GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS LOOK TO GET EVEN IN REMATCH WITH CRUNCH TONIGHT
Jan 8, 2022TONIGHT'S GAME OVERVIEW
The Rochester Americans (18-10-0-0) close out their busy stretch of three games in four nights in a rematch with the Syracuse Crunch (10-10-2-1) tonight at Upstate Medical University Arena. The 7:00 p.m. contest will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.
The Amerks have won 10 of their last 13 games and are 6-4-0-0 over their previous 10 after picking up a 5-2 decision last night against Hartford. Syracuse enters the matchup showing a 5-5-0-0 mark in that same span.
HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES SNAPSHOT
The Amerks have scored a power-play goal in 14 of their last 24 games against Syracuse, going 24-for-88 (27.3%) with the man-advantage over that span.
Rochester has collected at least one point in 23 of the last 36 games against Syracuse dating back to the start of the 2018-19 campaign, going 19-13-3-1.
Over the last five years, the Amerks have posted a 14-7-2-0 record on the road against the Crunch compared to a 9-11-2-1 mark when the teams have met in the Flower City. In the only other meeting this season in Syracuse, Rochester doubled up the Crunch 4-2 back on Nov. 27.
BALANCING ACT
With five players performing at or near a point-per-game pace, the Amerks have the AHL’s top-producing offense and are currently averaging just under four goals per game. With a league-best 107 goals this season, the Amerks are currently the only team to surpass the 100-goal mark so far in 2021-22.
The Amerks own three of the league’s top 12 point-getters in veteran forward Michael Mersch and rookie forwards Jack Quinn and JJ Peterka. Mersch enters the weekend leading the AHL in goals and ranking second in points while Quinn and Peterka are second and third in rookie scoring, respectively. Quinn is also second among all AHL rookies in goals (12) and Peterka continues to pace all first-year players with a team-high 19 assists.
After making his NHL debut with the Buffalo Sabres last week and appearing in the team’s final two games of the 2021 calendar year, Peterka returned to the Amerks lineup last weekend, notching five points on two goals and three assists. For his efforts, the rookie forward was named the AHL’s Player of the Week for the period ending Jan. 2, 2022. He became the second Amerk this season to earn the weekly honors, joining goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
POWER UP
Now 28 games into the season, Rochester’s power-play has gone 26-for-100 with a 26.0% conversion rate that is currently tops in the AHL. The Amerks’ 26 goals on the man-advantage are most among all North Division teams and only two off the AHL lead behind only the Springfield Thunderbirds.
The Amerks have scored at least one power-play goal in 17 of their first 28 games this season and have registered multiple power-play tallies in six overall, including a season-high four goals in the 7-3 win over Hershey back on Nov. 26.
Rochester scored a power-play in seven straight games between Nov. 17 and Dec. 8, the longest such streak in the AHL this season.
MERSCH LEADING BY EXAMPLE
With an assist last night versus Hartford, Mersch became the first Amerk this season and just the second player in the AHL to reach the 30-point mark. He’s now reached the mark six times in his eight-year pro career.
Mersch has totaled 17 points (9+10) and four multi-point efforts over his last 14 games dating back to Nov. 24. He’s been held scoreless just four times over that span to move into second in the AHL in scoring with 30 points (16+14) on the season, trailing only Chicago’s Andrew Poturalski for most in the league. The Amerks captain began that stretch with a five-game goal-scoring streak, the longest of his career and the longest in the AHL this season, while his five-game point marked his longest since posting a career-best seven-game point streak back in 2015.
With a league-leading 16 goals this season, Mersch has doubled his output from the previous season in three fewer games and is on pace to reach the 20-goal mark for the fifth time in eight years and the first time since the 2018-19 season as a member of the Texas Stars.
He’s also on pace to reach the 20-goal mark in the fewest amount of games since 2015-16 when he scored 20 in 35 games with the Ontario Reign. He finished that season with 24 goals in only 52 appearances while also appearing in 17 games with the Los Angeles Kings.
Mersch is well on his way to become the first Amerk to score 20 goals in the fastest amount of games since Luke Adam reached the mark in 31 games during the 2013-14 season.
Over Mersch’s last eight contests, he has produced 11 points on four goals and seven assists as well as three straight multi-point outings dating back to Dec. 15. He’s also the lone Amerk to appear in all 28 games this season.
FANTASTIC FOUR
The Amerks currently own four of the AHL’s top scoring rookies in JJ Peterka, Jack Quinn, Peyton Krebs and Brandon Biro, all of whom have combined for 85 points (25+60) through the first 28 games this season.
