GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS RETURN HOME TO HOST PHANTOMS TONIGHT
Jan 17, 2024TONIGHT'S GAME OVERVIEW
The Rochester Americans (16-13-3-1) wrap up their three-game stretch against Atlantic Division opponents tonight when they return home to close out their season series with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (16-13-5-1) at The Blue Cross Arena. Game time is slated for a 7:05 p.m. start and will be carried on 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.
The Amerks, who have at least one point in eight of their 14 home games, show a 4-5-1-0 mark over their previous 10 contests overall. They currently hold the fifth-place spot in the AHL’s North Division standings.
Lehigh Valley, who has a point in four straight games (3-0-1-0), sits in seventh place in the Atlantic with a 16-13-5-1 mark through 35 games.
HEAD-TO-HEAD RESULTS AGAINST LEHIGH VALLEY
Dating back to the 2019-20 season, Amerks forward Brett Murray has recorded four points (2+2) in five career games against Lehigh Valley. He enters tonight on a three-game point streak versus the Phantoms.
Home ice has played a significant factor in the season series for both teams over the last five years as the Amerks boast a 4-1-1-0 record against Lehigh Valley in Rochester dating back to the 2018-19 campaign. Conversely, the Amerks are 1-4-0-1 in Allentown in that same time frame, including a 5-4 setback in the previous matchup between the two teams back on Nov. 25.
In each of the 12 contests between the two clubs dating back to Dec. 30, 2016, the winning team has scored at least three goals.
LAST TIME OUT
The Amerks scored a goal in each of the first two periods Saturday at Truist Field, but a four-goal run by the Charlotte Checkers (18-13-4-0) propelled the home team to a 5-2 win in the Queen City Outdoor Classic.
Linus Weissbach and Michael Mersch both scored their fifth goals of the season. Kale Clague, Jiri Kulich, and Lukas Rousek all chipped in one assist each. By way of Rousek’s assist, he pushed his point streak to 10 games, which is a career-long and best in the AHL.
Goaltender Eric Comrie (1-1-0) made his second appearance since joining the Amerks after starting the season with the Buffalo Sabres. The Edmonton, Alberta, native made 32 saves, which included all 16 he faced in the opening 20 minutes of play.
THE BEST OFFENSE IS A GOOD DEFENSE
Jeremy Davies and Kale Clague are among the AHL’s top scoring defensemen, having combined for seven goals and 33 points this season. Davies’ five goals are tied for 19th-most amongst all blueliners.
Davies, who scored a career-high 11 goals last season, including three game-winning tallies, is tied for 10th amongst all defensemen with 81 shots. He’s recorded at least one shot in all but three games this season. Davies, who closed out the month of October on a five-game point streak, has recorded one point in 12 of his first 30 games this season, never going more than four straight games without a point.
Clague, meanwhile, is tied for 18th among all blueliners with 15 assists in 31 games. Clague opened the campaign with three multi-point performances and enters the week with eight points (1+4) in last nine games.
DYNAMIC DUO: ALL-STAR BOUND
Jiri Kulich and Isak Rosen both return for their second seasons in Rochester after putting up one of the most impressive and productive seasons as teenagers in the history of the AHL during the 2022-23 campaign. Both were named to the North Division All-Star roster for the upcoming 2024 AHL All-Star Classic, which will take place Feb. 4-5 in San Jose, California.
Kulich’s torrid start to the season has him tied for fifth in the AHL with a team-high 16 goals despite having only appeared in 25 games for Rochester. Among the seven players ahead of him, all but one have skated in at least 33 games. Of his 16 goals, four of them have been overtime game-winners, most in the league in that category. Only Ontario’s Samuel Fagemo, who has 20 goals in 24 games this season, has scored more goals in fewer games across the AHL than Kulich.
Kulich, whose 24 goals last season were the second-most ever by an 18-year-old in league history, recently captained Czechia to a bronze medal at the 2024 World Junior Championship. He led all Czech skaters and tied for first in overall scoring with 12 points (6+6) in seven games, including his second four-point outing of the tournament in the bronze medal game.
He was named to the tournament’s All-Star Team for the second straight year in his final appearance. The 8-5 win, which saw Czechia overcome a 5-2 deficit with four goals in less than a minute, gave the Czechs their second straight medal finish after winning silver last year.
