GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS MEET CRUNCH IN GAME 2 THIS AFTERNOON
Apr 28, 2024TODAY'S GAME OVERVIEW
The 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs continue tonight as the Rochester Americans (1-0) and Syracuse Crunch (0-1) meet in Game 2 of the North Division Semifinals at The Blue Cross Arena. Game time is slated for a 3:05 p.m. start and will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.
The Amerks currently lead the best-of-five second-round series 1-0 following their 3-2 win in Game 1 on Friday night.
SERIES NOTES
The Amerks jumped out to a two-goal lead before Isak Rosén capped a thrilling 3-2 victory over the Crunch in Game 1 of the North Division Semifinals Friday at The Blue Cross Arena.
The Amerks, who finished the regular season with a 13-2-1-1 record over its final 17 games, have won four straight postseason contests against Syracuse dating back to last year’s second-round series.
Along with Rosén, rookies Anton Wahlberg and Noah Östlund, who were two of the seven rookies to dress for the Amerks, both found the back of the net in their AHL postseason debuts. Östlund’s goal was his first goal in North America. Lukas Rousek, Viktor Neuchev, Zach Metsa, and Nikita Novikov totaled one assist each in the win.
Devon Levi (1-0) made 35 saves in his postseason debut to become the first rookie goaltender to win a playoff game for Rochester since Andrey Makarov did so on May 2, 2014. Levi was also the first netminder to earn the win in his playoff debut since Ryan Miller did so back on April 20, 2005.
AMERKS DRAW SYRACUSE TO BEGIN POSTSEASON
After more than 326 all-time meetings during regular-season play, the second-round series against the Crunch marks only the sixth meeting in the postseason between the two teams and the second in as many years after Rochester completed a reverse sweep last spring.
Prior to that, the Amerks claimed three of the previous four playoff series dating back to 1996.
Rochester is 162-145-19 all-time against Syracuse, which included a 5-5-2-0 mark this season versus the Crunch. Five of the 12 matchups between the two teams were decided beyond regulation and eight of 12 were won by the visiting team.
The Crunch are in the Calder Cup Playoffs for the 18th time since joining the American Hockey League prior to the 1994-95 season.
PLAYOFFS OVER THE YEARS
Last spring’s memorable playoff run to the Conference finals was the first time in 19 years after completing the three-game series sweep over the Toronto Marlies in the North Division Finals. Rochester has qualified for the postseason in each of the last five seasons dating back to the 2018-19 campaign and 49 times in the 68-year history of the franchise.
Rochester has been a part of 90 playoff series over the years, in which it has compiled a 225-216 record in 441 games during that time.
HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES SNAPSHOT
With tonight’s playoff Game 2 marking the 14th meeting overall in 2023-24, the Amerks and Crunch have been fairly acquainted all season long. The Amerks finished with a 5-5-2-0 record against Syracuse, claiming points in five of the seven matchups.
Rochester owns a 3-28-5-2 record in the last 38 regular season games against the Crunch dating back to the start of 2016-17 season when they score two or fewer goals. On the other hand, when the Amerks score three or more goals over that same span, the club shows a 35-11-5-0.
Rochester tallied 15 goals in the opening frame compared to Syracuse’s seven, however, the Crunch outscored the Amerks 29-11 in the final 40 minutes of regulation.
Rochester went 6-for-41 (14.6%) on the power-play this season against the Crunch while also showing an 80.0% success rate on the penalty kill (24-for-30).
The season series favored the visiting team as nine of the first 12 meetings were won by the road team and seven of the 12 were one-goal decisions.
In the final meeting of the season on Mar. 27, Rochester earned its first shutout in the regular season against the Crunch since Mar. 28, 2015, also a 2-0 road win and a span of 99 games between the North Division foes.
Forwards Isak Rosén (2+7) and Brandon Biro (3+4) have combined for 16 points against the Crunch this season, with Rosen being one of three Amerks to appear in all 12 contests opposite Syracuse.
Veteran netminder Dustin Tokarski posted back-to-back road wins against his former team while Michael Houser appeared in 12 minutes this season against the Crunch, making four saves. Houser and Tokarski combined to earn the shutout in the final meeting of the slate between the two clubs on Mar. 27.
Rookie goaltender Devon Levi went a 2-2-2 and made 118 saves in six contests opposite the Crunch, showing a 2.86 goals-against average while winning his last two decisions.
SHARING THE WEALTH
After seeing three players reach the 20-goal mark in each of the past two seasons, the Amerks duplicated that feat in 2023-24.
