GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS, MONSTERS OPEN HOME-AND-HOME SERIES TODAY IN CLEVELAND
Mar 30, 2024TODAY'S GAME OVERVIEW
The Rochester Americans (32-22-6-3) bring the month of March to a close this afternoon as they make their final trip of the season to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse for a 3:15 p.m. face-off with the Cleveland Monsters (35-22-3-3). The first half of the home-and-home series will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.
The Amerks, who have points in 21 of their last 29 games dating back to Jan. 17, currently sit in third-place in AHL's North Division standings with just nine games remaining in the season. Rochester is three points back of the second-place Monsters, who also have nine games left on the docket.
Cleveland, which comes into the matchup looking to snap its season-long four-game winless skid, shows a 2-6-0-0 in its last eight games.
SEASON SERIES SNAPSHOT
Rochester boasts a 40-21-7-4 record against Cleveland over the last 10 years dating back to the start of the 2011-12 campaign and has earned at least one point in 30 of the last 46 games overall.
The Amerks have scored at least one power-play goal in 14 of the 27 games (18-for-90) against Cleveland since Seth Appert took over as head coach prior to the 2020-21 season.
Isak Rosen recorded a career-high four points (2+2) to help the Amerks earn a win over Cleveland at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse back on Nov. 18.
Brandon Biro (4+2), Isak Rosen (3+3) and Lukas Rousek (1+3) all have totaled six points to lead all Amerks in the season-series with Cleveland.
LAST TIME OUT
The Amerks jumped out to a two-goal lead in the first period and then relied on goaltender Dustin Tokarski to shut down his former team in what became a 2-0 win over the Syracuse Crunch in the season series finale between the two teams Wednesday at Upstate Medical University Arena.
Linus Weissbach and Jiri Kulich provided the scoring for Rochester, which finished the season-series with a 5-5-2-0 record, with Kulich reaching the 20-goal mark for the second straight year. Justin Richards, Ryan Johnson, Ethan Prow, and Isak Rosén all logged an assist in the win.
Goaltender Michael Houser (3-1-1) made his seventh appearance of the season for the Amerks and third straight. The veteran netminder drew the starting nod only to be replaced by Tokarski just 34 seconds into the contest. Tokarski (9-9-3), who stopped all 29 shots he faced, and Houser combined for the Amerks second shutout of the campaign.
WAHLBERG ASSIGNED TO ROCHESTER
The Buffalo Sabres reassigned forward Anton Wahlberg to the Amerks last the weekend for the team's final 10 games of the 2023-24 regular season.
A second-round pick (39th overall) by the Sabres in the 2023 NHL Draft, the 18-year-old forward spent this season with Malmo of the Swedish Hockey League, where he tallied 10 points (5+5) in 43 games.
The 6-foot-3 forward also represented Sweden at the IIHF World Junior Championship, where he had three points (1+2) in seven games and won a silver medal.
He could potentially make his North American professional career today.
RACE TO 20
After seeing three players reach the 20-goal mark last season, the Amerks could potentially have the same or more by the season's end.
With goals in three of his last six games, Jiri Kulich recorded his second straight 20-goal season this past Wednesday night in Syracuse. Kulich, whose 20 goals lead all Rochester skaters, became the first Amerks player to score 20 or more goals in back-to-back seasons since Cole Schneider and Justin Bailey each did so in 2015-16 and 2016-17.
Mason Jobst, the team's leading point-getter with a career-high 44 points in 55 games this season, needs just two more goals to reach the mark for the first time in his pro career. He, too, has goals in two of his last six games and last week had a season-long six-game point streak (2+6).
Brett Murray (17) remains on pace for his second straight 20-goal season while Isak Rosen is also within reach after scoring his career-high 16th goal of the season on Sunday, reaching the mark in 10 fewer games compared to his rookie campaign.
NEW YEAR, NEW NEUCHEV
After producing just five points in his first 23 games, rookie foward Viktor Neuchev has unsurprisingly emerged as Rochester’s top scoring rookie through the final full month of the regular season.
Dating back to Dec. 29 and the turn of the New Year, Neuchev has erupted for 21 points on eight goals and 13 assists over his previous 26 games.
Neuchev has recorded at least one point in 14 games over that span, including a season-long six-game point streak from Dec. 29 to Jan. 20 which saw him score three goals and record eight points.
Buffalo’s third-round selection (74th overall) in 2022, Neuchev’s most impressive performance of the season came back on Jan. 27, finding the back of the net for the third time in four games with the game-winning goal while also adding two assists in the 7-4 win over Laval. Since Jan. 5, Neuchev has recorded six multi-point games, which includes a pair of three-point efforts.
