GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS OPEN TWO-GAME SET TONIGHT IN BELLEVILLE
Mar 1, 2024TONIGHT'S GAME OVERVIEW
The Rochester Americans (24-19-6-2) usher in the month of March north of the border tonight when they face the Belleville Senators (27-20-2-3) in the first of a two-game set at CAA Arena. The matchup 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 11 of their last 17 games, currently sit in fifth place in the AHL’s North Division standings, just one behind the Toronto Marlies and three points back of the third-place Senators. The club has one game in hand on Belleville, which enters the week having won four straight.
Belleville has earned the win in seven of its previous 12 games since the start of February. Starting with a 4-1 victory last Wednesday night, the Senators have won four straight, outscoring the opposition 13-4 in that span.
HEAD-TO-HEAD RESULTS AGAINST BELLEVILLE
Dating back to the 2021-22 season, forward Michael Mersch has recorded 16 points (7+9) in 16 career games against Belleville. The Amerks captain has notched at least one point and one shot in 12 of his 16 games versus the Senators.
Since Belleville entered the league ahead of the 2017-18 season, Rochester has an all-time record of 16-20-2 against the Senators. The Amerks have posted a .500 winning percentage or better in four of the first five seasons in the head-to-head series.
Both teams have outscored the opposition in the first period this season while being outscored in the second stanza.
LAST TIME OUT
The Amerks built a 2-0 lead early in the second period but allowed five straight goals in a 5-2 loss to the Syracuse Crunch Wednesday night at The Blue Cross Arena.
Isak Rosen and Michael Mersch scored their 13th and ninth goals of the season in the first and second periods, respectively, for Rochester. Jiri Kulich, who returned to the lineup after missing the previous five games, Brett Murray and Ethan Prow all tallied one assist each.
Goaltender Devon Levi (6-4-3) made his 11th start in the last 14th games since being reassigned to Rochester on Jan. 20, eight of which came in the month of February.
THE BEST OFFENSE IS A GOOD DEFENSE
Jeremy Davies and Kale Clague are among the AHL’s top scoring defensemen, having combined for 11 goals and 45 points this season.
Davies, who had points in three straight games for the second time this season since closing out the month of October on a five-game point streak, scored his eighth goal of the year in last Monday’s 2-1 overtime win at Toronto. He enters tonight tied for 10th in goals by a defenseman and remains on pace to match the career-high 11 he scored last season. He’s never gone more than four straight games without a point.
Back from a three-game stint with the Buffalo Sabres, Clague is tied for 23rd among all blueliners with 20 assists. With two assists at Utica back on Feb. 14, he has reached the 20-assist mark for the second time in his career and has eclipsed the 20-point mark for the third time since his rookie campaign.
ROUSEK RACKING UP THE POINTS
Lukas Rousek has been one of the team’s most consistent point-getters since the turn of 2024, having recorded points in 15 of 22 games in that stretch while also producing 21 points over his last 28 games since Dec. 20.
Rousek, a sixth-round selection (160th overall) by the Sabres in the 2019 NHL Draft, currently leads the team with 28 assists and 37 points while his nine goals are tied for seventh. Among all Amerks who have appeared in at least 30 games, he is tops in points per game (0.80).
The third-year pro and AHL All-Star saw his career-long point streak come to an end on Jan. 26, stopping at 13 games. He totaled 14 points between Dec. 20 and Jan. 20, the second-longest point streak in the league behind only Toronto’s Alex Steeves, who had a point in 16 straight games.
Rousek’s point streak was the longest by an Amerk in 24 years since Hall of Famer Domenic Pittis had points in 14 straight contests from Jan. 22 to March 4 during the 1999-2000 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 middle of February.
Dating back to Dec. 29 and the turn of the New Year, Neuchev has erupted for 13 points on five goals and eight assists over his previous 16 games.
Neuchev has recorded at least one point in eight 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 four multi-point games, which includes a pair of three-point efforts.
Of Neuchev’s seven goals this season, five 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 19 points (7+12) and 57 shots in 38 games.
WORKING OVERTIME
Last Saturday’s 2-1 overtime loss in Hershey was the third game over the last six for Rochester that went beyond regulation, all of which finished in a 2-1 score. Overall, the Amerks have gone to extra time on 18 different occasions, the most by any team this season, including each of the first three games of the campaign.
Four of the last seven games against Syracuse have required extra time to determine a winner, including each of the last three which saw the Crunch overcome a pair of 2-0 deficits before defeating Rochester in overtime on back-to-back nights.
Four of Jiri Kulich’s team-high five game-winning goals this season have come by way of overtime while Isak Rosen, Brandon Biro and Jeremy Davies 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 have been 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, 28 of Rochester’s previous 89 regular-season games have required overtime to determine a winner. Of the Amerks 40 wins during that same span, 14 have come came following the end of regulation.
The Amerks show a 7-6 record in overtime this season and are 3-2 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 11 of the last 14 games since being reassigned to Rochester on Jan. 20, including five straight to open the month of February. He enters the weekend having won three of his last six and five of his last nine.