Jiri Kulich scored a career-high 27 goals, becoming the first Amerk to score 20 or more in back-to-back seasons since Cole Schneider and Justin Bailey did so in 2015-16 and 2016-17. Kulich is also the first Rochester player to lead the team in goals in back-to-back seasons since AHL Hall of Famer and Amerk legend Jody Gage did so during in 1991-1992 and 1992-1993.
Mason Jobst, the team's leading point-getter with a career-high 50 points in 63 games this season, reached the mark for the first time in his pro career on April 7. Dating back to Jan. 5, the Speedway, Indiana, native totaled 15 goals and 20 assists over the final 40 games of the season.
Isak Rosén, who tied for the team-lead in points (50), reached the mark by way of his two-goal outing in the season-finale against Utica. Since March 13, the AHL All-Star notched seven goals and 10 assists over the final 15 games while recording at least one shot in all but four games in 2023-24.
EARNING THEIR STARS AND STRIPES
Nikita Novikov (23) and Zach Metsa (24) became the first pair of first-year defensemen to record 20 or more points since the 2013-14 season (Chad Ruhwedel-28 and Rasmus Ristolainen-20).
Novikov led all rookies with 20 assists and finished with a team-best plus-20 on-ice rating, which was third in the league amongst rookies. He recorded one goal and four assists in eight games in April.
Metsa finished with a plus-15 on-ice rating, which was second on the team. The Quinnipiac University product tallied two goals and five assists in eight games in April and had one shot in seven of eight games. The rookie tied for seventh amongst the AHL defensemen in goals and 11th in points.
In 66 games, defenseman Jeremy Davies established career-highs in goals (12) and points (35), both of which led all Amerks blueliners. Dating back to March 15, Davies recorded four goals and nine assists in 15 games while registering at least one shot in 10 of 11 games.
Brandon Biro appeared in career-high 59 games and matched a personal-best in goals (16). He also led the team with 16 power-play assists and 13 multi-point games. Since March 9, the Penn State University product totaled four goals and 10 assists in final 16 games while having a shot in 14 of those games.
Amerks captain Michael Mersch skated in 60 or more games for the seventh time in his AHL career while recording double figures in goals (15) for the ninth time. The five-time 20-goal scorer and Calder Cup Champion logged 20 or more assists (23) for the sixth time.
Lukas Rousek led the Amerks in assists (31) for the second straight season and reached the 40-point mark for the second consecutive campaign. Rousek tied for fourth on the team in power-play goals (4) and paced all qualified Rochester players with .80 points-per-game.
Forward Viktor Neuchev paced all Amerks rookies with 11 goals and 28 points in 57 games. He was one of 12 first-year skaters to record his first AHL point and one of nine to have at least one assist this season.
LEANING ON LEVI
Devon Levi earned the start in 24 of the last 34 games since being reassigned to Rochester on Jan. 20, including five straight to open February. He won nine of his last 11 starts and 11 of 13 dating back to the start of March.
Levi, who showed a 16-6-4 record in 26 appearances with the Amerks, held the opposition to three or fewer goals in each game over a six-game win streak. He totaled 188 saves on 201 shots while boasting an impressive 2.17 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage over that span.
His career-high 52 saves in the Amerks overtime win at Toronto on Feb. 19 were the most by an Amerks goaltender since Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen had 54 in a 2-1 win at Syracuse on Feb. 25, 2022.
Levi, who led all rookie netminders with a .927 save percentage, held the opposition to three or fewer goals in all but four of his 26 appearances. He was 16-2-4 this season in those games.
A two-time winner of the Mike Richter Award, Levi finished with the second-best save percentage all-time behind only Hall of Famer Martin Biron.
SCOUTING THE CRUNCH
The Crunch finished third in the North Division and have now finished among the top three teams six times dating back to the 2016-17 season. Syracuse completed its 30th season in the AHL and reached the second round of the postseason for the sixth straight year dating back to 2016-17.
Forward Gage Goncalves topped all Syracuse skaters with 45 assists and 58 points in 69 games. It marked the second straight season that the AHL All-Star reached 13-goal, 40-assist and 50-point plateau. In 212 games in the AHL, all with the Crunch, Goncalves has produced 43 goals and 102 assists for 145 points.
Matt Tomkins (15-12-2) and Hugo Alnefelt (14-8-4) split the majority of the goaltending duties for the Crunch. Tomkins appeared in a career-high 29 games while his 15 wins were also personal-best. Alnefelt (14) recorded double digits in wins for the third straight season.