Of Neuchev’s 10 goals this season, seven have been scored on home ice and three have come against Laval. Neuchev, who had a 40-goal season while playing for Russia’s junior league during the 2021-22 campaign, currently leads all Amerks rookies with 26 points (10+16) and 69 shots in 47 games.
WORKING OVERTIME
The 2-1 shootout loss against Toronto last Friday was the fifth game over the last 17 for Rochester that went beyond regulation, with three of the four producing a 2-1 score. Overall, the Amerks have gone to extra time on 20 different occasions, the second-most by any team this season (Cleveland), including each of the first three games of the campaign.
The previous meeting between the Monsters and Amerks was decided beyond regulation, the only game this season in the season-series requiring overtime.
Four of Jiri Kulich’s team-high five game-winning goals this season have come by way of overtime while Isak Rosen, Brandon Biro, Jeremy Davies, and Zach Metsa have each netted the clinching goal during the extra frame.
Never before in the near 68-year history of the franchise have the Amerks opened a season with three consecutive overtime contests.
Of Rochester’s 12 games in February, five were decided past regulation. The club was 1-3 in overtime in the month and showed an 0-1 record in the shootout.
Dating back to Jan. 20 of last season, 30 of Rochester’s previous 100 regular-season games have required overtime to determine a winner. Of the Amerks 48 wins during that same span, 16 have come came following the end of regulation.
The Amerks show a 8-6 record in overtime this season and are 3-3 in the shootout.
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.
LEANING ON LEVI
Devon Levi has earned the start in 17 of the last 25 games since being reassigned to Rochester on Jan. 20, including five straight to open the month of February. Currently on NHL recall with Buffalo, he enters the week end having won four straight and five of his last six dating back to March 1.
Levi, who boasts a 11-5-3 record in 19 appearances with the Amerks, totaled 130 saves on 136 shots he faced over a three-game win streak in February, boasting an impressive 1.95 goals-against average and a .956 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 ranks 12th among all rookie netminders with a 2.52 goals-against average, has held the opposition to three or fewer goals in 16 of his 19 starts. He’s 11-2-3 this season in those games.
Levi won the Mike Richter Award, given annually to the top goaltender in men’s college hockey, for the second straight year following the 2022-23 season.
The only two-time winner in the award’s history, Levi led the nation again with a .933 save percentage, and tied for third in both shutouts (6) and saves (1,183).
TOKARSKI ON THE MOVE
Veteran goaltender Dustin Tokarski, who missed the first eight games of the season due to an injury he sustained in training camp, made his season debut back on Nov. 3 against Utica.
In doing so, the two-time Calder Cup winner and AHL All-Star became just the 18th goaltender in league history to play in 400 career games, a list that also includes former Amerks Bobby Perreault (512), Michael Leighton (507), Drew MacIntyre (440) and Ed Chadwick (417).
Tokarski, who’s in his second stint with the Amerks and 10th different AHL franchise, went 1-1-0 during a brief two-game stint with Rochester as part of the COVID-shortnened 2020-21 campaign. He went 12-20-7 in 42 appearances with the Buffalo Sabres from 2021-23.
Last Wednesday, he earned his second straight start and appeared in his 500th pro game. He has played in 80 NHL contests and 420 AHL games.
Tokarski, who’s 9-9-3 in his first 22 appearances, surpassed the 10,000-save mark for his AHL career following a 31-save effort against Utica on Nov. 10. He also reached the 12,000-save mark for his pro career the week prior when he made his season debut against the Comets.
Entering tonight, the 34-year-old Tokarski is only four wins away from tying Red Almas for 11th all-time in career wins (218). He’s also 19 games away from tying Drew MacIntyre for 13rd all-time (440) and will tie Yann Danis for eighth all-time on his next shutout.
JOBST HAVING A CAREER YEAR
Forward Mason Jobst enters the contest with 29 points (11+18) over his last 31 games, the most by an Amerk since the turn of the new year. Jobst, who hasn't gone more than one game without a point over that span, recorded a career-best three-assist outing on Feb. 16 against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and followed that up by scoring goals in three straight games, including his career-high 16th goal of the season against Belleville on Feb. 23.
Since then, the fifth-year forward has already surpassed his goal total in 18 fewer games this season and successfully reached the 40-point mark for the first time in his career with another three-assist effort back on March 13 in Syracuse to take over the team's scoring lead.
