.
ANOTHER FIRST-ROUNDER IN ROCHESTER
Earlier this week, the Buffalo Sabres loaned rookie forward Matt Savoie to Rochester on a conditioning assignment. Savoie made his regular season debut on Wednesday after starting the campaign on the injured reserved.
Prior to joining the Amerks in Games 2 and 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals against Hershey this past May, the highly touted 19-year-old totaled 192 points (73+119) in 149 career games with the WHL’s Winnipeg Ice from 2019-23. He was named a WHL East First All-Star Team selection in 2022.
Savoie is the second member of Buffalo’s 2022 Draft class to appear in one game with the Amerks, joining Kulich, and the sixth first-rounder since the start of 2016 (Alexander Nylander, Casey Mittelstadt, Ryan Johnson, Jack Quinn, Isak Rosen, Jiri Kulich). With the exception of Nylander and Mittelstadt, all players began their professional careers in Rochester.
WORKING OVERTIME
Rochester overtime win against Laval on Oct. 18 was the third straight game that went beyond regulation. Never before in the near-68-year history of the franchise have the Amerks opened a season with three consecutive overtime contests.
Dating back to last season, 11 of Rochester’s previous 21 regular-season games have required overtime to determine a winner.
Rochester tied an AHL record with 29 overtime games in 2017-18 showing a 9-11 record in overtime and 3-6 in the shootout.
SERIES NOTABLES
Rosen (4+5) and Kulich (5+3) lead the Amerks with nine and eight points, respectively, through their first six games this season. Entering the weekend, Nikita Novikov leads all AHL rookie defensemen in assists with four.
Amerks defenseman Riley Stillman goes up against his younger brother, Chase, for the first in their pro careers. Chase in his rookie season after being selected in the first round (29th overall) by the New Jersey devils in 2021. Their father, Cory Stillman, appeared in 1,025 games at the NHL level, totaling 727 points (278+449) and won a pair of Stanley Cup Championships. Bud Stefanski, Riley and Chase’s grandfather, tallied 425 points (176+249) in the AHL and captured the 1984 Calder Cup and was named playoff MVP.
Comets forward Kyle Criscuolo is in his first season with the New Jersey Devils organization. In parts of two seasons with Rochester, he posted 54 points (21+33) in 94 games from 2017-19 while also skating in six playoff contests. He made his NHL debut with the Buffalo Sabres as part of a nine-game stint in 2017-18.
Utica forward Tyce Thopmson is the younger brother of former Amerk and current Buffalo Sabres forward Tage Thompson.
Utica Comets vs Rochester Americans: Head To Head Stats
Summary
|
Description |
Result |
|
| Head to Head Record 2023-24 Regular Season | Utica 0-0-0-0 | Rochester 0-0-0-0 |
| Head to Head Record 2022-23 Regular Season | Utica 3-4-1-2 | Rochester 7-3-0-0 |
| Last 5 Years record between teams | Utica 21-15-2-3 | Rochester 20-18-1-2 |
| Utica vs. Rochester Last 5 Years record at Utica | Utica 11-7-0-2 | Rochester 9-9-1-1 |
| Utica vs. Rochester Last 5 Years record at Rochester | Utica 10-8-2-1 | Rochester 11-9-0-1 |
How the two teams match up
|
Rochester |
Utica |
|
| Team Record | 4-1-1-0 -- 9 points | 1-1-2-0 -- 4 points |
| Division Ranking | 1st North | 6th North |
| Conference Ranking | 1st Eastern | 13th Eastern |
| League Ranking | 3rd | 27th |
| Past 10 Games | 4-1-1-0 | 1-1-2-0 |
| Streak | 2-0-0-0 | 1-0-1-0 |
| Last Game | 7-4 W vs Laval (Oct 27 2023) Final | 4-2 W @ Syracuse (Oct 27 2023) Final |
| Home Record | 2-0-1-0 | 0-0-1-0 |
| Away Record | 2-1-0-0 | 1-1-1-0 |
| GF | 28 | 10 |
| GA | 27 | 13 |
| PP (Overall) | (7/22) 31.8% | (2/15) 13.3% |
| PP (Home) | (3/9) 33.3% | (0/4) 0.0% |
| PP (Away) | (4/13) 30.8% | (2/11) 18.2% |
| PK (Overall) | (9/30) 70.0% | (3/18) 83.3% |
| PK (Home) | (4/13) 69.2% | (2/5) 60.0% |
| PK (Away) | (5/17) 70.6% | (1/13) 92.3% |
| PP vs. Opp. | (0/0) 0% | (0/0) 0% |
| PK vs. Opp. | (0/0) 0% | (0/0) 0% |
| Leading Rookie | Novikov (0-4-4) | Parent (1-2-3) |
| Most PIM | Cecconi - 26 | Russo - 10 |
| Team PIM/GM | 15.8/Game | 12.2/Game |
| Leading Scorers | Rosen (4-5-9) | Willman (3-2-5) |
| Kulich (5-3-8) | Clarke (2-1-3) | |
| Davies (2-4-6) | Parent (1-2-3) | |
| Jobst (3-2-5) | Dowling (0-3-3) | |
| Kisakov (3-2-5) | Foote (1-1-2) | |
| Last 5 Games | 7-4 W vs Laval (Oct 27 2023) Final | 4-2 W @ Syracuse (Oct 27 2023) Final |
| 4-3 W vs Charlotte (Oct 25 2023) Final | 2-1 L @ Bridgeport (Oct 21 2023) Final OT | |
| 8-4 L @ Laval (Oct 20 2023) Final | 5-2 L @ Toronto (Oct 15 2023) Final | |
| 5-4 W @ Laval (Oct 18 2023) Final OT | 4-3 L vs Syracuse (Oct 13 2023) Final OT | |
| 5-4 W @ Toronto (Oct 14 2023) Final OT | ||
| Leading After 1st | 2-0-0-0 | 1-0-0-0 |
| Leading After 2nd | 2-0-0-0 | 1-0-0-0 |
| Tied After 1st | 0-0-0-0 | 0-0-1-0 |
| Tied After 2nd | 0-0-1-0 | 0-0-0-0 |
| Trailing After 1st | 2-1-1-0 | 0-1-1-0 |
| Trailing After 2nd | 2-1-0-0 | 0-1-2-0 |
| Out Shooting Opponents | 2-1-0-0 | 0-0-2-0 |
| Out Shot by Opponents | 2-0-1-0 | 1-1-0-0 |
| 1-Goal Games | 3-0-1-0 | 0-0-2-0 |
| 2-Goal Games | 0-0-0-0 | 1-0-0-0 |
| 3-Goal Games | 1-0-0-0 | 0-1-0-0 |