Levi, who boasts a 6-4-3 record in 13 appearances with the Amerks, totaled 130 saves on 136 shots he faced over his recent three-game win streak, boasting an impressive 1.95 goals-against average and a .956 save percentage over that span.
His career-high 52 saves in last Monday’s overtime win at Toronto 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 13th among rookie netminders with a 2.60 goals-against average, has held the opposition to three or fewer goals in 10 of his 13 starts. He’s 6-1-3 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.
Currently in his 15th season, he joins Marcel Paille and Michael Leighton as the only goaltenders all-time to play at least 15 seasons in the AHL.
Tokarski, who’s 7-7-3 in his first 18 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, who currently is six wins away from tying Red Almas for 11th all-time in career wins (218). He’s also two games away from tying Neil Little for 15th all-time (419) and will tie Yann Danis for eighth all-time on his next shutout.
A (JOB)ST WELL DONE
Amerks forward Mason Jobst enters tonight with 20 points (9+11) over his last 21 games, the most by an Amerk since the turn of the new year. Jobst, who appeared in his 200th professional game at Utica on Feb. 14, 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 last Friday night against Belleville.
After closing out the 2022-23 campaign with career-highs in all offensive categories, the fifth-year forward has already surpassed his goal total in 18 fewer games this season. Jobst, who is the second Amerk this season to reach the 30-point mark, is second on the team in goals (16) and points (35) while his 19 assists are second-most amongst all Rochester forwards.
In 206 career games, all in the American Hockey League with Rochester, San Jose, Bridgeport, and Binghamton, the Ohio State product has notched 45 goals and 66 assists for 111 points.
SERIES NOTABLES
Devon Levi earned his first win as an Amerk in his American Hockey League debut at Belleville back on Dec. 1. The rookie netminder stopped 40 of 42 through regulation and overtime before turning aside all four Senators shooters in the skills competition. He’s appeared in three games against Belleville this season, boasting a 1-2-0 record with a .911 save percentage.
Including three of the first four games this season versus Belleville, Rochester has scored nine first-period goals dating back to start the 2022-23 campaign. The Amerks have scored in six of the last 12 first periods during that span. Belleville (14) has scored in all but three first periods over that same stretch.
In 32 of the last 38 meetings between the two teams dating back to the 2017-18 season, the Amerks have scored two or more goals while Belleville has found the back of the net in all but two games during the stretch. There has been just one shutout over the previous 38 games with Rochester coming up on the wrong side of a 2-0 score on Feb. 7, 2018. 14 contests have been decided beyond regulation, which includes a pair of shootouts this season.
Amerks captain Michael Mersch enters tonight having played 199 games with Rochester since joining the club during the 2020-21 campaign. Mersch, who has 144 points (60+84) with the Amerks, will become the 58th forward in franchise history to skate in at least 200 games. On his next goal, it would be the ninth time Mersch has recorded double figures in his career ,where he has skated in at least 30 games.
Rochester Americans vs Belleville Senators: Head To Head Stats
Summary
|
Description |
Result |
|
| Head to Head Record 2023-24 Regular Season | Rochester 1-2-0-1 | Belleville 3-0-0-1 |
| Head to Head Record 2022-23 Regular Season | Rochester 3-4-0-1 | Belleville 5-1-2-0 |
| Last 5 Years record between teams | Rochester 11-10-2-3 | Belleville 15-6-4-1 |
| Rochester vs. Belleville Last 5 Years record at Rochester | Rochester 4-5-2-2 | Belleville 9-3-1-0 |
| Rochester vs. Belleville Last 5 Years record at Belleville | Rochester 7-5-0-1 | Belleville 6-3-3-1 |
| Previous Meetings This Season | Belleville 2 @ Rochester 1 (Feb 23 2024) Final SO Belleville 4 @ Rochester 1 (Feb 21 2024) Final Rochester 2 @ Belleville 4 (Dec 2 2023) Final Rochester 3 @ Belleville 2 (Dec 1 2023) Final SO |
How the two teams match up
|
Belleville |
Rochester |
|
| Team Record | 27-20-2-3 -- 59 points | 24-19-6-2 -- 56 points |
| Division Ranking | 3rd North | 5th North |
| Conference Ranking | 6th Eastern | 10th Eastern |
| League Ranking | 13th | 20th |
| Past 10 Games | 7-3-0-0 | 3-3-3-1 |
| Streak | 4-0-0-0 | 0-2-1-1 |
| Last Game | 3-0 W vs Utica (Feb 28 2024) Final | 5-2 L vs Syracuse (Feb 28 2024) Final |
| Home Record | 13-9-1-2 | 10-11-3-1 |
| Away Record | 14-11-1-1 | 14-8-3-1 |
| GF | 152 | 159 |
| GA | 160 | 181 |
| PP (Overall) | (34/196) 17.3% | (30/170) 17.6% |
| PP (Home) | (19/99) 19.2% | (10/79) 12.7% |
| PP (Away) | (15/97) 15.5% | (20/91) 22.0% |
| PK (Overall) | (40/189) 78.8% | (36/175) 79.4% |
| PK (Home) | (19/88) 78.4% | (17/73) 76.7% |
| PK (Away) | (21/101) 79.2% | (19/102) 81.4% |
| PP vs. Opp. | (2/19) 10.5% | (2/14) 14.3% |
| PK vs. Opp. | (2/14) 85.7% | (2/19) 89.5% |
| Leading Rookie | Ostapchuk (12-7-19) | Neuchev (7-12-19) |
| Most PIM | Imama - 104 | Davies - 65 |
| Team PIM/GM | 15.6/Game | 10.9/Game |
| Leading Scorers | Crookshank (21-20-41) | Rousek (9-28-37) |
| Pilon (12-22-34) | Jobst (16-19-35) | |
| Sokolov (13-20-33) | Rosen (13-17-30) | |
| Guenette (5-24-29) | Biro (12-17-29) | |
| Highmore (9-17-26) | Kulich (17-11-28) | |
| Last 5 Games | 3-0 W vs Utica (Feb 28 2024) Final | 5-2 L vs Syracuse (Feb 28 2024) Final |
| 4-2 W @ Syracuse (Feb 24 2024) Final | 2-1 L @ Hershey (Feb 24 2024) Final OT | |
