GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS SEEK TO EXTEND WIN STREAK IN SYRACUSE
Rochester attempts fourth straight win to kick-off February
Feb 1, 2025
By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48
The Rochester Americans (26-12-3-1) start the month of February looking to sweep a home-and-home weekend against the Syracuse Crunch (18-15-5-4) Saturday evening at Upstate Medical University Arena.
Saturday is the seventh of 12 meetings on the season between Rochester and Syracuse. The two sides will conclude their season set with six games over the next 58 days against one another. The Amerks currently yield a 4-2-0-0 series edge over the Crunch after the team’s win Friday night. Rochester will aim to extend its winning streak to four games Saturday in Syracuse.
LAST TIME OUT
The Amerks raced out to a quick start Friday, dropping three goals on Syracuse’s Brandon Halverson just 11 minutes into the game on the team’s way to a 4-1 win in front of over 7,500 fans at Blue Cross Arena.
Isak Rosen, Ty Tullio, and Brett Murray each scored in the first period, giving the Amerks back-to-back games with three goal firsts. Rosen would tack on the empty net conversion late in the game to award the third-year Amerk with his third consecutive multi-goal outing. Tullio’s goal was his first as an Amerk and first in 27 games, dating back to April of last season with Bakersfield. Murray converted for his league leading-11th power play goal and later added an assist on Rosen’s empty netter, recording his 100th AHL assist (all with Rochester) in the process.
In goal, Devon Levi stopped 27 shots for his 14th win of the season and 30th as an Amerk dating back to when he joined the team mid-season in the 2023-24 campaign.
Halverson, who entered Friday top five in the league for goals-against-average and save percentage, was chased out of the game after Rochester netted its third goal on just their fifth shot of the contest. In relief, Ryan Fanti stopped 17 shots to keep Syracuse alive throughout the game. Dylan Duke scored his team leading 12th goal of the season for the Crunch’s lone conversion during the second period. Syracuse enters the new month having lost four of its last five games.
SANDSTORM
On Friday morning, Amerks head coach Michael Leone confirmed that veteran goaltender Felix Sandström will make his 14th start of the season on the road against the Crunch. Sandström, 28, is currently riding a career best five-game win streak following his most recent performance last Saturday when the Gavle, Sweden native made 26 saves in Hartford for a 6-3 Rochester victory.
Sandström’s win streak is exclusively on the road, with the former Flyers’ prospect stringing together wins against Belleville, Utica, Bridgeport, Lehigh Valley, and Hartford. Sandström has gone 8-4-1 in his time as an Amerk, but has yet to face Syracuse this season. His last outing against the Crunch came over two years ago on January 14th, 2023, when the then-Phantoms goaltender made 20 saves in a 5-2 loss. Sandström is 0-2-1 in three career appearances against the Tampa Bay Lightning’s AHL affiliate.
“I think it’s important to let those guys (the goaltenders) know the plan early in the week,” said Leone. “We as a staff probably have the next month or so mapped out of who starts what game, but things can happen, so we’ll see. We just want our guys to be prepared and Sandy’s (Sandström) has done a great job for us. We’ve got two guys that are really capable on any given night. We are gonna need both of those guys, especially when you look at our schedule coming up.”
BEST IN THE LEAGUE?
Isak Rosen has taken a leap forward in his development during his third year in the Flower City. The 21-year-old leads Rochester with a career high-22 goals and is second in the AHL in that category. For a third straight game, Rosen scored two goals and has had four multi-goal games over his last six performances. The Sabres’ 2021 first-round pick is on pace for a 40-goal season; something no Amerk has done since Thomas Vanek scored 42 for the red, white, and blue 20 years ago during the 2004-05 season.
Rosen leads the season series against the Crunch as well, scoring six goals and an assist in half a dozen games against the Amerks’ intrastate foe.
“He's playing really good hockey right now,” said Leone. “His time (in the NHL) will come one day. Whenever that time comes, it will be the right time for him. But there's still areas he can get better. The guys who just stick with it and do it right all the time are the guys that ultimately have a bit of mental toughness and fortitude to persevere. He's 21 years old. He's still a young kid. He came over here at 18 years old and he's continued getting better. As long as Rosie (Rosen) keeps showing up and keeps working on his craft like this, he'll be there when the time comes.”
FEB FRENZY
Despite being the shortest month of the year, February sees the Amerks play just as many contests as they did in January. Rochester will play 11 times and exclusively face North Division opponents until hosting Wilkes-Barre/Scranton February 26 in their lone out of division game in the month following seven against the Atlantic in January.
Unlike the previous two months, the Amerks will spend the bulk of their time on home ice, which will be a continuing trend through the remainder of the season. The Amerks host seven games at Blue Cross Arena in February and play 18 of their 30 remaining games in Rochester.