ANOTHER THREE-IN-THREE WEEKEND BEGINS TONIGHT AGAINST SYRACUSE

GAME PREVIEW: ANOTHER THREE-IN-THREE WEEKEND FOR AMERKS BEGINS TONIGHT AGAINST SYRACUSE

Mar 10, 2022

TONIGHT'S GAME OVERVIEW

The Rochester Americans (27-22-3-2) look to snap a four-game home winless skid tonight as they set out on yet another three-in-three weekend against the Syracuse Crunch (23-21-6-1) at The Blue Cross Arena. The North Division matchup gets underway at 7:05 p.m. 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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The Amerks have earned at least one point in seven of their last 14 games. The Crunch have a 5-3-2-0 record in their previous 10 outings while showing a record of 11-11-5-0 through their first 27 road games this season.

HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES SNAPSHOT

Tonight’s meeting is the eighth between the North Division rivals since Jan. 5 and the 10th of 12 overall this season. The Amerks claimed the first two meetings, but the Crunch have responded with points in seven straight (6-0-1-0) since, including a 6-3 win in the most recent get-together on Mar 2.

Tonight’s matchup also begins a stretch in which the Amerks and Crunch will face-off twice over the next three days, including again Sunday. It’s also the final game in Rochester this season between the intrastate rivals.

The Amerks have scored a power-play goal in 17 of their last 30 games against Syracuse, going 29-for-104 (27.9%) with the man-advantage over that span. Additionally, Rochester has collected at least one point in 24 of the last 41 games against the Crunch dating back to the 2018-19 campaign.

WATCH: TONIGHT'S FACE-OFF FIRST LOOK

VIEW FROM ROCHESTER

Rochester remains in the thick of what is shaping up to be a very tight race to the finish among its fellow North Division opponents. The Amerks have played the most games (54) in the Division among any other team with some having as many as six games in hand on Rochester entering this weekend. Syracuse currently has three games in hand on Rochester.

The Amerks presently sit in fifth place with 22 games remaining and the top five teams in the North Division are guaranteed to clinch a playoff spot.

After scoring just four times through the first three months of the season, JJ Peterka has notched 26 points (9+17) in 25 games to begin 2022, including goals in back-to-back games on three different occasions over that span.

Having returned to the lineup this past Friday after missing the previous 17 games, Jack Quinn is second among all AHL rookies in goals (19) and seventh in points (38) while his team-high seven power-play goals are also tied for second-most among all rookies.

Rochester has the AHL’s ninth-best offense. Averaging under four goals per game, the club have scored the fourth-most goals in the AHL with 180 and rank second in the North Division behind only the Utica Comets.

POWER-PLAY PROFICIENCY

Rochester’s power-play has gone 46-for-198 with a 23.2% conversion rate that is currently third-best in the AHL. The Amerks’ 46 goals on the man-advantage are most among all North Division teams and are 10 shy of the AHL lead behind Ontario.

The Amerks have scored at least one power-play goal in 28 of their first 54 games this season and have registered multiple power-play tallies in 11 overall, including a season-high four goals in the 7-3 win over Hershey back on Nov. 26.

WATCH: SETH APPERT AFTER MORNING SKATE

PETERKA FLOURISHING IN SECOND HALF

With his primary assist back on Feb. 19 against Syracuse, forward JJ Peterka took over the team’s scoring lead while also becoming the first Amerk this season and 14th player in the league to reach the 40-point mark.

Since Jack Quinn suffered a lower-body injury with the Buffalo Sabres on Jan. 20, Peterka has helped carried the load for the Amerks offense as he has produced seven goals and 13 assists for 20 points in the last 21 games.

More impressively, Peterka, who was taken 34th overall in the 2020 NHL Draft by the Sabres, has netted 26 points (9+17) in 25 games to start the New Year. The 20-year-old has also registered seven multi-point games over that stretch which also featured three, three-point outings.

Peterka made his highly anticipated NHL debut on Dec. 28 as Buffalo hosted New Jersey before visiting the New York Islanders the very next day. Following his return to the Amerks, he totaled five points on two goals and three assists in two games before being honored as the AHL’s Rookie of the Month of the Week for the period ending Jan. 2, 2022.
 
Peterka has been held scoreless just eight times since Dec. 19 and hasn’t gone more than one game without recording a point during that same span. More impressively, the Amerks are a near-perfect 10-2-0-0 this season when Peterka registers a multi-point game, including 5-0-0-0 on home ice.