Jobst has totaled 95 points (36+59) in 142 career games as an Amerk and has amassed 120 points (47+73) over 215 career American Hockey League games with Rochester, San Jose, Bridgeport, and Binghamton.
SERIES NOTABLES
Amerks captain Michael Mersch enters the weekend having played 605 professional games. Mersch, who has 150 points (63+87) with the Amerks since the start of the 2020-21 season, became the 58th forward in franchise history to skate in at least 200 games back on March 1 at Belleville.
Acquired by Columbus at the NHL trade deadline, Cleveland goaltender Malcolm Subban posted a 20-14-5 and two shutouts in a career-high 39 games with the Amerks last season. His 20 wins marked a new personal-best and were tied for 12th-most among goaltenders. He also recorded multiple shutouts for the first time since the 2014-15 campaign. The Toronto native went 8-6 while starting all 14 playoff appearances as he backstopped the Amerks to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Today's contest will be another milestone for Seth Appert, who will become just the fourth head coach in the 68-year history of the franchise to man the Rochester bench for 241 career games. He joins an impressive list that includes the likes of Amerks Hall of Famers Randy Cunneyworth, John Van Boxmeer, and Joe Crozier. Additionally, with his next win, Appert, who has guided the Amerks to a 116-93-21-10 record and two straight playoff appearances, would surpass Mike Keenan and Chris Taylor for fifth all-time in coaching victories.
Rochester Americans vs Cleveland Monsters: Head To Head Stats
Summary
|
Description |
Result |
|
| Head to Head Record 2023-24 Regular Season | Rochester 2-2-1-0 | Cleveland 3-2-0-0 |
| Head to Head Record 2022-23 Regular Season | Rochester 3-3-2-0 | Cleveland 5-2-1-0 |
| Last 5 Years record between teams | Rochester 16-14-4-2 | Cleveland 20-11-4-1 |
| Rochester vs. Cleveland Last 5 Years record at Rochester | Rochester 6-7-3-2 | Cleveland 12-4-2-0 |
| Rochester vs. Cleveland Last 5 Years record at Cleveland | Rochester 10-7-1-0 | Cleveland 8-7-2-1 |
| Previous Meetings This Season | Rochester 5 @ Cleveland 6 (Jan 6 2024) Final OT Cleveland 1 @ Rochester 3 (Jan 5 2024) Final Cleveland 5 @ Rochester 3 (Dec 20 2023) Final Rochester 7 @ Cleveland 5 (Nov 18 2023) Final Rochester 0 @ Cleveland 2 (Nov 16 2023) Final |
How the two teams match up
|
Cleveland |
Rochester |
|
| Team Record | 35-22-3-3 -- 76 points | 32-22-6-3 -- 73 points |
| Division Ranking | 2nd North | 3rd North |
| Conference Ranking | 5th Eastern | 7th Eastern |
| League Ranking | 11th | 15th |
| Past 10 Games | 4-6-0-0 | 7-2-0-1 |
| Streak | 0-4-0-0 | 3-0-0-1 |
| Last Game | 5-2 L @ Grand Rapids (Mar 27 2024) Final | 2-0 W @ Syracuse (Mar 27 2024) Final |
| Home Record | 19-13-1-0 | 15-11-3-2 |
| Away Record | 16-9-2-3 | 17-11-3-1 |
| GF | 207 | 197 |
| GA | 210 | 215 |
| PP (Overall) | (45/237) 19.0% | (38/210) 18.1% |
| PP (Home) | (24/132) 18.2% | (15/95) 15.8% |
| PP (Away) | (21/105) 20.0% | (23/115) 20.0% |
| PK (Overall) | (47/238) 80.3% | (44/207) 78.7% |
| PK (Home) | (22/130) 83.1% | (19/87) 78.2% |
| PK (Away) | (25/108) 76.9% | (25/120) 79.2% |
| PP vs. Opp. | (7/19) 36.8% | (3/18) 16.7% |
| PK vs. Opp. | (3/18) 83.3% | (7/19) 63.2% |
| Leading Rookie | McKown (9-15-24) | Neuchev (10-16-26) |
| Most PIM | Malatesta - 79 | Davies - 77 |
| Team PIM/GM | 12.8/Game | 10.2/Game |
| Leading Scorers | Fix-Wolansky (23-33-56) | Jobst (18-26-44) |
| Christiansen (13-27-40) | Rosén (16-23-39) | |
| Gaunce (19-20-39) | Rousek (10-28-38) | |
| Meyer (22-15-37) | Kulich (20-17-37) | |
| Sillinger (10-23-33) | Biro (14-21-35) | |
| Last 5 Games | 5-2 L @ Grand Rapids (Mar 27 2024) Final | 2-0 W @ Syracuse (Mar 27 2024) Final |
| 5-0 L vs Hershey (Mar 23 2024) Final | 4-1 W vs Utica (Mar 24 2024) Final | |
| 6-3 L vs Hershey (Mar 22 2024) Final | 2-1 L vs Toronto (Mar 22 2024) Final SO | |
| 5-2 L vs Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (Mar 18 2024) Final | 6-5 W vs Hartford (Mar 20 2024) Final | |
| 3-2 W vs Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (Mar 17 2024) Final OT | 7-3 L @ Toronto (Mar 16 2024) Final | |
| Leading After 1st | 14-3-1-1 | 16-5-2-1 |
| Leading After 2nd | 23-2-1-1 | 21-0-0-1 |
| Tied After 1st | 18-7-2-2 | 7-8-2-1 |
| Tied After 2nd | 10-2-1-1 | 7-8-5-0 |
| Trailing After 1st | 3-12-0-0 | 9-9-2-1 |
| Trailing After 2nd | 2-18-1-1 | 4-14-1-2 |
| Out Shooting Opponents | 13-9-1-1 | 11-8-1-1 |
| Out Shot by Opponents | 22-13-2-2 | 20-13-5-2 |
| 1-Goal Games | 19-4-3-3 | 19-3-6-3 |
| 2-Goal Games | 9-4-0-0 | 6-6-0-0 |
| 3-Goal Games | 3-8-0-0 | 4-5-0-0 |
Rochester Americans
| # | Player | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Brandon Biro | 5 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 1 |
| 18 | Isak Rosén | 5 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 4 |
| 11 | X Lukas Rousek | 4 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 1 |