With 11 points over his last 16 games, which includes a career-best four point (2+2) effort on Nov. 18, Rosen took over the team lead in scoring with 24 points after returning from a seven-game stint with the Sabres last month. He is third amongst all Amerks in goals (9) and has matched his totaled from last season in game-winning tallies through just 29 games.
Back on Nov. 25, Kulich and Rosen both made their NHL debuts with the Buffalo Sabres against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center
The duo has combined for 130 points (63+67) in 182 regular season games. Rochester boasts an impressive 21-3-2-1 record when they each record at least one point in the same game as well as a near-perfect 8-1-0-0 mark when they both score in the same game.
ROUSEK RACKING UP THE POINTS
In his second full season in North America, forward Lukas Rousek is performing at nearly a point-per-game pace as he shows 23 points (6+17) in 28 games with the Amerks.
Rousek, a sixth-round selection (160th overall) by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2019 NHL Draft, has a team-best 17 assists and is tied for second on the club in points (23) while his five goals rank fifth. Of players who have appeared in at least 20 games, he is fourth in points per game (0.82) .
The third-year pro and AHL All-Star comes into the week having totaled 11 points (3+8) over a career-long 10-game point streak dating back to Dec. 20. It marks the longest active point streak in the league currently with only Toronto’s Alex Steeves and Texas’ Logan Stankoven having longer streaks.
Rousek, who also skated in five games with the Sabres earlier this season, is similarly riding an AHL-best six-game assist streak since Dec. 29. Since the start of 2021-22 season, Rousek has recorded 83 points in 117 games
APPERT REACHES CENTURY MARK
Last Friday’s win at Charlotte was a milestone win for Seth Appert, who became just the seventh head coach in the 68-year history of the franchise to reach 100 career wins with Rochester. He joins an impressive list that includes the likes of Amerks Hall of Famers Randy Cunneyworth, John Van Boxmeer, Joe Crozier, Mike Keenan, Chris Taylor and Brian McCutcheon.
On Dec. 16 against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Appert also became the seventh head coach in team history to be behind Rochester’s bench for 200 games.
Since the 2020-21 season, Appert has guided the Amerks to a 100-84-18-8 record as well as two straight playoff appearances, which included a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2023.
It was the team’s deepest playoff run in nearly 20 years and their first to the Conference Finals since the 2004 Calder Cup Playoffs.
WORKING OVERTIME
The 6-5 overtime loss in Cleveland earlier this month was the third game over the last eight for Rochester that went beyond regulation, which includes three shootout decisions last month. Overall, the Amerks have gone to extra time on 13 different occasions this season, including each of the first three games of the campaign.
Never before in the near 68-year history of the franchise have the Amerks opened a season with three consecutive overtime contests.
Rochester is the only team in the league with 13 games decided beyond regulation this season. Dating back to last season, 21 of Rochester’s previous 46 regular-season games have required overtime to determine a winner.
Of the 76 games Rochester played since start of 2023, 25 have been decided beyond regulation. Jiri Kulich scored the game-winning goal in four contests over that span while Linus Weissbach sealed the victory in the shootout twice.
The Amerks show a 14-11 mark over that span, which includes an 11-5 record on the road, compared to 3-6 on home ice. In the 16 road contests decided after 60 minutes of play outside Rochester, the Amerks hold a 7-3 in overtime and are 4-2 in the shootout.
TOKARSKI AMONG ELITE COMPANY
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 6-6-2 in his first 14 starts, 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 this week, the 34-year-old Tokarski is tied with Nick Damore for 12th all-time in career wins (211). He also ranks 18th all-time in games played (413) and one game away from tying Yann Danis for 17th all-time . He is also one shutout away from tying Danis for eighth all-time.
A JOLT OF JOST
Rochester’s forward group was bolstered at the end of the 2023 calendar year with the addition of veteran forward Tyson Jost, a former first-round selection (10th overall) of the Colorado Avalanche in the 2016 NHL Draft.
The St. Albert, Alberta, native made his Amerks debut on Dec. 29 against Hershey and has since recorded six points (2+4) through his first six games, having earned at least one point in all but two games thus far.
