TACO BELL WRAP-UP: AMERKS COME UP CLUTCH ON HOME ICE
Mar 11, 2024
By Andrew Mossbrooks | @Mossbrooks48
The Rochester Americans played their one and only weekend of three games in as many days this season, going 2-1-0-0 in the process with a pair of thrilling wins in front of raucous Blue Cross Arena crowds Friday and Sunday.
The end result sees the Amerks beginning the week in third place in the AHL’s North Division standings with 62 points and a 27-21-6-2 record.
MIGHTY METSA
Rookie defenseman Zach Metsa started the weekend right for Rochester, burying the overtime winner, the first of his young career, in a 4-3 win over Syracuse Friday night at home.
“This game felt really good for me,” said Metsa following the win. “I was on the ice for the first two goals against, which obviously I hated, but before, I probably would’ve let that get to me and snowball, but now I’m in a better spot to kind of just keep playing my game and stick with it. I felt like I played decent the rest of the game and had good moments and chances, so getting the OT winner was nice.”
Prior to Sunday, Metsa reached a four-game point streak, three points the weekend prior in Belleville (1+2), then adding an assist this past Saturday in the team’s 4-2 loss in Syracuse. With five goals and 17 points, the Quinnipiac product trails only Viktor Neuchev on the Amerks in rookie scoring.
MILESTONES FOR MURRAY
Brett Murray was the most productive Amerk on the weekend, burying three goals, including two on the power-play, to continue his strong run of late.
For a third straight season, Murray has reached 15 goals, but 12 of them have come since Jan. 17 (23 games). On Friday, Murray scored twice, with his first marking his 150th point in the red, white, and blue. Less than 48 hours later, the fifth-year Amerk planted himself atop the crease to convert on the man-advantage for his 71st career goal which came in Murray’s 250th game with Rochester. Over the 68-year history of the franchise, Murray becomes just the 36th forward to reach 250 games.
CLUTCH AT HOME
The Amerks won 4-3 in overtime Friday against Syracuse, then 3-2 in regulation facing Utica Sunday afternoon with both wins coming within the friendly confines of Blue Cross Arena. It marks the first time the Amerks have strung together consecutive victories on home ice since the team won three in a row at home from January 5-20.
While Rochester allowed the Crunch to earn a point Friday, the team bared down Sunday against Utica. After seeing a 2-0 lead vanish, Brendan Warren scored just 45 seconds later to regain the lead late in the second. Devon Levi and company did the rest, bunkering down in the third to hold the 3-2 score and prevent the Comets from gaining points in the standings.
“The standings are tight,” said Amerks head coach Seth Appert. “What a division we play in. One good week, you’re in third, then one bad week and you’re in seventh. That’s just the quality of our division. It’s challenging and really demanding, but it also makes you better individually and collectively. To get two points is huge, but to not give up one by getting to overtime against a team that’s behind you in the standings is critical.”
As a result, Rochester is now six points clear of Utica, a team they show a 6-3-1-0 record against in the season series thus far.
Levi posted both wins at home this weekend. Sunday was the rookie goaltender’s 15th start in the last 18 games since being reassigned from Buffalo. He made 33 saves for his ninth win of the season. His .925 save percentage as an Amerk is third-best among AHL rookie goaltenders with at least 14 appearances.
COMING UP NEXT
The Amerks yet against tangle with the Crunch this week as the two sides meet in Syracuse Wednesday evening for their 10th encounter of the season. Following that, Rochester plays a home-and-home against Toronto, beginning at Blue Cross Arena for Irish Night on Friday, before then venturing to The Great White North for a Saturday matinee against the Marlies