GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS VISIT SPRINGFIELD FOR NEW YEAR'S DAY MATINEE
Jan 1, 2022TODAY'S GAME OVERVIEW
The Rochester Americans (16-8-0-0) ring in the New Year this afternoon as they embark on a two-game trek through New England against the Spingfield Thunderbirds (16-7-2-1) today at MassMutual Center. The 2:35 p.m. matinee will be the first of only two meetings between the Eastern Conference foes this season and will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.
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GAME NOTES |
MEDIA KIT |
The Amerks are 8-2-0-0 in their last 10 games following a 5-3 victory over Providence on Wednesday Dec. 29. Springfield, meanwhile, comes into the matchup atop the Atlantic Division, showing a 4-5-0-1 mark in their last 10.
HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES SNAPSHOT
Tonight is just the 11th meeting between the Amerks and the Thunderbirds over the last five seasons. Rochester has seven wins since the start of the 2016-17 campaign. The two clubs split the season-series in 2019-20 with each earning a 2-1 victory. The Amerks are 2-1-1-0 in their last four meetings in Springfield over the last five seasons.
Dating back to the start of the 2016-17 slate, there have been five one-goal games, three two-goal games and a pair of seven-plus goal outings over the previous 10 contests between Springfield and Rochester. The Amerks have scored at least one goal in four of the last five second periods.
VIEW FROM ROCHESTER
With five players performing at or near a point-per-game pace, the Amerks have the AHL’s top-producing offense and are currently averaging just under four goals per game. Collectively, Rochester’s 94 goals this season are most in the American Hockey League.
The Amerks enter the weekend with four of the league’s top 20 point-getters in Jack Quinn, JJ Peterka, Sean Malone and Michael Mersch. Quinn, who led all AHL rookies in scoring in each of the first two months of the season, is currently tied for seventh in the league in goals (11) ninth in points (24).
Prior to earning and making his NHL debut with Buffalo on Wednesday night against New Jersey, Peterka had 14 points (3+11) over his last 17 games dating back to Oct. 30. He continues to lead the team with 16 assists and is fourth in overall scoring with 20 points. Peyton Krebs, who also made his Sabres debut on Wednesday, rounds out Rochester’s top five point-getters. Krebs has amassed 19 points on four goals and 15 assists in 18 games this season, tying for seventh among all AHL rookie skaters. He, Peterka and Quinn all rank among the league’s top 10 scoring rookies this season.
With a league-leading 16 goals this season, Mersch is on pace to reach the 20-goal mark for the fifth time in eight years. He’s totaled 27 points (16+11) and seven multi-point outings over his last 21 games to move into second in the AHL in scoring with 29 points. 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 2015. More impressively, the eighth-year pro hasn’t been held scoreless in more than three consecutive games all season
With a pair of tallies on the man-advantage Wednesday night, Rochester’s sixth game of the campaign with two or more power-play goals, the club has scored a league-leading 24 goals on the power-play. The Amerks’ success-rate of 27.9% is also tops in the AHL. Equally as impressive, the Amerks have gone 17-for-49 (34.7%) over their last 13 games dating back to Nov. 17.
AMERKS ON THE MOVE AND ROSTER UPHEAVAL
Earlier this week, the Buffalo Sabres recalled forwards Peyton Krebs, JJ Peterka and Arttu Ruotsalainen as well as defenseman Ethan Prow from Rochester. Additionally, forwards Brandon Biro and Ryan MacInnis and defenseman Oskari Laakksonen were recalled to Buffalo Taxi Sqaud.
Prior to his first career recall, Peterka led all Amerks skaters with 16 assists while his 20 points are fourth-most on the team. He and Jack Quinn, taken just 26 picks apart from one another by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2020 NHL Draft, currently make up one of only four rookie duos across the entire AHL to rank inside the top four on their team in scoring. He’s averaged just over 16 minutes of ice time through his first two NHL games with the Sabres.
Krebs, meanwhile, has produced eight assists over his last eight games dating back to Nov. 26. He, too, is averaging 17 minutes of ice time through his first two games with Buffalo.
Ruotsalainen, who began the campaign with the Sabres, earned his first recall to Buffalo this season. In six contests with the Amerks, Ruotsalainen has recorded two assists while also recording a pair of goals and two assists in 16 games in Buffalo.
Prow not only made his NHL debut on Wednesday against New Jersey, he scored his first NHL goal on his first shot during the third period. The 29-year-old had made 283 professional apperances spanning over three leagues (ECHL, AHL and DEL) before dressing in his first NHL contest.
MacInnis, Biro and Laaksonen all earned their first recall of the campaign to the Sabres’ Taxi Squad following Friday’s 5-3 win over Providence, during which all three players found the scoresheet.
REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVE
This week the Amerks recalled defensemen Nick Boka and Matthew Cairns, and forward Lukas Craggs from the Cincinnati Cylones (ECHL) while also signing forwards Ara Nazarian and Jacob Pritchard and defensemen Wyatt Ege and David Drake all to Professional Tryouts (PTO).
Before scoring his first AHL goal, the eventual game-winner, Wednesday night versus Providence, Nazarian started the 2021-22 season with six goals and 12 assists for 18 points in 27 games for the Jacksonville Icemen (ECHL). He ranked third among all Jacksonville skaters in both assists and points and was tied for third on the team in goals.
Pritchar also made Amerks debut on Wednesday night and came to Rochester after starting the 2021-22 season with eight goals and eight assists for 16 points in 19 games with the Reading Royals (ECHL). He paced all Royals skaters in both goals and points and is tied for team-lead in assists.
