TACO BELL WRAP-UP: AMERKS PREPARE FOR THREE GAMES IN THREE NIGHTS THIS WEEKEND
Mar 4, 2024
The Rochester Americans wrapped up the month of February before ushering in the final full month of the season this past weekend in Belleville. The Amerks jumped out to multi-goal leads into two of the three games and scored seven markers, but finished with a 1-2-0-0 record, ending with a weekend split against the Senators.
HEAVY, OLD OPPONENTS
The Amerks kicked off the three-game week on Wednesday night at home against the Syracuse Crunch before traveling to Belleville for a pair of road contests versus the Senators. Both clubs are ahead of Rochester in the North Division standings while the Amerks have a game in hand on Belleville.
Including last Wednesday’s 5-2 defeat against the Crunch, the season series has favored the visiting team as seven of the first eight meetings thus far have been won by the road team and six of the eight have been one-goal decisions. The Amerks have scored at least one power-play goal in 26 of their 44 games (36-for-158) against Syracuse since Seth Appert took over as head coach prior to the 2020-21 season.
On Friday, the Amerks jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second period against the Senators before earning a 4-1 victory on the road at CAA Arena. In Saturday’s rematch, Belleville flipped the script as they stormed out to a multi-goal cushion before cruising to a 4-1 win of its own.
“Belleville and Syracuse are mirror images of themselves,” said Amerks head coach Seth Appert after Wednesday’s loss to Syracuse. “Minus (Alex) Barre-Boulet, Belleville has an extremely deep, old, heavy team. They have eight veterans on the roster and right now, Syracuse is just better than our roster. We need to change that. Our young guys need to decide to change that. We did it last season so I have faith we can again this year.”
POWER-PLAY UP AND DOWN
The Amerks have forced the opposition to take 15 penalties over their last three games. During the three contests, the club has scored seven goals, however, only two have come on the man-advantage. Both tallies came on a high-sticking double-minor that occurred against forward Brett Murray.
Rochester begins this week tied for 19th in the American Hockey League with a 17.8% success rate on the power-play.
A total of 10 different Amerks have scored at least one goal on the man-advantage, which is topped by Mason Jobst, who missed both games in Belleville. Rochester has seen 17 skaters earn an assist on the power-play with Brandon Biro (11) being the only player to have logged double digits in that category.
LEVI OWNING THE CREASE
Rookie goaltender Devon Levi (7-5-3) drew the start in each of the three games this past week, going 1-2-0 while combining for 91 saves.
The Quebec native has made four straight starts and 13 in the last 16 games since being reassigned to Rochester on Jan. 20. Levi has faced 20 or more shots in each of his last 11 appearances and 13 of 15 overall.
Levi, who ranks 12th amongst rookie netminders with a 2.53 goals-against average, has held the opposition to three or fewer goals in 11 of his 15 starts. He’s 7-1-3 this season in those games.
In five games against Belleville this season, Levi, who was credited with his first professional point on Aleksandr Kisakov’s game-winning goal on Friday, is 2-3-0 and sports a .922 save percentage.
USING A FULL ROSTER
Of the 22 different players to dress during the three games, seven players scored and 11 totaled at least one point.
Rookie defenseman Zach Metsa (1+2) topped all players with three points while Brett Murray (1+1), Isak Rosen (1+1), Jiri Kulich (0+2) all notched two points. Tyson Jost, Michael Mersch, Lukas Rousek, and Aleksandr Kisakov each had a goal whereas Ethan Prow, Linus Weissbach and Devon Levi notched one assist apiece.
Saturday against Belleville, all but one player registered at least one shot on goal while Friday’s matchup saw 15 of the 18 skaters record a shot.
COMING UP NEXT
After playing the last three Wednesdays, the Amerks will not resume their schedule until Friday, March 8 with the first of back-to-back meetings with the Crunch. The game will also be the start of the Rochester’s first and only three-in-three of the campaign, which takes a detour to downtown Syracuse on Saturday night followed by a 4:05 p.m. matinee on Sunday afternoon against the Utica Comets at The Blue Cross Arena.