With a team-high 46 points (13+33) through 48 games, Peterka is the first Amerks rookie to reach the 45-point mark since Justin Bailey had 45 points (20+25) in 70 games during the 2015-16 season. Peterka also leads the team and is tied for sixth in the AHL with 33 assists.

Coming into the weekend, he’s one of only five AHL rookies currently leading his respective team in scoring.

QUINN-TESSENTIAL QUALITIES

Quinn became the first AHL player this season and just the 17th player in Amerks franchise history to score four goals in a game in the 6-5 overtime loss to Belleville on Jan. 15. More impressively, he scored all four goals consecutively, including the game-tying tally with 3.3 seconds remaining in regulation.

He’s the first Amerk to have a four-goal game since Rochester native Derek Whitmore single-handedly outscored Hamilton on Nov. 25, 2011 (5-2 W).

With 19 goals through his first 26 games, he’s on pace to become the first Amerk to score 20 goals in the fewest number of games since Luke Adam reached the mark in 31 games during the 2013-14 campaign.

He was named the AHL’s Rookie of the Month for October after leading all first-year players with 10 points (5+5) through the first month of the regular season. In just six games to begin the season, Quinn surpassed his offensive output from his truncated 2020-21 campaign, and became the first AHL player to reach the 10-point mark this season.
 
Quinn has been held scoreless just five times all season and hasn’t gone more than one game without recording a point. He has recorded 12 multi-point performances this year. More impressively, the Amerks are a near-perfect 10-1-1-0 this season when Quinn registers a multi-point game, including 6-0-1-0 on home ice.

On Nov. 12, Quinn became the first AHL rookie since Frank Vatrano in 2015-16 to score eight goals through his first 10 games of the season.

Quinn is one of only three AHL rookies with at least seven power-play goals this season, joining San Jose’s Scott Reedy and San Diego’s Alex Limoges.

A PRODUCTIVE FEBRUARY FOR MURRAY

After being held scoreless in four games in January, Brett Murray responded with his best offensive showing of the season in February, leading the Amerks with 12 points on seven goals and five assists while appearing in all 13 games during the month.

Murray has scored more than half of his 14 goals since the start of February. He opened the month with four goals in his first five games, including a season-best three straight games from Feb. 5 to Feb. 9.

He also began and ended the month with multi-point efforts, highlighted by a career-best four-point effort (1+3) in the 5-3 win at Toronto on Feb. 27.

RACE TO 20

After the cancellation of the remainder of the 2019-20 season and a truncated 2020-21 campaign failed to produce a 20-goal scorer for just the fourth time in franchise history, the Amerks could potentially have several by season’s end with eight players currently with 10 or more goals.

Michael Mersch and Quinn will both reach the mark on their next goal, despite Quinn appearing in 20 fewer games than Mersch. Murray remains on pace with a career-high 14 goals through his first 30 games of the season while Peterka and Arttu Ruotsalainen are right on his heels with 13 and 12, respectively, coming into the weekend.

THE BEST OFFENSE IS A GOOD DEFENSE

Rochester has two of the league’s top point-producing defensemen in Ethan Prow (9+25) and Oskari Laaksonen (4+22), who enter the weekend fourth and 22nd in scoring amongst all blueliners, respectively.

Prow, who reached the 30-point mark for the third straight year in the AHL, is also tied for sixth with 25 assists, which are just three more than Laaksonen. His nine goals trail only Belleville’s Michael Del Zotto and Grand Rapids’ Ryan Murphy for most by a defenseman this season. With an assist on Wednesday night versus Laval, Prow has recorded 16 points (5+11) over his last 20 games. Additionally he has totaled 115 points (36+79) over his last 166 AHL contests dating back to the 2018-19 campaign.

Laaksonen, who boasts 11 points (2+9) in his last 26 games since the turn of the New Year, also ranks second among defensemen with 18 power-play assists, trailing only Ontario’s Jordan Spence in that category, as all but four of his 22 assists this season have come on the man-advantage. Equally as impressive, 21 of his 26 points have come on the power-play.

His best performance of the season came back on Jan. 12 when he recorded a career-high four assists in the 7-6 win over Utica, including three in the first period and three of which came on the power-play. He finished two assists shy of tying the franchise record for most in a single game.