| 2-1 W @ Rochester (Feb 23 2024) Final SO | 2-1 L vs Belleville (Feb 23 2024) Final SO | |
| 4-1 W @ Rochester (Feb 21 2024) Final | 4-1 L vs Belleville (Feb 21 2024) Final | |
| 4-2 L vs Hershey (Feb 19 2024) Final | 2-1 W @ Toronto (Feb 19 2024) Final OT | |
| Leading After 1st | 10-3-2-1 | 11-5-2-1 |
| Leading After 2nd | 15-2-1-1 | 14-0-0-1 |
| Tied After 1st | 13-8-0-1 | 5-6-2-1 |
| Tied After 2nd | 8-3-1-0 | 6-6-5-0 |
| Trailing After 1st | 4-9-0-1 | 8-8-2-0 |
| Trailing After 2nd | 4-15-0-2 | 4-13-1-1 |
| Out Shooting Opponents | 8-6-0-2 | 8-7-1-0 |
| Out Shot by Opponents | 17-13-2-1 | 15-11-5-2 |
| 1-Goal Games | 13-5-2-3 | 15-3-6-2 |
| 2-Goal Games | 5-6-0-0 | 4-5-0-0 |
| 3-Goal Games | 7-5-0-0 | 2-4-0-0 |
Rochester Americans
| # | Player | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | Linus Weissbach | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
| 26 | Mason Jobst | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| 11 | Lukas Rousek | 4 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| 25 | Jiri Kulich | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 19 | Graham Slaggert | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | -3 |
| 56 | Kale Clague | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 1 |
| 4 | Jeremy Davies | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 10 | -5 |
| 28 | Michael Mersch | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | -2 |
| 81 | Brett Murray | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | -2 |
| 61 | Riley Stillman | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 1 |
| 10 | Brandon Biro | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 |
| 3 | Joseph Cecconi | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -3 |
| 96 | Damien Giroux | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | X Chris Jandric | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 17 | X Tyson Jost | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 |
| 52 | Aleksandr Kisakov | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 44 | Tyson Kozak | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -3 |
| 27 | Devon Levi | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | Zach Metsa | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 20 | X Olivier Nadeau | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 79 | Viktor Neuchev | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 74 | Nikita Novikov | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Ethan Prow | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 |
| 16 | Justin Richards | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -3 |
| 18 | Isak Rosen | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 |
| 34 | X Dustin Tokarski | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 45 | Brendan Warren | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| # | Player | GP | W | L | OT | MIN | GA | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 34 | X Dustin Tokarski | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 65:00 | 1 | 0.92 | 0.970 |
| 27 | Devon Levi | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 182:17 | 10 | 3.29 | 0.911 |
Belleville Senators
| # | Player | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39 | Jiri Smejkal | 4 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| 10 | Zack Ostapchuk | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| 22 | Garrett Pilon | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| 34 | Roby Jarventie | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| 9 | Angus Crookshank | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| 21 | Maxence Guenette | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 33 | Lassi Thomson | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| 14 | Rourke Chartier | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 18 | Josh Currie | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 17 | X Zack MacEwen | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
| 13 | Egor Sokolov | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 19 | X Matthew Boucher | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 |
| 3 | Dillon Heatherington | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | Bokondji Imama | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 4 | Jacob Larsson | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 23 | Cole Reinhardt | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | Donovan Sebrango | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Kyle Betts | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 |
| 29 | X Orrin Centazzo | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 15 | Matthew Highmore | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | Tyler Kleven | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| 7 | X Jarid Lukosevicius | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 46 | Ryan MacKinnon | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -1 |
| 31 | Kevin Mandolese | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 52 | Nikolas Matinpalo | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | Oskar Pettersson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 26 | Brennan Saulnier | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 40 | Mads Sogaard | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| # | Player | GP | W | L | OT | MIN | GA | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | Kevin Mandolese | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 95:17 | 2 | 1.26 | 0.943 |
| 40 | Mads Sogaard | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 153:27 | 4 | 1.56 | 0.945 |