TACO BELL WRAP-UP: AMERKS TAKE FIRM HOLD ON SECOND PLACE IN DIVISION
Rochester picks up four points over three-game weekend
Mar 24, 2025
By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48
The Rochester Americans (37-18-3-3) played their first of two straight weekends in which the team is in action Friday-Sunday. For the first time in March, the Amerks strung together consecutive wins and did so over intrastate foes Syracuse and Utica.
Overall, the red, white, and blue went 2-1-0-0 over the weekend to nab four points and continue their push toward clinching a postseason berth for the 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs.
ÖSTLUND IS OUTSTANDING
Rookie center Noah Östlund was the star of the weekend for Rochester, shining brightest on Saturday in Syracuse, where the Stockholm, Sweden, native scored his first career hat trick as part of the Amerks’ 4-1 win over the Crunch. Östlund scored the team’s second, third, and fourth goals, doing so differently each time with conversions at even strength, shorthanded, and on the power-play late in the game to cap off the natural hat trick.
The 21-year-old finished the weekend with another third-period goal Sunday against Utica, helping Rochester rally back from down 2-0 with the go-ahead goal.
Östlund is now fourth overall on the Amerks in goals with 15 and leads all Rochester forwards with a +/- of plus-17. That mark is also tied for second-best overall across all AHL rookies.
The former first-round selection from Buffalo in 2022 is on a four-game point streak (4+2) and has 26 points (14+12) over his last 25 games.
SANDY RETURNS
Saturday saw the return of goaltender Felix Sandström, who made his first appearance in net for Rochester in five weeks, last starting on Feb. 15 in Utica.
On Saturday against the Crunch, the 10th-year pro managed 16 saves, allowing just one goal on a light night of work thanks to his defense. The performance lifted Sandström to his 11th win of the season, displaying an 11-4-1 record as an Amerk, while subsequently continuing his career best win streak, which now stands at eight straight victories.
The Gavle, Sweden, native has not lost a game since Dec. 6. By the time Rochester is in action again come Friday, 112 days will have passed since that loss in Charlotte.
All of Sandström’s eight wins during this streak have also come on the road. Saturday was also the first game he had given up fewer than two goals since Nov. 8, 2024 against Hartford.
LET’S TALK PLAYOFFS
It’s that time of year where playoff primer’s are made, and fortunately for the Amerks, it doesn’t appear as if they’ll be down to the wire for clinching a spot.
Now that’s not to say Rochester won’t be battling for playoff positioning until the very end of the 2024-25 regular season, but to get an “X” next to its name and a confirmed spot in the Calder Cup Playoffs, the team is staring at a magic number of 11.
At this point, Utica is the only team that cannot mathematically catch Rochester in the standings. The Amerks enter the final full week of March with 80 points and 11 games remaining. Two teams from the North Division will not qualify for the playoffs. The next club of focus for the Amerks would be the Belleville Senators, who have 66 points and are sixth in the division.
In simple terms, Rochester’s magic number to clinch a playoff berth is 11. That number will decrease by the Amerks gaining points and/or Belleville losing points. For example, the Senators host Cleveland this Wednesday while the Amerks are out of action until Friday. If Belleville loses in regulation Wednesday night, Rochester’s magic number shrinks to nine. An overtime or shootout loss would put the Amerks at 10, and a Senators win would keep Rochester parked at 11.
CALDER CUP PLAYOFF PRIMER: MARCH 24
Any night both teams play could result in a four-point swing. On Friday, Belleville hosts Lehigh Valley while the Amerks will entertain Bridgeport. If Rochester wins and Belleville loses in regulation, the magic number will drop four points.
The Amerks can also be helped if Cleveland or Syracuse, both of whom also have three-game weeks, were to lose all of their games in regulation. If this were to happen and the Amerks were to win all three of their games this coming weekend, Rochester could officially clinch a playoff berth as soon as this Sunday.
COMING UP NEXT
It’s the final three-in-three for the Amerks this season. On Friday night, Rochester hosts the Bridgeport Islanders, who have fewer points than any team in the AHL and just 14 wins on the season through 62 games.
Following that comes a home-and-home with Syracuse, beginning Saturday on the road before wrapping up the weekend and season series Sunday afternoon at Blue Cross Arena.