GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS OPEN TWO-GAME SET TONIGHT IN CHARLOTTE
Dec 14, 2021TONIGHT'S GAME OVERVIEW
The Rochester Americans (13-6-0-0) seek their sixth straight win tonight as they open a two-game set against the Charlotte Checkers (11-10-2-0) at Bojangles’ Coliseum. The 7:00 p.m. matchup will be the first of four scheduled meetings between the Eastern Conference rivals this season and will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.
Rochester makes its first trip back to Charlotte since suffering a two-game sweep at the hands of the Checkers on Feb. 11 and Feb. 12, 2020. The Amerks were outscored 9-4 over the two-game set.
HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES SNAPSHOT
The Amerks have won five straight and six of their last seven games to move into sole possession of second place in the AHL’s North Division standings. The Checkers, meanwhile, are winners of three of their last four games after going 1-4-1-0 to close out the month of November.
Rochester enters tonight showing a 1-7-0 record against Charlotte since the start of the 2018-19 campaign and a 3-8-1 mark dating back to 2017-18.
The Amerks are searching for their first win in the Queen City against the Checkers since earning a 4-1 victory back on Jan. 20, 2018.
VIEW FROM ROCHESTER
With five players performing at or more than a point-per-game pace, the Amerks have the AHL’s top offense and are currently the only team averaging more than four goals per game. Collectively, Rochester’s 78 goals this season are tied for most in the North Division and second in the AHL.
The Amerks enter the week with three of the league’s top 18 point-getters in Jack Quinn, JJ Peterka and Michael Mersch. Quinn led all AHL rookies in scoring for the second straight month and is currently tied for fourth in the league in both goals (11) and points (24) through 17 games.
Peterka enters tonight with 14 points (3+11) over his last 14 games dating back to Oct. 30. With 19 points (4+15) on the season, he currently leads the team in assists (15) and is tied for third in overall scoring.
Coming off his second-period goal last Friday night, Mersch leads the team with 12 goals and is on pace to reach the 15-goal mark for the fifth time in eight years. He has totaled 19 points (12+7) and five multi-point outings over his last 17 games. 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 from Mar. 27 to April 10, 2015.
Sean Malone has been one of Rochester’s most consistent point-getters as of late. Malone, who became the second Amerk this season to reach the 20-point mark, has produced 10 points (6+4) over his last five games, including three power-play tallies over that span. The fifth-year pro has recorded multi-point showings in four of his last five games.
Rochester’s power-play is presently tops in the AHL after scoring 20 times on 71 opportunities for a league-best 28.2% conversion rate. In just the last four games alone, the Amerks have gone 9-for-18 on the man-advantage, including scoring four in the 7-3 win over Hershey back on Nov 26. Mersch, Malone and Quinn share the team lead with four power-play goals each.
FANTASTIC FOUR
The Amerks currently own four of the AHL’s top scoring rookies in Jack Quinn, JJ Peterka, Peyton Krebs and Linus Weissbach who have combined for 67 points (21+46) through the team’s 19 games this season.
Buffalo’s eighth overall pick in 2020, Quinn comes into the week leading all AHL rookies in goals (11) and is second among all scorers with 24 points. He is one of only 13 players in the AHL this season to reach the 20-point mark and he and Sean Malone are the only two Amerks to accomplish the feat.
Peterka, meanwhile, is third amongst all first-year players with a team-high 15 assists while his 19 points are tied for fourth-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 five rookie duos across the entire AHL to rank inside the top-four on their team in scoring.
With his first-period assist on Friday against Laval, Krebs has amassed 16 points on two goals and 14 assists in 14 games this season, tying for eighth among all AHL rookie skaters.
Despite missing the previous five games, Weissbach comes into the contest with three points (1+2) over his last four games. Weissbach, who was Buffalo’s seventh-round selection (192nd overall) in the 2017 NHL Draft, has totaled eight points through his first 14 games.
THE BEST OFFENSE IS A GOOD DEFENSE
Second-year defenseman Oskari Laaksonen has recorded an assist in six of his last seven games, which was a career-best. The Finnish blueliner leads the league with a team-high 11 power-play assists as all but one of his 12 assists this season have come on the power-play.
After netting his first goal of the season along with an assist on Wednesday, Mattias Samulesson produced a pair of helpers Friday against Laval. It marks the first time in Samuelsson’s career he has finished with back-to-back multi-point contests. Samuelsson ranks fourth among all Amerks rookies with 11 points and is tied for third in the AHL among all first-year blueliners with 10 assists. Dating back to Nov. 10, he has notched 10 points (1+9) over his last 10 outings and is already within two points of matching his offensive output from 2020-21.
SCOUTING THE CHECKERS
Despite a 5-3 loss to Syracuse this past Friday, the Checkers have gone 3-1-0-0 in their previous four contests to move into sixth in the Atlantic Division. Overall, Charlotte has produced just a 1-4-0-0 mark against North Division opponents this season with the lone win coming against the Crunch on Saturday.
By way of going 6-for-17 (35.3%) while on the power-play over the last five games, the Checkers come into tonight with a 23.3% success-rate this season, which is second-best in the AHL. Charlotte has recorded 19 goals on the man-advantage this season and is only one back of the league-lead. Additionally, the Checkers have scored an Atlantic-Division leading 72 goals and the team is tied for third-most in the entire Eastern Conference.
