GAME PREVIEW: PLAYOFF REMATCH ON TAP BETWEEN AMERKS AND CRUNCH
Amerks host Syracuse for first time since 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs series
Nov 29, 2024
By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48
The Rochester Americans (8-7-3-0) conclude their four-game homestand at Blue Cross Arena on Black Friday as they play host to the Syracuse Crunch (8-6-1-2) for the first time this season.
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Friday starts a home-and-home weekend between the Amerks and Crunch, with the scene shifting to Syracuse Saturday night where the Amerks will put a bow on their November slate of play. Friday also marks the first of 12 meetings between Rochester and Syracuse this season. It’s the first time the two rivals will be meeting since Game 5 of the North Division Semifinals in last year’s playoffs, where Syracuse topped the Amerks to advance, subsequently ending Rochester’s 2023-24 season.
LAST TIME OUT
Jack Rathbone led the way offensively with a goal and an assist on Wednesday, but the Amerks were unable to protect a two-goal lead, falling 5-4 to the surging Cleveland Monsters. In addition to Rathbone, Brendan Warren, Graham Slaggert, and Josh Dunne each scored, but the Amerks surrendered three unanswered goals to Cleveland, including two in the third period. With the loss, Rochester has dropped seven of its last eight games, going 1-4-3-0 over that span.
“It hurts for sure,” said Amerks head coach Michael Leone. “I think it was another game where if you look at how we played five on five, again, it was really good. Any time you get four goals in a game, you should win the game. If you just look at their goals, they’re self-inflicted. We have got to figure out how to get out of those situations. It's too bad because in this stretch of games that we played, we've played really good hockey and we're not getting rewarded. We have to find a way to get through.”
Elsewhere on Thanksgiving Eve, Syracuse thumped Belleville, 7-1, picking up points for the seventh time in the team’s last 10 games. Tristan Allard led the way with three points (2+1), serving as one of 14 different Crunch skaters to record a point. The win bumped Syracuse into a tie in points with Rochester, though holding a game in hand has the Crunch owning the tiebreaker. The Tampa Bay Lightning affiliate is in the midst of playing five of six games on home ice, with the lone road trip coming in Rochester Friday night.
NO BONES ABOUT IT
Rathbone is third on the Amerks blueline in scoring with six points (3+3), but leads the team’s defense with a plus-seven on-ice rating and is second among all Rochester skaters with 53 shots on goal.
“I feel like it’s been a good start to the year,” said Rathbone. “I like where my game is at, personally. I’d always love to see a few more go in, but we have a really talented group in there, so it’s also my job to get pucks up to our forward group. As much as it’s not in my hands, I think that means it’s the better of a job I’m doing.”
Rathbone’s 53 shots on goal leads all AHL defensemen. The Boston, Massachusetts, native has amassed 94 points (29+65) over 171 games in his five-year AHL tenure. His two-point night against Cleveland was Rathbone’s second multi-point game as an Amerk.
WE DON’T FORGET
The Amerks will aim for revenge from last postseason as they welcome Syracuse to Blue Cross Arena for their first overall meeting of the season, along with it being the first encounter with the Crunch since May 10, where Syracuse topped the Amerks by a 5-2 final in a winner-take-all game five of the North Division Semifinals.
“They're heavy,” said Leone. “I mean, if you look at all their defense core, they’re 6-2, 6-3, 6-4. There's a reason why they give up some of the fewest goals in the league. They're really good in their own zone. They're structured. They're really organized. They play the right way.”
The series win acted as payback for Syracuse, whom had been eliminated by the Amerks a year prior in 2023 with Rochester pulling out the Game 5 victory on the road. On Wednesday, 14 Amerks from last year’s playoff run played. On the same night, Syracuse dressed a dozen players from its playoff push that led them into the North Division Finals a season ago.
“We just need to play a quick and fast game,” said Amerks forward Lukas Rousek, who led Rochester with six assists in the team’s playoff series against the Crunch last season. “It’s hard to play them because you see them so much that both teams know what the other tries to do. We have to be in on the blue paint on both sides of the ice. They play physical, but we have a group of good guys here and we just need to focus on playing a full 60 minutes to have success.”
One of the Crunch returnees is goaltender Brandon Halverson, who made 139 saves across five games facing Rochester in last year’s postseason. To start the 2024-25 AHL campaign, the journeyman of a goaltender has been dominant, leading the league in both save percentage (.946) and goals-against-average (1.52). Halverson stopped 39 shots in the team’s win against the Senators Wednesday. Since March 22, Halverson has allowed fewer than three goals in 13 of his last 16 starts.