GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS, PHANTOMS CLOSE OUT SEASON SERIES TONIGHT
Jan 6, 2023TONIGHT'S GAME OVERVIEW
The Rochester Americans (17-10-1-1) look to get back on the winning track tonight as they close out their season series with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (14-13-2-0) at The Blue Cross Arena. Game time is slated for a 7:05 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 contest will also be televised locally on CW Rochester.
The Phantoms took the first contest between the two teams with a 5-1 victory in Allentown back on Nov. 26. The five goals against were the most the Amerks allowed versus the Phantoms since Feb. 10, 2018 (5-3 loss).
HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES SNAPSHOT
Tonight’s contest is the first against the Phantoms in Rochester since the Amerks recorded a 5-4 overtime win back on Nov. 19, 2021. The win was Rochester's first over Lehigh Valley since Feb. 21, 2019.
Home ice has played a significant factor in the season series for both teams over the last five years as the Amerks boast a 4-0-1-0 record against Lehigh Valley in Rochester dating back to the 2018-19 campaign. Conversely, the Amerks are 1-3-0-1 in Allentown in that same time frame, including the 5-1 setback earlier this season.
Rochester has earned at least one point in seven of the last 10 games against Lehigh Valley dating back to Dec. 30, 2016, going 5-3-1-1 over that span. In each of the 10 contests over that stretch, the winning team has scored at least three goals.
LAST TIME OUT
The Amerks saw their season-long six-game win streak come to an end after dropping a 5-1 decision to the Belleville Senators Wednesday at The Blue Cross Arena
Linus Weissbach scored for the second straight game to record his 12th point (6+6) over his last 14 outings. He is tied for the team lead in goals (12) and is only four away from matching a career high. Lukas Rousek pushed his point streak (2+3) to four games with an assist while Ethan Prow closed out the scoring by recording his third assist in the last four contests.
Goaltender Eric Comrie (1-1-0) made his second straight start of his conditioning assignment from the parent Buffalo Sabres. Despite stopping 24 shots, he suffered his first AHL regulation loss since Feb. 21, 2022. The netminder entered the matchup with a 6-0-1 record in his previous seven appearances in the AHL.
A DECEMBER TO REMEMBER FUR SUBBAN
After suffering a defeat in his season-debut, Subban has gone 7-1-0 since, including five straight wins dating back to a 4-3 shootout victory against the first-place Marlies on Dec. 10.
Subban had his arguably best performance of the season during a 75-save weekend in Rochester’s two-game sweep over the Charlotte Checkers. A night after stopping a regular-season career-high 45 saves, Subban was flawless in a 30-save shutout on Dec. 17, his first in the AHL since April 8, 2017, with the Providence Bruins.
Last week, Subban picked up his 100th career win in the 5-4 overtime win over Utica on Dec, 28.
WELL BALANCED OFFENSE
Brett Murray, one of four Amerks with at least 22 points on the season, is on pace to surpass the career-high 15 goals he scored in 2021-22 after recording his team-leading 12th of the season last Friday against Belleville. The fourth-year pro comes into tonight with eight points (4+4) in his last eight games and seven goals over his last 13 dating back to a two-goal effort against Providence on Nov. 23. He needs just two more points to reach 100 as an Amerk.
With five goals in his last eight games, Lukas Rousek enters the weekend third on the team in scoring with 23 points (9+14) while being one of four Amerks to appear in all 29 games. He accounted for half of his nine goals in December with an impressive five goals in his last seven games.
With 12 points (6+6) over his last 14 games, including four in the last four games (2+2), Linus Weissbach is five points back from the team-lead with 23 points (12+11) through 29 games. He, too, remains on pace to match his career-high of 16 goals from last season and has already established a new personal-best of three game-winning goals.
The 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship wrapped up on Thursday with Jiri Kulich and the Czech Republic winning the silver medal. Kulich finished the tournament tied for second with a team-high seven goals, including a hat trick in a 9-0 win over Austria, and added two assists in seven games. Isak Rosen helped Sweden to a fourth-place finish with six ponts (2+4) in and a plus-seven on-ice rating in seven games.
BIRO PILING UP THE POINTS
Despite missing six games due to injury, Biro has blazed his way atop the team's scoring lead following a productive December in which he led the team with 16 points (6+10) in 10 games. He recorded multi-point efforts in seven of his 10 appearances, including six straight between Dec. 9 and Dec. 30 before closing out the month with an assist in the 3-2 win in Toronto.
He currently paces the Amerks in assists (19) and points (28) through 23 games and saw his career-best seven-game point streak, the third-longest streak in the AHL, come to an end on Wednesday.
Dating back to last season, Biro has totaled 31 points on 11 goals and 20 assists over his last 26 games and hasn't gone more than one game without a point over that span. Since the start of the 2022 calendar year, Biro has posted 19 multi-point outings in 51 games, totaling 57 points on 18 goals and 39 assists.
SCOUTING THE PHANTOMS
Lehigh Valley, playing its first of a three-game road swing, comes into tonight winless in its prevoious two games and shows a 5-4-1-0 record in its last 10 games.
In his third season with the Phantoms, forward Tyson Foerster tops all Lehigh Valley skaters with 19 points while being on of five players to appear in all 30 games this season. The Alliston Ontario, native paces Lehigh Valley with 75 shots this season while also producing four power-play goals, which is tied for the team lead.
Lehigh Valley has used four different goaltenders this season with Samuel Ersson, Pat Nagle, Troy Grosenick and Nolan Maier. Ersson has handled much of the duties, posting a 9-8-1 record in 18 appearances prior to an NHL recall. The netminder shows a 3-0-0 mark in four games with Philadelphia.
SERIES NOTABLES
So far this season, the Amerks have used 13 different defensemen, which is third-most in the AHL behind Belleville, San Diego, San Jose, Toronto and Cleveland. Twelve of the 13 have recorded at least one point while seven have scored. Ethan Prow is the only defenseman to appear in all 29 games this season and has skated in 99 of the 105 games dating back to the start of the 2021-22 campaign.
Lehigh Valley captain and five-time AHL All-Star Cal O’Reilly spent two seasons with the Amerks, recording 71 points on 15 goals and 56 assists in 94 games from 2015 to 2017. O’Reilly served as Rochester’s captain during both seasons and represented the Amerks at the 2016 AHL All-Star Classic. On Dec. 30, O'Reilly, who appeared in his 1,000th pro game on March 25 of last season, recently recorded his 545th career AHL assist, surpassing legendary AHL Hall of Famer and former Amerk Jody Gage for seventh all-time in American Hockey League history.
Phantoms forward Ryan Fitzgerald is the older brother of former Amerks defenseman Casey Fitzgerald.
Phantoms goaltender Pat Nagle posted an 0-2-0 record in two appearances with Rochester during the 2014-15 campaign.
Both Rochester and Lehigh Valley have played in eight games decided beyond regulation. The Amerks are 5-1 in overtime this season while the Phantoms are 3-2.