Craggs earned his second recall of the season to Rochester after registering 21 points on (6+15) in 21 contests with the Cyclones. Additionally, Craggs has one goal in six games with the Amerks. Boka showed 12 points (5+7) in 18 games. Cairns made his AHL debut against the Bruins, recording a pair of shots after plotting six points (1+5) in 27 appearances with the Cyclones.
Drake, too, made his Amerks debut on Wednesday. He tallied the primary assist on Mersch’s first-period goal, marking his first point in the AHL since April 13, 2018, as a member of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
SERIES NOTABLES
Springfield defenseman Griffin Luce spent the 2020-21 season with the Amerks after signing a PTO on Feb. 1, 2021. The Williamsville, New York, native split the campaign between the Amerks and Rapid City Rush (ECHL), tallying five points (2+3) in a combined 34 games.
Both Rochester (11-3-0-0) and Springfield (8-3-2-1) enter today with winning records this season when scoring the game’s first goal. The Amerks have scored 35 goals in the third period, which are most in the AHL this season.
Goaltender Aaron Dell has backstopped the Amerks to four straight wins through his first four starts with Rochester. Until now, the netminder has never began a season with a win in each of his first four starts at either the NHL or AHL level. He’s is on pace to match his career-best seven-game win streak he posted from March 20 to April 7, 2015 with Worcester. In each of his four appearances this season, he has made 30 or more saves, three of which he finished with 30.
Rochester has not played Springfield at MassMutural Center since Oct. 27, 2019. The Amerks opened the scoring 55 seconds into the second period but the Thunderbirds scored midway through the third period before claiming the overtime win at the 3:57 mark.
Springfield Thunderbirds vs Rochester Americans: Head To Head Stats
Summary
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Description |
Result |
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| Head to Head Record 2021-22 Regular Season | Springfield 0-0-0-0 | Rochester 0-0-0-0 |
| Head to Head Record 2020-21 Regular Season | Springfield 0-0-0-0 | Rochester 0-0-0-0 |
| Last 5 Years record between teams | Springfield 2-4-0-0 | Rochester 4-1-1-0 |
| Springfield vs. Rochester Last 5 Years record at Springfield | Springfield 2-2-0-0 | Rochester 2-1-1-0 |
| Springfield vs. Rochester Last 5 Years record at Rochester | Springfield 0-2-0-0 | Rochester 2-0-0-0 |
How the 2 teams match up
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Rochester |
Springfield |
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| Team Record | 16-8-0-0 -- 32 points | 16-7-2-1 -- 35 points |
| Division Ranking | 2nd North | 1st Atlantic |
| Conference Ranking | 3rd Eastern | 2nd Eastern |
| League Ranking | 6th | 5th |
| Past 10 Games | 8-2-0-0 | 4-5-0-1 |
| Streak | 3-0-0-0 | 2-0-0-1 |
| Last Game | 5-3 W vs Providence (Dec 29 2021) Final | 5-1 W @ Bridgeport (Dec 28 2021) Final |
| Home Record | 8-3-0-0 | 10-4-1-0 |
| Away Record | 8-5-0-0 | 6-3-1-1 |
| GF | 94 | 83 |
| GA | 88 | 72 |
| PP (Overall) | (24/86) 27.9% | (24/119) 20.2% |
| PP (Home) | (12/41) 29.3% | (11/70) 15.7% |
| PP (Away) | (12/45) 26.7% | (13/49) 26.5% |
| PK (Overall) | (15/85) 82.4% | (23/102) 77.5% |
| PK (Home) | (7/46) 84.8% | (14/60) 76.7% |
| PK (Away) | (8/39) 79.5% | (9/42) 78.6% |
| PP vs. Opp. | (0/0) 0% | (0/0) 0% |
| PK vs. Opp. | (0/0) 0% | (0/0) 0% |
| Leading Rookie | Quinn (11-13-24) | Perunovich (2-18-20) |
| Most PIM | Pekar - 39 | Tucker - 46 |
| Team PIM/GM | 13.2/Game | 12.8/Game |
| Leading Scorers | Mersch (16-13-29) | Peca (10-10-20) |
| Quinn (11-13-24) | Perunovich (2-18-20) | |
| Malone (9-13-22) | Brown (6-11-17) | |
| Peterka (4-16-20) | Walker (6-11-17) | |
| Krebs (4-15-19) | Anas (5-11-16) | |
| Last 5 Games | 5-3 W vs Providence (Dec 29 2021) Final | 5-1 W @ Bridgeport (Dec 28 2021) Final |
| 4-3 W @ Hershey (Dec 19 2021) Final | 4-3 L @ Hartford (Dec 19 2021) Final SO | |
| 4-3 W @ Lehigh Valley (Dec 18 2021) Final SO | 6-4 W vs Hartford (Dec 18 2021) Final | |
| 4-2 L @ Charlotte (Dec 15 2021) Final | 2-0 L vs Hershey (Dec 17 2021) Final | |
| 11-1 L @ Charlotte (Dec 14 2021) Final | 6-0 L @ Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (Dec 12 2021) Final | |
| Leading After 1st | 12-2-0-0 | 7-3-1-1 |
| Leading After 2nd | 10-0-0-0 | 9-0-1-1 |
| Tied After 1st | 1-0-0-0 | 3-0-1-0 |
| Tied After 2nd | 2-1-0-0 | 6-1-0-0 |
| Trailing After 1st | 3-6-0-0 | 6-4-0-0 |
| Trailing After 2nd | 4-7-0-0 | 1-6-1-0 |
| Out Shooting Opponents | 4-5-0-0 | 11-3-1-0 |
| Out Shot by Opponents | 12-3-0-0 | 5-4-1-1 |
| 1-Goal Games | 7-2-0-0 | 6-0-2-1 |
| 2-Goal Games | 5-2-0-0 | 4-5-0-0 |
| 3-Goal Games | 0-1-0-0 | 5-1-0-0 |