Peterka has moved to within four points of the AHL rookie scoring lead following his five-point weekend which garnered him Player of the Week honors. He leads all first-year players with a team-high 19 assists while his 25 points are third-most. He and Quinn, taken just 26 picks apart from one another by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2020 NHL Draft, currently make up one of only four rookie duos across the entire AHL to rank inside the top four on their respective team in scoring.
Coming off a two-point effort in last night’s 5-2 win over Hartford, Quinn, Buffalo’s eighth overall pick in 2020, ranks second among all AHL rookies in goals (12) and points (26) in 19 games. Named the AHL Rookie of the Month for October, he is one of only eight league rookies this season to reach the 20-point mark and he, Peterka, Mersch and Sean Malone remain the only Amerks to accomplish the feat.
Currently on recall with Buffalo, Krebs has amassed 19 points on four goals and 15 assists in 18 games, tying for ninth among all AHL rookie skaters.
Biro, meanwhile, has 10 points (4+6) over his last 11 games dating back to Nov. 27. He also has three multi-point efforts in five games over that span.
SERIES NOTABLES
Of the 14 different defensemen the Amerks have used this season, 12 have notched at least one point while eight have recorded one goal.
Rochester enters tonight having scored 34 goals in the opening period of play this season, which are most in the AHL. Conversely, the Crunch have only scored 19 times in the first 20 minutes of regulation, which are fewest in the Eastern Conference.
Goaltender Aaron Dell has backstopped the Amerks to five straight wins through his first five starts with Rochester. Until now, the netminder has never began a season with a win in each of his first five starts at either the NHL or AHL level. He’s is on pace to match his career-best seven-game win streak he posted from March 20 to April 7, 2015 with Worcester. In each of his five appearances this season, he has made 25 or more saves while also averaging 30 shots-against.
Crunch defenseman Ryan Jones spent the 2020-21 campaign with the Amerks, recording seven points (1+6) while being the lone skater to appear in all 29 games last season. Additionally, forward Remi Elie was also with Rochester from 2018-2021, tallying 55 points (31+24) in 99 career games.
Rochester Americans vs Syracuse Crunch: Head To Head Stats
Summary
|
Description |
Result |
|
| Head to Head Record 2021-22 Regular Season | Rochester 2-1-0-0 | Syracuse 1-2-0-0 |
| Head to Head Record 2020-21 Regular Season | Rochester 5-5-2-0 | Syracuse 7-4-1-0 |
| Last 5 Years record between teams | Rochester 23-18-4-1 | Syracuse 23-15-5-3 |
| Rochester vs. Syracuse Last 5 Years record at Rochester | Rochester 9-11-2-1 | Syracuse 14-5-3-1 |
| Rochester vs. Syracuse Last 5 Years record at Syracuse | Rochester 14-7-2-0 | Syracuse 9-10-2-2 |
| Previous Meetings This Season | Syracuse 2 @ Rochester 1 (Jan 5 2022) Final Rochester 4 @ Syracuse 2 (Nov 27 2021) Final Syracuse 3 @ Rochester 5 (Oct 22 2021) Final |
How the two teams match up
|
Syracuse |
Rochester |
|
| Team Record | 10-10-2-1 -- 23 points | 18-10-0-0 -- 36 points |
| Division Ranking | 6th North | 2nd North |
| Conference Ranking | 11th Eastern | 3rd Eastern |
| League Ranking | 23rd | 8th |
| Past 10 Games | 5-5-0-0 | 6-4-0-0 |
| Streak | 3-0-0-0 | 1-0-0-0 |
| Last Game | 5-3 W vs Hershey (Jan 7 2022) Final | 5-2 W vs Hartford (Jan 7 2022) Final |
| Home Record | 4-6-0-1 | 9-4-0-0 |
| Away Record | 6-4-2-0 | 9-6-0-0 |
| GF | 68 | 107 |
| GA | 76 | 100 |
| PP (Overall) | (19/91) 20.9% | (26/100) 26.0% |
| PP (Home) | (10/50) 20.0% | (13/50) 26.0% |
| PP (Away) | (9/41) 22.0% | (13/50) 26.0% |
| PK (Overall) | (19/86) 77.9% | (18/102) 82.4% |
| PK (Home) | (12/38) 68.4% | (8/57) 86.0% |
| PK (Away) | (7/48) 85.4% | (10/45) 77.8% |
| PP vs. Opp. | (4/14) 28.6% | (3/13) 23.1% |
| PK vs. Opp. | (3/13) 76.9% | (4/14) 71.4% |
| Leading Rookie | Koepke (6-11-17) | Quinn (12-14-26) |
| Most PIM | Dumont - 36 | Pekar - 39 |
| Team PIM/GM | 12.8/Game | 12.9/Game |
| Leading Scorers | Dumont (11-9-20) | Mersch (16-14-30) |
| Koepke (6-11-17) | Quinn (12-14-26) | |
| Hudon (6-11-17) | Peterka (6-19-25) | |
| Day (2-11-13) | Malone (9-13-22) | |
| Huntington (6-6-12) | Krebs (4-15-19) | |
| Last 5 Games | 5-3 W vs Hershey (Jan 7 2022) Final | 5-2 W vs Hartford (Jan 7 2022) Final |
| 2-1 W @ Rochester (Jan 5 2022) Final | 2-1 L vs Syracuse (Jan 5 2022) Final | |
| 4-2 W @ Toronto (Dec 15 2021) Final | 4-3 W @ Hartford (Jan 2 2022) Final | |
| 5-3 L @ Charlotte (Dec 11 2021) Final | 5-3 L @ Springfield (Jan 1 2022) Final | |
| 5-3 W @ Charlotte (Dec 10 2021) Final | 5-3 W vs Providence (Dec 29 2021) Final | |
| Leading After 1st | 5-1-0-0 | 13-3-0-0 |
| Leading After 2nd | 7-1-0-0 | 12-1-0-0 |
| Tied After 1st | 3-5-1-1 | 2-1-0-0 |
| Tied After 2nd | 1-2-1-0 | 2-1-0-0 |
| Trailing After 1st | 2-4-1-0 | 3-6-0-0 |
| Trailing After 2nd | 2-7-1-1 | 4-8-0-0 |
| Out Shooting Opponents | 6-7-1-1 | 5-6-0-0 |
| Out Shot by Opponents | 4-3-1-0 | 13-4-0-0 |
| 1-Goal Games | 4-2-2-1 | 8-3-0-0 |
| 2-Goal Games | 4-5-0-0 | 5-3-0-0 |
| 3-Goal Games | 1-1-0-0 | 1-1-0-0 |