Prior to earning his second recall of the season to the Buffalo Sabres, rookie defenseman Mattias Samuelsson recorded two assists in the overtime loss to Belleville on Jan. 15, giving him 15 points (2+13) in 22 games. Samuelsson is tied for 17th in scoring among AHL rookie defensemen while his 13 assists are 15th-most.

FANTASTIC FOUR

The Amerks currently own four of the AHL’s top scoring rookies in JJ Peterka, Jack Quinn, Brandon Biro and Linus Weissbach, all of whom have combined for 149 points (51+98) through Rochester’s first 54 games this season.

Quinn, the Buffalo Sabres’ eighth overall pick in 2020, ranks second among all first-year players in goals (19) and is seventh in points (38) despite only appearing in 26 games.  Quinn became the 101st AHL player this season to make his NHL debut when he took the ice against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Jan. 11. He finished with team-highs in shots (3) and shot attempts (6) while earning 16:30 of total ice time. He then returned to the Sabres a day after scoring his 18th goal of the season for Rochester and was rewarded with his first two NHL points, including a goal against Vezina Trophy winner and Stanley Cup champion Braden Holtby in the Sabres’ 5-4 loss to the Dallas Stars on Jan 20.

With his first goal in 13 games last Friday against Belleville, Weissbach has notched eight points (1+7) in his last 11 games. He finished the month of February with 11 points (1+10) in 13 contests, including a season-high three-assist effort on Feb. 27 at Toronto to bring the month to a close.

Peterka’s explosive start to the second half of the season has him second among all rookies in points (46), third in assists (33) and 14th in goals (13).

With Peterka already at 46 points and both Biro and Quinn closing in on the mark, the Amerks are guaranteed to have multiple rookies finish the regular season with 40 or more points for the first time since the 2006-07 season.

MOVIN' ON UP

Players that have appeared in at least one game this season for both Rochester and Buffalo:

FORWARDS (8)
Brandon Biro*
Mark Jankowski
Peyton Krebs
Ryan MacInnis
Brett Murray
JJ Peterka*
Jack Quinn*
Arttu Ruotsalainen

DEFENSEMEN (3)
Casey Fitzgerald*
Ethan Prow*
Mattias Samuelsson

GOALTENDERS (3)
Aaron Dell
Michael Houser
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

* = Made NHL debut

WINNING BY NUMBERS

Rochester enters tonight as one of only five AHL teams to have scored at least 54 goals in all three periods this season. Additionally, the Amerks have scored the fifth-most first and third-period goals among any other team and have outscored the opposition 54-52 through the opening 20 minutes.

The Amerks have scored four or more goals in all but five of their 27 wins this season, two of which have come on home ice. Additionally, 12 of Rochester’s 14 road victories have come with three or more goals despite being outscored 108-92 through their first 28 road games.

SEASON NOTABLES

Of the 14 different defensemen the Amerks have used this season, 13 have notched at least one point while 10 have recorded at least one goal. Additionally, of the 24 different forwards to appear in one game for Rochester, 19 have scored a goal and 21 have produced a point.

Over his last 29 games since the turn of the New Year, Amerks forward Arttu Ruotsalainen has tallied 30 points on 12 goals and 18 assists, a stretch which began with a three-point effort versus Hartford on Jan. 2. Ruotsalainen has also turned in a multi-point effort in nine games over that same span, including four over his current season-long five-game point streak highlighted by three consecutive two-goal games for the first time in his AHL career.

Rochester is one of just four teams to have three different rookies (Quinn, Peterka, Weissbach) reach the 10-goal mark, joining the Charlotte Checkers Springfield Thunderbirds and Toronto Marlies.

The Amerks are also one of five teams in the AHL to have at least eight different players in double digits in goals, which includes Charlotte, Providence, Springfield and Utica.

Syracuse Crunch vs Rochester Americans: Head To Head Stats
Summary

Description

Result

Head to Head Record 2021-22 Regular Season Syracuse 5-3-1-0 Rochester 4-4-1-0
Head to Head Record 2020-21 Regular Season Syracuse 7-4-1-0 Rochester 5-5-2-0
Last 5 Years record between teams Syracuse 27-16-6-3 Rochester 25-21-5-1
Syracuse vs. Rochester Last 5 Years record at Syracuse Syracuse 11-10-3-2 Rochester 15-9-2-0
Syracuse vs. Rochester Last 5 Years record at Rochester Syracuse 16-6-3-1 Rochester 10-12-3-1
Previous Meetings This Season Syracuse 6 @ Rochester 3 (Mar 2 2022) Final
Rochester 2 @ Syracuse 1 (Feb 25 2022) Final OT
Rochester 3 @ Syracuse 6 (Feb 19 2022) Final
Syracuse 1 @ Rochester 2 (Jan 28 2022) Final
Syracuse 3 @ Rochester 2 (Jan 19 2022) Final OT
Rochester 1 @ Syracuse 3 (Jan 8 2022) Final
Syracuse 2 @ Rochester 1 (Jan 5 2022) Final
Rochester 4 @ Syracuse 2 (Nov 27 2021) Final
Syracuse 3 @ Rochester 5 (Oct 22 2021) Final