| 79 | Viktor Neuchev | 5 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 4 |
| 22 | Zach Metsa | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 26 | Mason Jobst | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 14 | -1 |
| 4 | Jeremy Davies | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| 28 | Michael Mersch | 5 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | -3 |
| 45 | Brendan Warren | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 17 | X Tyson Jost | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| 74 | Nikita Novikov | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| 7 | Ethan Prow | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 25 | Jiri Kulich | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 61 | Riley Stillman | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 13 | -1 |
| 52 | Aleksandr Kisakov | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 |
| 44 | Tyson Kozak | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 81 | Brett Murray | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| 16 | Justin Richards | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| 19 | Graham Slaggert | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 17 | X Christopher Brown | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 78 | X Jacob Bryson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | Joseph Cecconi | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 21 | X Filip Cederqvist | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 56 | X Kale Clague | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -2 |
| 31 | X Eric Comrie | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | X Riley Fiddler-Schultz | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 96 | Damien Giroux | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 34 | Dustin Tokarski | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | Linus Weissbach | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -2 |
| # | Player | GP | W | L | OT | MIN | GA | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | X Eric Comrie | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 60:00 | 1 | 1.00 | 0.971 |
| 34 | Dustin Tokarski | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 239:43 | 17 | 4.25 | 0.862 |
Cleveland Monsters
| # | Player | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | X Jake Christiansen | 4 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 1 |
| 91 | X Kent Johnson | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 2 |
| 64 | Trey Fix-Wolansky | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| 72 | X Carson Meyer | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | -2 |
| 47 | Marcus Björk | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 24 | Justin Pearson | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 5 | Stanislav Svozil | 5 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | -1 |
| 52 | X Emil Bemström | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | X Brendan Gaunce | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | -1 |
| 12 | Owen Sillinger | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | -2 |
| 34 | Cole Clayton | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 65 | Luca Del Bel Belluz | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | -1 |
| 18 | Jake Gaudet | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 0 |
| 82 | X Mikael Pyyhtia | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 8 | Alex Whelan | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 77 | Tyler Angle | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -4 |
| 11 | X James Malatesta | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | Roman Ahcan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | -4 |
| 88 | X Ole Julian Bjorgvik-Holm | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -3 |
| 7 | Nick Blankenburg | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 42 | Cameron Butler | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -2 |
| 30 | X Pavel Cajan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Corson Ceulemans | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 21 | Josh Dunne | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -2 |
| 73 | Jet Greaves | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | Samuel Knazko | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 41 | Hunter McKown | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -3 |
| 50 | X Eric Robinson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Billy Sweezey | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | -2 |
| # | Player | GP | W | L | OT | MIN | GA | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 73 | Jet Greaves | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 259:46 | 13 | 3.00 | 0.897 |
| 30 | X Pavel Cajan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40:00 | 4 | 6.00 | 0.818 |