The Checkers are fueled offensively by rookie forwards Logan Hutsko (5+9) and Cole Schwindt (9+6), both of whom have recorded 15 points in 23 games. The duo were taken in the third round by the Florida Panthers one year apart and make up one of only five rookie duos across the entire AHL to rank inside the top-four on their team in scoring.
SERIES NOTABLES
Charlotte forward Scott Wilson spent the parts of two seasons with the Amerks. In 54 games from 2019-20, Wilson, produced 14 goals and 15 assists for 29 points.
Casey Fitzgerald and Sean Malone are the only two Amerks that were on Rochester’s roster during the last meeting with the Charlotte.
In nine combined games all-time against the Checkers, Malone (seven games, 4+0) and Fitzgerald (2 games, 0+1) have posted five points.
Charlotte assistant coach Dan Bylsma had a brief two-game stint with the Amerks during the 1992-93 season, recording one assist. Bylsma, who won both a Stanley Cup and was named the 2010-11 Jack Adams Award winner as the NHL Coach of the Year with the Pittsburgh Penguins, also served as head coach of the Buffalo Sabres from 2015-17.
Both Rochester (9-0-0-0) and Charlotte (6-0-2-0) enter tonight with winning records this season when leading after two periods.
The Amerks have earned at least one point in four of the last 12 contests between the two teams.
Rochester Americans vs Charlotte Checkers: Head To Head Stats
Summary
|
Description |
Result |
|
| Head to Head Record 2021-22 Regular Season | Rochester 0-0-0-0 | Charlotte 0-0-0-0 |
| Head to Head Record 2020-21 Regular Season | Rochester 0-0-0-0 | Charlotte 0-0-0-0 |
| Last 5 Years record between teams | Rochester 3-8-1-0 | Charlotte 9-2-1-0 |
| Rochester vs. Charlotte Last 5 Years record at Rochester | Rochester 2-4-0-0 | Charlotte 4-1-1-0 |
| Rochester vs. Charlotte Last 5 Years record at Charlotte | Rochester 1-4-1-0 | Charlotte 5-1-0-0 |
How the 2 teams match up
|
Charlotte |
Rochester |
|
| Team Record | 11-10-2-0 -- 24 points | 13-6-0-0 -- 26 points |
| Division Ranking | 6th Atlantic | 2nd North |
| Conference Ranking | 10th Eastern | 3rd Eastern |
| League Ranking | 18th | 6th |
| Past 10 Games | 4-5-1-0 | 7-3-0-0 |
| Streak | 1-0-0-0 | 5-0-0-0 |
| Last Game | 5-3 W vs Syracuse (Dec 11 2021) Final | 5-3 W vs Laval (Dec 10 2021) Final |
| Home Record | 4-4-2-0 | 7-3-0-0 |
| Away Record | 7-6-0-0 | 6-3-0-0 |
| GF | 72 | 78 |
| GA | 70 | 64 |
| PP (Overall) | (19/82) 23.2% | (20/71) 28.2% |
| PP (Home) | (9/39) 23.1% | (10/37) 27.0% |
| PP (Away) | (10/43) 23.3% | (10/34) 29.4% |
| PK (Overall) | (15/88) 83.0% | (14/69) 79.7% |
| PK (Home) | (7/41) 82.9% | (7/41) 82.9% |
| PK (Away) | (8/47) 83.0% | (7/28) 75.0% |
| PP vs. Opp. | (0/0) 0% | (0/0) 0% |
| PK vs. Opp. | (0/0) 0% | (0/0) 0% |
| Leading Rookie | Schwindt (9-6-15) | Quinn (11-13-24) |
| Most PIM | Lind - 44 | Pekar - 37 |
| Team PIM/GM | 12.0/Game | 14.6/Game |
| Leading Scorers | True (7-11-18) | Quinn (11-13-24) |
| Schwindt (9-6-15) | Malone (8-12-20) | |
| Hutsko (5-10-15) | Mersch (12-7-19) | |
| Heponiemi (4-9-13) | Peterka (4-15-19) | |
| Carrick (3-9-12) | Krebs (2-14-16) | |
| Last 5 Games | 5-3 W vs Syracuse (Dec 11 2021) Final | 5-3 W vs Laval (Dec 10 2021) Final |
| 5-3 L vs Syracuse (Dec 10 2021) Final | 4-3 W vs Utica (Dec 8 2021) Final OT | |
| 3-2 W @ Bridgeport (Dec 5 2021) Final | 4-2 W @ Syracuse (Nov 27 2021) Final | |
| 5-3 W @ Lehigh Valley (Dec 3 2021) Final | 7-3 W vs Hershey (Nov 26 2021) Final | |
| 5-2 L vs Utica (Nov 28 2021) Final | 4-2 W @ Utica (Nov 24 2021) Final | |
| Leading After 1st | 6-3-1-0 | 10-1-0-0 |
| Leading After 2nd | 6-0-2-0 | 9-0-0-0 |
| Tied After 1st | 4-4-1-0 | 1-0-0-0 |
| Tied After 2nd | 4-3-0-0 | 1-1-0-0 |
| Trailing After 1st | 1-3-0-0 | 2-5-0-0 |
| Trailing After 2nd | 1-7-0-0 | 3-5-0-0 |
| Out Shooting Opponents | 7-5-1-0 | 2-5-0-0 |
| Out Shot by Opponents | 4-4-1-0 | 11-1-0-0 |
| 1-Goal Games | 4-3-2-0 | 5-2-0-0 |
| 2-Goal Games | 3-4-0-0 | 4-1-0-0 |
| 3-Goal Games | 2-3-0-0 | 0-1-0-0 |