GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS RETURN HOME TONIGHT TO HOST BELLEVILLE
Nov 2, 2021TONIGHT'S GAME OVERVIEW
The Rochester Americans (4-2-0-0) are back on home ice tonight following a successful four-game Canadian road swing as they host the Belleville Senators (2-5-0-0) in a North Division showdown at The Blue Cross Arena. The 7:05 p.m. matchup will be the second of eight scheduled meetings between the two teams this season and will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM ESPN Rochester as well as AHLTV.
The Amerks enter the contest having won four of their last five games and rank third in the AHL’s North Division standings. Conversely, Belleville resides in the basement of the North Division after dropping four of its last five with its lone win over that span coming over Rochester last week.
HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES SNAPSHOT
Rochester is 9-10-0 all-time against Belleville while being outscored 66-62 through the first 19 meetings with the Senators. Last Wednesday’s 7-3 setback at CAA Arena marked the first regulation loss was for the Amerks in 10 road games all-time against Belleville after having entered the matchup with a 6-0-3-0 record.
The Amerks boast a 3-4-1-0 home record through the first eight all-time meetings in the Flower City. Additionally, Rochester has scored two or more goals in 16 of the previous 19 get-togethers, which includes 11 games where they have produced four or more tallies.
In the last meeting in Rochester back on Dec. 27, 2019, the Amerks faced a one-goal deficit going into the final period of regulation, but thanks to two straight goals, including one with two seconds left in the contest, the Amerks picked up a 4-3 come-from-behind victory to improve to 4-1-1-0 in the season-series.
WATCH: TONIGHT'S FACE-OFF FIRST LOOK
SUCCESSFUL ROAD SWING
During their four-game Canadian road swing, the Amerks posted a 3-1-0-0 record while scoring 20 goals, three of which came on the power-play. A total of 17 different Rochester skaters recorded at least one point and 10 posted multi-point performances as the Amerks took six out of a possible eight points and came home with the AHL’s top-ranked offense.
The Amerks started the road trip with a convincing 7-3 win over the Toronto Marlies before dropping a 7-3 decision in Belleville. The Amerks then closed out their trek north of the border with a pair of one-goal wins over the Laval Rocket, including a 6-5 overtime thriller on Saturday afternoon to complete the sweep. It was the first game of the season decided beyond regulation.
After being held without a point in the first two games of the season, Michael Mersch, a four-time 20-goal scorer, responded with nine points (5+4) and three multi-point outings to move into second on the team in scoring.
Veteran blueliner Brandon Davidson and second-year defenseman Oskari Laaksonen had points in three of the four games on the road trip. In the 4-3 win over Laval on Friday, Davidson collected his first multi-point game since Dec. 18, 2019 as a member of Stockton Heat. With five points (1+4) in their first six outings to start the season, Davidson and Laaksonen lead all Amerk defensemen and are currently five points off the AHL lead for most by a defenseman.
Goaltender Aaron Dell earned a pair of wins while making 59 saves in 120 minutes played to start his Amerks career.
WATCH: SETH APPERT FOLLOWING MORNING SKATE
QUINN-TISSENTIAL QUALITIES
Jack Quinn comes into the week after being named the AHL’s Rookie of the Month for October. Entering the month of November, he remains one of 10 AHL rookies currently leading his respective team in scoring.
Quinn has tallied five goals and five assists for 10 points, already surpassing his offensive output from his truncated 2020-21 campaign and became the first AHL player to reach the 10-point mark this season. Dating back to last season, the Ottawa, Ontario, native has totaled 13 points (5+8) in his last nine games.
Quinn has been held scoreless just once through his first six games and comes into tonight having produced four straight multi-point performances.
He is the third eighth overall pick of the Sabres in the last five years to spend time in Rochester, joining Alexander Nylander (2016) and Casey Mittelstadt (2017), and the second to make his pro debut with the Amerks.
WATCH: RYAN SCARFO FOLLOWING MORNING SKATE
HEAD OF THE ROOKIE CLASS
The Amerks currently own three of the AHL’s top scoring rookies in Jack Quinn, JJ Peterka and Linus Weissbach, who have combined for 22 points
(9+13) through their first six games of the season.
Quinn, Buffalo’s eighth overall pick in 2020, comes into the week tied for the league lead in both goals (5) and points (10) among all AHL rookies. His 10 points also place him inside the league’s top three scorers overall.
Peterka, meanwhile, is third amongst all first-year players with six assists while his seven 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 three rookie duos across the AHL to rank among their respective team’s top three individual scorers.
After going scoreless in his pro debut, Weissbach has recorded five points over his last five games, including a two-goal effort in Toronto on Oct. 23. Buffalo’s seventh-round selection in 2017, Weissbach comes into the month tied for fifth in goals (3) and tied for eighth in scoring among all AHL rookies. He’s in his first pro season following four years at the University of Wisconsin, where he recorded 114 points (34+84) in 127 career games.
SCOUTING THE SENATORS
elleville, playing its second of a five-game road swing, comes into the matchup with a 2-5-0-0 record through its first seven games of the season.
In the last meeting against the Amerks last Wednesday night, the Senators offense errupted for a season-high seven goals, three of which came in the first 20 minutes of play.
Egor Sokolov, who entered without a point through the first four games of the season, posted a career-high four-point night (2+2) while Jake Lucchini (1+2), Cole Reinhardt (0+2) and Jacob Bernard-Docker (2+0) all had multi-point efforts. Coby Williams and Andrew Agozzino capped off the scoring in the win while first-year netminder Kevin Mandolese (1-1-0) stopped 30 of the 33 shots he faced to earn his first victory of the season.
