TACO BELL WRAP-UP: AMERKS BLAST OFF IN CANADIAN SWEEP
Top guns produce as Amerks extend win streak to four games
Dec 16, 2024
By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48
The Rochester Americans (15-8-3-0) ended their season high five-game road trip with a 4-1-0-0 mark, winning each of their last four games in the stretch, including all three games last week.
The Amerks topped Laval by a 3-1 final Wednesday, before dominating Belleville over the weekend with 7-4 and 8-2 wins, respectively.
ROAD WARRIORS
Rochester outscored its Great White North opposition by an 18-7 margin last week.
After rallying Wednesday for three unanswered second-period goals against the Rocket, the Amerks put their foot on the gas pedal throughout the weekend in Belleville, scoring early and often in each contest.
On Saturday, the team’s eight-goal output matched its best of the season, tying their eight scored on the road in Utica back on Nov. 1. The flurry of goals scored helped Rochester ascend into fourth place in goals for across the AHL. The Amerks are also tied with Hershey (11) for most road wins this season.
Special teams played a role across the week, with the Amerks netting power-play goals in three consecutive games, including an impressive 3-for-6 night on the man-advantage Saturday. On Friday, Brendan Warren scored shorthanded, giving the Amerks four shorthanded goals on the season.
Through 15 games this season, Rochester owns a remarkable 11-3-1-0 record when playing on the road.
BRETT THE BEAST
Alternate captain Brett Murray had back-to-back two-goal performances in Belleville, pushing his season total to 11, tying the veteran forward with Isak Rosen for the team lead. Murray leads Rochester with three game-winning-goals and scored power-play goals in each of the games against the Senators, giving Murray eight man-advantage tallies to lead not only Rochester, but the AHL overall.
Murray’s eight power-play goals tie a previous career-high from the 2022-23 season, doing so in 45 fewer games. That season also saw the Bolton, Ontario, native net a career-best 23 goals. The sixth-year pro has reached or exceeded 15 goals in each of his previous three seasons. The Amerks are 8-0-1-0 this season when Murray scores a goal.
SIXCESSFUL WEEK FOR ROSÉN
As the week went on, so, too, did the production of Amerks forward Isak Rosén. The third-year Amerk scored goals in all three games last week, but went from one, to two, to three-point performances as the slate of games progressed. Rosén’s second two-goal game of the season came Saturday, when the 2021 first-round draft pick posted a three-point performance to lead the Amerks past Belleville, completing a weekend sweep of the Senators.
Rosén, 21, leads Rochester with 23 points in as many games played, ranking him 13th in AHL scoring. Over 156 games as an Amerk, the Stockholm, Sweden, native has amassed 45 goals and 110 points. Ten of his 45 goals have been game-winners, and Rosén currently owns the sixth-best shooting percentage (19%) in the AHL across all skaters with at least 50 shots on goal.
COMING UP NEXT
Before the AHL’s holiday break begins, the Amerks brace for another three-game slate as they near the end of the calendar year.
Rochester returns to Blue Cross Arena for two of its three games on the week, hosting rival-Syracuse both Wednesday and Friday.
The team then spends Saturday traveling on a bus to Cleveland, where they’ll then face the North Division leading-Monsters Sunday afternoon in the final matchup leading into the annual Christmas break.