Jost has totaled 13 points (7+6) in 19 career American Hockey League games with the Amerks, San Antonio Rampage and Colorado Eagles over parts of three seasons. He’s also recorded 138 points (56+82) over 442 career NHL games with Buffalo Sabres, Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche.
Jost spent one season at the University of North Dakota in 2016-17, amassing 35 points (16+19) in 33 games. He finished the campaign second on the club in both assists and points while ranking third in goals.
Before joining North Dakota, Jost totaled 149 points (97+65) in 97 career contests with the Penticton Vees (BCHL) from 2013-2016. During his final season, Jost was named Hockey Canada’s Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL) National Player of the Year, as well as the CJHL’s MVP and Top Forward. Additionally, he was also named the BCHL MVP as he amassed 42 goals and 104 points in 48 games, leading the BCHL in assists (62).
Internationally, Jost led Canada at the 2016 Under-18 World Championship in Grand Forks, where he set a new Canadian scoring record with 15 points in seven games. He led the tournament in scoring and was named the Top Forward while also earning a gold medal with Canada at the 2015 World Junior ‘A’ Challenge.
COMRIE COMES EAST
Goaltender Eric Comrie was the latest to be assigned to the Amerks from the parent Buffalo Sabres, officially joining the team on New Year’s Day.
Comrie began the campaign with the Sabres, showing a 1-5-0 record and a .863 save percentage in seven appearances. In 54 career NHL games with Buffalo, Winnipeg, New Jersey and Detroit, Comrie has posted a 23-24-2 record to go along with a pair of shutouts.
The former second-round selection (59th overall) of Winnipeg in 2013 has appeared in 211 games at the AHL level. The Edmonton, Alberta, native boasts a 92-95-21 record and 10 shutouts since the start of 2013-14 with Rochester, Manitoba, Tucson and St. John’s.
As part of conditioning stint in 2022-23 with Rochester, he went 1-2-0 in three appearances.
With his first start of the season for the Amerks on Jan. 5 versus Cleveland, Comrie became the fifth different netminder to appear in a game this season for the Amerks. It marked the third straight year Rochester has had five or more goaltenders play in its crease and first since a three-year stretch between 1995 and 1998.
Lehigh Valley Phantoms vs Rochester Americans: Head To Head Stats
Summary
|
Description |
Result |
|
| Head to Head Record 2023-24 Regular Season | Lehigh Valley 1-0-0-0 | Rochester 0-1-0-0 |
| Head to Head Record 2022-23 Regular Season | Lehigh Valley 2-0-0-0 | Rochester 0-2-0-0 |
| Last 5 Years record between teams | Lehigh Valley 4-0-1-2 | Rochester 3-4-0-0 |
| Lehigh Valley vs. Rochester Last 5 Years record at Lehigh Valley | Lehigh Valley 3-0-0-1 | Rochester 1-3-0-0 |
| Lehigh Valley vs. Rochester Last 5 Years record at Rochester | Lehigh Valley 1-0-1-1 | Rochester 2-1-0-0 |
| Previous Meetings This Season | Rochester 4 @ Lehigh Valley 5 (Nov 25 2023) Final |
How the two teams match up
|
Rochester |
Lehigh Valley |
|
| Team Record | 16-13-3-1 -- 36 points | 16-13-5-1 -- 38 points |
| Division Ranking | 5th North | 7th Atlantic |
| Conference Ranking | 12th Eastern | 10th Eastern |
| League Ranking | 21st | 18th |
| Past 10 Games | 4-5-1-0 | 5-3-1-1 |
| Streak | 0-1-0-0 | 3-0-1-0 |
| Last Game | 5-2 L @ Charlotte (Jan 13 2024) Final | 4-3 W vs Hershey (Jan 13 2024) Final SO |
| Home Record | 6-6-2-0 | 9-8-1-0 |
| Away Record | 10-7-1-1 | 7-5-4-1 |
| GF | 106 | 101 |
| GA | 128 | 110 |
| PP (Overall) | (21/103) 20.4% | (29/133) 21.8% |
| PP (Home) | (7/39) 17.9% | (15/77) 19.5% |
| PP (Away) | (14/64) 21.9% | (14/56) 25.0% |
| PK (Overall) | (31/126) 75.4% | (28/153) 81.7% |
| PK (Home) | (13/44) 70.5% | (16/74) 78.4% |
| PK (Away) | (18/82) 78.0% | (12/79) 84.8% |
| PP vs. Opp. | (2/4) 50% | (3/5) 60% |
| PK vs. Opp. | (3/5) 40% | (2/4) 50% |
| Leading Rookie | Novikov (0-11-11) | Tuomaala (11-18-29) |
| Most PIM | Davies - 43 | Wilson - 107 |
| Team PIM/GM | 12.0/Game | 17.4/Game |
| Leading Scorers | Rosen (9-15-24) | Marody (9-23-32) |
| Kulich (16-7-23) | Tuomaala (11-18-29) | |
| Rousek (6-17-23) | Lycksell (15-11-26) | |
| Biro (10-10-20) | Laczynski (8-18-26) | |
| Mersch (5-14-19) | Attard (7-13-20) | |