How the two teams match up

 

Rochester

Syracuse

Team Record 27-22-3-2 -- 59 points 23-21-6-1 -- 53 points
Division Ranking 5th North 6th North
Conference Ranking 10th Eastern 11th Eastern
League Ranking 18th 20th
Past 10 Games 3-7-0-0 5-3-2-0
Streak 0-2-0-0 1-0-0-0
Last Game 7-2 L vs Laval (Mar 9 2022) Final 3-2 W @ Utica (Mar 9 2022) Final OT
Home Record 13-10-2-1 12-10-1-1
Away Record 14-12-1-1 11-11-5-0
GF 180  152 
GA 198  167 
PP (Overall) (46/198) 23.2% (34/172) 19.8%
PP (Home) (20/94) 21.3% (21/87) 24.1%
PP (Away) (26/104) 25.0% (13/85) 15.3%
PK (Overall) (36/194) 81.4% (42/170) 75.3%
PK (Home) (18/101) 82.2% (23/75) 69.3%
PK (Away) (18/93) 80.6% (19/95) 80.0%
PP vs. Opp. (8/29) 27.6% (8/29) 27.6%
PK vs. Opp. (8/29) 72.4% (8/29) 72.4%
Leading Rookie Peterka (13-33-46) Koepke (15-17-32)
Most PIM Pekar - 56 Dumont - 72
Team PIM/GM 13.1/Game 11.5/Game
Leading Scorers Peterka (13-33-46) Dumont (24-22-46)
  Mersch (19-20-39) Hudon (20-12-32)
  Quinn (19-19-38) Koepke (15-17-32)
  Biro (9-27-36) Barré-Boulet (7-25-32)
  Prow (9-25-34) Day (6-26-32)
Last 5 Games 7-2 L vs Laval (Mar 9 2022) Final 3-2 W @ Utica (Mar 9 2022) Final OT
  6-5 L @ Belleville (Mar 5 2022) Final 5-2 L vs Utica (Mar 5 2022) Final
  3-2 W @ Belleville (Mar 4 2022) Final OT 8-5 L vs Utica (Mar 4 2022) Final
  6-3 L vs Syracuse (Mar 2 2022) Final 6-3 W @ Rochester (Mar 2 2022) Final
  5-3 W @ Toronto (Feb 27 2022) Final 4-3 L @ Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (Feb 27 2022) Final OT
Leading After 1st 18-3-0-1 13-1-3-0
Leading After 2nd 17-1-0-0 16-1-2-0
Tied After 1st 4-5-3-1 6-7-1-1
Tied After 2nd 6-1-3-2 5-5-2-0
Trailing After 1st 5-14-0-0 4-13-2-0
Trailing After 2nd 4-20-0-0 2-15-2-1
Out Shooting Opponents 5-11-2-0 15-16-3-1
Out Shot by Opponents 22-11-1-1 7-5-3-0
1-Goal Games 13-4-3-2 8-5-6-1
2-Goal Games 7-6-0-0 8-5-0-0
3-Goal Games 2-5-0-0 5-6-0-0