Lucchini tops all Belleville skaters this season while sharing the team-lead in goals (4) to go with two assists for six points through his first seven outings.
SERIES NOTABLES
onight’s contest features five players selected in the 2020 NHL Draft, which includes Belleville’s Egor Sokolov, Roby Javentie and Cole Reinhardt and Rochester’s Jack Quinn and JJ Peterka.
Casey Fitzgerald, Sean Malone and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen are the only three Amerks that were on Rochester’s roster during the last meeting with the Belleville that was played in the Flower City.
In 21 combined games all-time against the Senators, Malone (18 games, 3+8) and Fitzgerald (3 games, 0+0) have posted 11 points. Luukkonen has three appearances versus Belleville while showing a 1-1-1 career record.
Luukkonen made his professional debut against Belleville back on April 14, 2019 as he stopped 32 of 34 shots while earning his first-career AHL victory. After allowing one goal in each of the first two periods, he made 20 saves to help preserve the win.
Michael Mersch has goals in four straight games coming into tonight’s contest, which ties a career-long (Jan. 29 to Feb. 6, 2016 with Ontario.)
Rochester Americans vs Belleville Senators: Head To Head Stats
Summary
|
Description |
Result |
|
| Head to Head Record 2021-22 Regular Season | Rochester 0-1-0-0 | Belleville 1-0-0-0 |
| Head to Head Record 2020-21 Regular Season | Rochester 0-0-0-0 | Belleville 0-0-0-0 |
| Last 5 Years record between teams | Rochester 9-6-4-0 | Belleville 10-7-2-0 |
| Rochester vs. Belleville Last 5 Years record at Rochester | Rochester 3-5-1-0 | Belleville 6-3-0-0 |
| Rochester vs. Belleville Last 5 Years record at Belleville | Rochester 6-1-3-0 | Belleville 4-4-2-0 |
| Previous Meetings This Season | Rochester 3 @ Belleville 7 (Oct 27 2021) Final |
How the two teams match up
|
Belleville |
Rochester |
|
| Team Record | 2-5-0-0 -- 4 points | 4-2-0-0 -- 8 points |
| Division Ranking | 7th North | 3rd North |
| Conference Ranking | 14th Eastern | 7th Eastern |
| League Ranking | 27th | 11th |
| Past 10 Games | 2-5-0-0 | 4-2-0-0 |
| Streak | 0-2-0-0 | 2-0-0-0 |
| Last Game | 5-2 L @ Toronto (Oct 30 2021) Final | 6-5 W @ Laval (Oct 30 2021) Final OT |
| Home Record | 2-3-0-0 | 1-0-0-0 |
| Away Record | 0-2-0-0 | 3-2-0-0 |
| GF | 19 | 27 |
| GA | 27 | 27 |
| PP (Overall) | (3/32) 9.4% | (3/20) 15.0% |
| PP (Home) | (1/21) 4.8% | (0/3) 0.0% |
| PP (Away) | (2/11) 18.2% | (3/17) 17.6% |
| PK (Overall) | (4/28) 85.7% | (4/17) 76.5% |
| PK (Home) | (3/22) 86.4% | (1/6) 83.3% |
| PK (Away) | (1/6) 83.3% | (3/11) 72.7% |
| PP vs. Opp. | (0/2) 0% | (1/6) 16.7% |
| PK vs. Opp. | (1/6) 83.3% | (0/2) 100% |
| Leading Rookie | Wedman (2-1-3) | Quinn (5-5-10) |
| Most PIM | Leslie - 19 | MacInnis - 18 |
| Team PIM/GM | 12.6/Game | 15.2/Game |
| Leading Scorers | Lucchini (4-2-6) | Quinn (5-5-10) |
| Sokolov (2-3-5) | Mersch (5-4-9) | |
| Åberg (1-4-5) | Peterka (1-6-7) | |
| Agozzino (4-0-4) | Weissbach (3-2-5) | |
| Wedman (2-1-3) | Davidson (1-4-5) | |
| Last 5 Games | 5-2 L @ Toronto (Oct 30 2021) Final | 6-5 W @ Laval (Oct 30 2021) Final OT |
| 5-2 L vs Toronto (Oct 29 2021) Final | 4-3 W @ Laval (Oct 29 2021) Final | |
| 7-3 W vs Rochester (Oct 27 2021) Final | 7-3 L @ Belleville (Oct 27 2021) Final | |
| 2-1 L vs Cleveland (Oct 23 2021) Final | 7-3 W @ Toronto (Oct 23 2021) Final | |
| 4-0 L vs Cleveland (Oct 22 2021) Final | 5-3 W vs Syracuse (Oct 22 2021) Final | |
| Leading After 1st | 1-1-0-0 | 3-0-0-0 |
| Leading After 2nd | 2-0-0-0 | 3-0-0-0 |
| Tied After 1st | 1-2-0-0 | 1-0-0-0 |
| Tied After 2nd | 0-0-0-0 | 1-0-0-0 |
| Trailing After 1st | 0-2-0-0 | 0-2-0-0 |
| Trailing After 2nd | 0-5-0-0 | 0-2-0-0 |
| Out Shooting Opponents | 1-1-0-0 | 0-2-0-0 |
| Out Shot by Opponents | 1-4-0-0 | 4-0-0-0 |
| 1-Goal Games | 0-1-0-0 | 2-0-0-0 |
| 2-Goal Games | 0-0-0-0 | 1-0-0-0 |
| 3-Goal Games | 1-2-0-0 | 0-0-0-0 |