| Last 5 Games | 5-2 L @ Charlotte (Jan 13 2024) Final | 4-3 W vs Hershey (Jan 13 2024) Final SO |
| 3-2 W @ Charlotte (Jan 12 2024) Final | 4-1 W vs Hartford (Jan 12 2024) Final | |
| 6-5 L @ Cleveland (Jan 6 2024) Final OT | 3-2 L @ Hershey (Jan 7 2024) Final OT | |
| 3-1 W vs Cleveland (Jan 5 2024) Final | 4-3 W @ Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (Jan 6 2024) Final OT | |
| 3-2 W @ Utica (Dec 30 2023) Final SO | 5-2 L vs Charlotte (Dec 31 2023) Final | |
| Leading After 1st | 6-3-0-1 | 7-1-2-0 |
| Leading After 2nd | 8-0-0-0 | 11-1-1-0 |
| Tied After 1st | 4-5-1-0 | 4-5-2-0 |
| Tied After 2nd | 4-4-2-0 | 2-1-2-0 |
| Trailing After 1st | 6-5-2-0 | 5-7-1-1 |
| Trailing After 2nd | 4-9-1-1 | 3-11-2-1 |
| Out Shooting Opponents | 6-5-1-0 | 11-5-2-1 |
| Out Shot by Opponents | 9-8-2-1 | 5-7-3-0 |
| 1-Goal Games | 13-2-3-1 | 10-2-5-1 |
| 2-Goal Games | 2-5-0-0 | 0-4-0-0 |
| 3-Goal Games | 1-2-0-0 | 5-3-0-0 |
Lehigh Valley Phantoms
| # | Player | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | Samu Tuomaala | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| 29 | X Alexis Gendron | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | Tanner Laczynski | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 28 | Olle Lycksell | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 19 | Wade Allison | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 6 | Emil Andrae | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | Ronnie Attard | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| 91 | Elliot Desnoyers | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | Cooper Marody | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 13 | Brendan Furry | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 |
| 22 | Rhett Gardner | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 37 | Adam Ginning | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | Helge Grans | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | Adam Karashik | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 98 | Victor Mete | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 |
| 10 | Evan Polei | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 32 | Felix Sandstrom | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | Garrett Wilson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 14 | Zayde Wisdom | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -1 |
| # | Player | GP | W | L | OT | MIN | GA | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 32 | Felix Sandstrom | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 60:00 | 4 | 4.00 | 0.733 |
Rochester Americans
| # | Player | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Brandon Biro | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 96 | Damien Giroux | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 44 | Tyson Kozak | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 11 | Lukas Rousek | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 56 | Kale Clague | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 4 | Jeremy Davies | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| 26 | Mason Jobst | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 |
| 79 | Viktor Neuchev | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 74 | Nikita Novikov | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 16 | Justin Richards | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | Linus Weissbach | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| 37 | X Chris Jandric | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 52 | Aleksandr Kisakov | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | Michael Mersch | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 22 | Zach Metsa | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Ethan Prow | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | Graham Slaggert | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 61 | Riley Stillman | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 34 | Dustin Tokarski | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| # | Player | GP | W | L | OT | MIN | GA | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 34 | Dustin Tokarski | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 59:25 | 5 | 5.05 | 0.898 |