Rochester Americans
| # | Player | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | Jack Quinn | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| 17 | Sean Malone | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 2 |
| 14 | X Mark Jankowski | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| 77 | JJ Peterka | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| 72 | Ryan MacInnis | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 0 |
| 44 | Josh Teves | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 13 | Linus Weissbach | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 28 | Michael Mersch | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Ethan Prow | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | Brandon Biro | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 26 | Mason Jobst | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 19 | X Peyton Krebs | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | Oskari Laaksonen | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 1 | X Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | Lukas Craggs | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 88 | Brandon Davidson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 48 | X David Drake | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | X Wyatt Ege | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 52 | Mitch Eliot | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 5 | X Casey Fitzgerald | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
| 29 | Dominic Franco | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 41 | Michael Houser | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 81 | Brett Murray | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -1 |
| 12 | Matej Pekar | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 25 | Arttu Ruotsalainen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 91 | Ryan Scarfo | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 4 | Jimmy Schuldt | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 16 | Peter Tischke | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 45 | Brendan Warren | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| # | Player | GP | W | L | OT | MIN | GA | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 41 | Michael Houser | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 116:53 | 4 | 2.05 | 0.902 |
| 1 | X Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 60:00 | 3 | 3.00 | 0.875 |
Syracuse Crunch
| # | Player | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Simon Ryfors | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | -3 |
| 40 | Gabriel Dumont | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | -4 |
| 45 | Cole Koepke | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 55 | Charles Hudon | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 10 | -4 |
| 78 | X Jaydon Dureau | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| 88 | Antoine Morand | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 12 | Alex Barré-Boulet | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 43 | X Tyler Bird | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | Gabriel Fortier | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 57 | Alex Green | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| 26 | X Tristin Langan | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Jesse Lees | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | Darren Raddysh | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | -2 |
| 16 | Otto Somppi | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 60 | Hugo Alnefelt | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 51 | Maxim Cajkovic | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 |
| 3 | Fredrik Claesson | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 74 | Sean Day | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -1 |
| 23 | Shawn Element | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 |
| 81 | X Remi Elie | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -1 |
| 25 | X Cal Foote | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 |
| 5 | Jason Garrison | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 39 | Gage Goncalves | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 15 | Jimmy Huntington | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | Ryan Jones | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | -2 |
| 33 | Max Lagace | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 | X Amir Miftakhov | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | X Andrej Sustr | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 92 | Odeen Tufto | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 85 | Daniel Walcott | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| # | Player | GP | W | L | OT | MIN | GA | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33 | Max Lagace | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 59:45 | 1 | 1.00 | 0.944 |
| 35 | X Amir Miftakhov | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 58:34 | 3 | 3.07 | 0.897 |
| 60 | Hugo Alnefelt | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 59:24 | 4 | 4.04 | 0.810 |