GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS LOOK TO BOUNCE BACK IN REMATCH AGAINST CRUNCH
Final home game before holidays sees Rochester looking to split week with Syracuse
Dec 19, 2024
By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48
For the second time in 48 hours, the Rochester Americans (15-9-3-0) host the Syracuse Crunch (11-8-4-3), putting a close to their pre-holiday home slate of games at Blue Cross Arena.
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Friday is the fourth of 12 meetings on the season between the Amerks and Crunch, with Rochester owning a 2-1-0-0 series lead through the previous three contests. The two sides will meet again shortly after the start of the New Year on Jan. 11.
LAST TIME OUT
On Wednesday, Syracuse broke a 1-1 tie in the second as part of a three-goal period that ultimately helped lift the Crunch past the Amerks to a 5-2 win.
Brett Murray and Isak Rosen each scored their 12th goal of the season and both rank in the top 10 of AHL goal-scorers. Rosen leads Rochester with 24 points (12+12) in as many games played.
“I’ve really got a lot of confidence,” said Rosen following Wednesday’s game. “It's my third year here, so that's what I expect for myself. I want to be a difference maker out there for our team, so it's good to get one goal, but we needed more tonight.”
Devon Levi suffered just his second regulation loss of the season and only his eighth overall as an Amerk through 36 starts, dating back to the 2023-24 season. Levi made 23 saves and has finished with more than 20 saves for a fifth straight start.
Dylan Duke scored twice for the Crunch, including an empty-net goal late in the third. The rookie forward leads Syracuse with 11 goals this season, while goaltender Brandon Halverson leads all AHL netminders with a 1.77 goals-against-average. Halverson backstopped the Crunch to victory with 31 saves as the win for Syracuse subsequently snapped the four-game win streak Rochester had brought home from the road.
HOME ALONE
While the Amerks are one of just two teams in the AHL with 11 wins on the road (leading the league along with Hershey), their fate on home ice has told a different story. Rochester possesses an 11-3-1-0 mark outside the Flower City but are a measly 4-6-2-0 at Blue Cross Arena.
“I don't know,” said Amerks head coach Michael Leone when asked about the difference between playing at home versus on the road. “It's a good question. It's probably something our staff need to figure out.”
“I haven't thought about it,” said Rosen. “But that’s because we were on the road for two weeks and won almost every game. We should be even better at home and it's still early in the season, so I guess we’ve got time to change that.”
Part of the missing ingredients for home ice success could be the team’s power-play. At home, Rochester is operating at 11.1%, ranking 30th in the league. Six of the Amerks’ 12 home games played so far have been decided by one or two goals.
ROUSEK THE REINDEER
Amerks forward Lukas Rousek has quietly amassed six points (1+5) over his last four games, ranking third overall in team scoring with three goals and 17 points. The fourth-year Amerk has 118 points (30+88) through 167 games in the red, white, and blue. While he was held without a point Wednesday, Rousek led the Amerks during the 2024 Calder Cup Playoff series against the Crunch with six points, all coming by way of assists.
Last Friday, Rousek tallied a goal and an assist facing Belleville, while going plus-3 on the night to register a career-high plus/minus rating. The Czechia-born forward has led the Amerks each of the last two seasons in assists and currently ranks first on the team with 14 through the opening third of the 2024-25 AHL campaign.
TO THE NORTH POOL(MAN)
For the first time this season, Amerks fans had the chance to watch defenseman Colton Poolman take the ice at Blue Cross Arena. The 29-year-old celebrated his birthday by drawing a spot in the lineup for his fifth game of the season and first at home after his previous four were played outside Rochester.
Poolman was signed to a one-year, two-way contract with Buffalo during the offseason after his previous four professional seasons were spent out west in the Calgary Flames’ organization.
An experienced blue liner of 218 AHL games, Poolman has six goals and 40 points to his resume, while accruing just 37 penalty minutes over that span. The East Grand Forks, Minnesota, native finished minus-1 with a shot on goal Wednesday. He has one point on the season through five games as an Amerk.
HOW THE CRUNCH STOLE CHRISTMAS
Syracuse trails Rochester by four points in the standings but have a game in hand. The Crunch have won two in a row, have points in three straight games and in eight of their last 10 contests. The Tampa Bay Lightning affiliate have played in 15 games decided by one goal, with five of their last eight contests reaching overtime.
A pair of former Pittsburgh Penguins have been leading the way for the Crunch through the opening months of the season.
Defenseman Derrick Pouliot tops all skaters in team scoring with 20 points (5+15) and is fourth in scoring amongst all AHL defensemen.
Conor Sheary, who scored Wednesday against the Amerks, ranks third on the Crunch with 14 points (6+8) in 18 games played. Sheary is a former 20-goal scorer in the NHL with nearly 600 games played.
Both Sheary and Pouliot won Stanley Cups with the Penguins in 2016, while Sheary was there again for Pittsburgh’s repeat in 2017.