Syracuse Crunch

# Player GP G A PTS PIM +/-
12 Alex Barré-Boulet 7 3 7 10 2 5
40 Gabriel Dumont 9 5 3 8 11 -2
45 Cole Koepke 7 4 4 8 4 9
7 Simon Ryfors 9 2 3 5 6 -2
74 Sean Day 8 0 5 5 4 3
55 Charles Hudon 5 2 2 4 14 -4
24 Darren Raddysh 7 1 3 4 10 2
81 Remi Elie 6 1 2 3 4 1
9 Gabriel Fortier 9 1 2 3 11 0
16 Otto Somppi 6 1 2 3 0 0
90 Anthony Richard 3 0 3 3 0 1
88 Antoine Morand 7 2 0 2 2 2
39 Gage Goncalves 8 1 1 2 8 0
57 Alex Green 9 1 1 2 2 -1
46 Gemel Smith 2 1 1 2 0 0
78 X Jaydon Dureau 1 1 0 1 0 -1
85 Daniel Walcott 7 1 0 1 2 1
43 X Tyler Bird 1 0 1 1 0 0
51 X Maxim Cajkovic 3 0 1 1 0 -2
44 Frank Hora 3 0 1 1 5 1
20 Ryan Jones 9 0 1 1 9 3
26 X Tristin Langan 1 0 1 1 0 0
8 X Jesse Lees 1 0 1 1 0 0
60 Hugo Alnefelt 5 0 0 0 0 0
3 Fredrik Claesson 7 0 0 0 2 1
23 Shawn Element 5 0 0 0 0 -2
25 X Cal Foote 1 0 0 0 0 -2
5 X Jason Garrison 3 0 0 0 0 1
27 Owen Headrick 1 0 0 0 0 0
15 X Jimmy Huntington 5 0 0 0 0 0
22 P.C. Labrie 6 0 0 0 12 2
33 Max Lagace 1 0 0 0 0 0
35 X Amir Miftakhov 3 0 0 0 0 0
71 Dmitry Semykin 1 0 0 0 0 0
29 X Andrej Sustr 3 0 0 0 4 1
92 X Odeen Tufto 1 0 0 0 0 0

 

# Player GP W L OT MIN GA GAA SV%
33 Max Lagace 1 1 0 0 59:45 1 1.00 0.944
60 Hugo Alnefelt 5 3 1 1 302:49 12 2.38 0.907
35 X Amir Miftakhov 3 1 2 0 178:27 8 2.69 0.901


Rochester Americans

# Player GP G A PTS PIM +/-
77 JJ Peterka 7 1 6 7 2 -1
22 Jack Quinn 5 3 3 6 5 0
72 Ryan MacInnis 5 3 1 4 12 0
2 Oskari Laaksonen 8 2 2 4 2 -2
7 Ethan Prow 8 2 2 4 0 1
25 Arttu Ruotsalainen 7 2 2 4 4 -4
13 Linus Weissbach 8 0 4 4 2 -2
17 Sean Malone 2 2 1 3 8 2
44 Josh Teves 9 2 1 3 4 -2
10 Brandon Biro 5 1 2 3 0 -1
14 X Mark Jankowski 2 1 2 3 2 2
28 Michael Mersch 7 1 2 3 0 0
81 Brett Murray 6 1 1 2 9 -4
52 Mitch Eliot 6 0 2 2 2 2
91 Ryan Scarfo 8 1 0 1 6 -2
45 Brendan Warren 9 1 0 1 2 -1
88 Brandon Davidson 4 0 1 1 4 -2
29 Dominic Franco 6 0 1 1 2 0
18 Ben Holmstrom 3 0 1 1 0 -2
26 Mason Jobst 3 0 1 1 2 0
19 X Peyton Krebs 1 0 1 1 0 1
1 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen 3 0 1 1 0 0
4 Jimmy Schuldt 8 0 1 1 2 -2
16 Peter Tischke 6 0 1 1 7 0
47 Nick Boka 4 0 0 0 26 -1
23 Lukas Craggs 4 0 0 0 0 0
80 Aaron Dell 2 0 0 0 0 0
42 Jack Doremus 1 0 0 0 0 0
48 X David Drake 1 0 0 0 0 0
8 X Wyatt Ege 1 0 0 0 0 -1
5 X Casey Fitzgerald 3 0 0 0 7 1
41 X Michael Houser 3 0 0 0 0 0
21 Ara Nazarian 2 0 0 0 0 -2
36 Nick Pastujov 2 0 0 0 2 0
12 Matej Pekar 7 0 0 0 10 -1
27 Patrick Polino 3 0 0 0 0 -3
32 X Mat Robson 2 0 0 0 0 0
24 X Mattias Samuelsson 1 0 0 0 0 0

 

# Player GP W L OT MIN GA GAA SV%
32 X Mat Robson 2 1 0 1 120:54 4 1.99 0.926
41 X Michael Houser 3 1 2 0 174:25 6 2.06 0.917
1 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen 3 2 1 0 172:24 9 3.13 0.915
80 Aaron Dell 2 0 1 0 68:10 5 4.40 0.857
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