GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS, MONSTERS CONCLUDE SERIES TODAY IN CLEVELAND
Apr 16, 2021TODAY'S GAME OVERVIEW
The Rochester Americans (8-7-2-1) look to avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of the Cleveland Monsters (10-5-1-0) as the two teams conclude a three-game series this afternoon at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
The 4:00 p.m. matinee will be the fifth of six scheduled meetings between the two teams this season as Rochester shows a 1-3-0-0 record thus far.
The matchup will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM ESPN Rochester and AHLTV.
LAST TIME OUT
The Amerks opened a two-goal cushion in the first period against Cleveland, but were unable to hold onto the lead as the Monsters scored four times in the final frame to come away with a 5-3 victory Wednesday in Rochester.
Rookie forward Jack Quinn tallied his first career two-assist game and second multi-point outing of his career while fellow linemate Michael Mersch also recorded a two-point effort with a goal and an assist. Quinn has four points (1+4) over his last five games while Mersch extended his point streak to three games (2+2). Captain Steven Fogarty slipped in his team-leading seventh goal of the season in the third period while Ryan Jones scored his second of the slate. Brent Murray and Brent Gates Jr., who signed a professional tryout with Rochester earlier this week, both recorded an assist.
First-year goaltender Stefanos Lekkas (0-1-1) made his second appearance with Rochester this season. The rookie netminder stopped 28 of the 32 shots he faced but suffered the loss.
The Amerks, who boast a 30-10-4-4 record against the Monsters since the start of the 2011-12 season, opened the season series by way of a 7-3 victory while Cleveland has claimed each of the last three meetings, outscoring Rochester 19-6 over that span, including a 9-2 win one week ago tonight.
The road team has won each of the first four games of the season series.
POWER UP
Now 18 games into the campaign, Rochester’s power-play has gone 21-for-75 with a 28.0% conversion rate that is currently second in the AHL. The Amerks’ 21 goals on the man-advantage are most among all North Division teams and only four off the AHL lead behind only the San Diego Gulls, who have played in 13 more games than Rochester coming into tonight.
The Amerks have scored at least one power-play goal in 14 of their 18 games this season and have registered multiple power-play tallies in three of their last 11 outings overall, including three against Syracuse on April 3.
FINN-ISHING TOUCH
After leaving Finland in January as Liiga’s top point-getter, forward Arttu Ruotsalainen has taken his first season in North America by storm, averaging a point per game with 13 points (5+8) through his first 13 games. The Oulu, Finland, native began the slate by recording a point in each of his first four games and and now shows nine points (4+5) over his last seven outings, including goals in back-to-back games twice over that span.
After becoming the 12th different Amerks player this season to earn a recall last week, Ruotsalainen was the second to make his NHL debut when he took the ice against Washington on April 9. He later went on to score his first NHL goal two days later in Buffalo’s 5-3 win last Sunday over Philadelphia.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
Rochester’s roster features 13 incoming rookies ready to make a splash in their first season in the American Hockey League, most of whom are products of the NCAA in forwards Brandon Biro (Penn State), Dawson DiPietro (Western Michigan), Dominic Franco (Army West Point) and Patrick Polino (R.P.I.); defensemen Ryan Jones (Nebraska-Omaha), Nick Welsh (St. Mary’s) Griffin Luce (Michigan) and Mattias Samuelsson (Western Michigan)..
Jack Quinn, Buffalo’s eighth overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, rounds out Rochester’s rookie class this season. The highly touted 19-year-old is coming off an explosive 52-goal season for the Ottawa 67’s in 2019-20, during which he became just the eighth player since 2000-01 to reach the 50-goal mark in his NHL Draft Year. He finished the season second in the Ontario Hockey League in goals and tied for fifth with 15 power-play tallies while also adding 37 assists.
Quinn made his professional debut with Rochester back on Feb. 18 against Utica, recording an assist on the game-tying third-period goal before scoring the shootout-clinching goal on a dazzling effort in the second round. Through his first 14 games, the Ottawa, Ontario, native is tied for second among Amerks rookies with seven points (2+5), including five points over his last five games. He’s the third eighth overall pick of the Sabres in the last five years to spend time in Rochester, joining Alexander Nylander (2016) and Casey Mittelstadt (2017), and the second to make his pro debut with the Amerks following Nylander, who spent parts of three seasons in Rochester.
MURRAY ON THE MOVE
Coming off an impressive rookie campaign with Rochester in 2019-20, Brett Murray continues to be one of the Amerks’ most consistent point-getters this season. With an assist Wednesday against Cleveland, Murray officially took over the team’s scoring lead with 14 points (6+8) in 17 games, surpassing both Ruotsalainen and Jean-Sebastien Dea, both of whom are currently on recall with Buffalo.
More impressively, the second-year forward has not gone without a point in back-to-back games all season. Murray, who earned his first recall to the Sabres taxi squad earlier this season, posted a career-high three-point night back on April 3 as he tallied a pair of power-play goals to go with an assist. He’s also second among all Rochester skaters with eight (4+4) points while on the man-advantage this season.
THE BEST OFFENSE IS A GOOD DEFENSE
Rochester comes into the weekend owning three of the AHL’s top scoring rookie defensemen in Oskari Laaksonen, Mattias Samuelsson and Ryan Jones, all of whom have combined for 27 points (6+21) with just one game all season being missed between the three blueliners.
Among all AHL rookie defensemen, Laaksonen and Samuelsson rank third and 11th in assists while also sitting in fourth and 13th in points, respectively. Samuelsson has six points (1+5) in his last 11 games, while Laaksonen has six points (2+4) over his last seven outings, including back-to-back multi-point efforts over that span for the first time all season.
SCOUTING THE MONSTERS
Cleveland comes into the matchup after a 5-3 win over the Amerks Wednesday night. The Monsters are also 8-2-0-0 in their last 10 games, the second-best mark in the league over that span, and presently riding a five-game win streak, during which they have outscored the oppositon 28-10.
Forward Tyler Sikura currently leads all Cleveland skaters with eight goals and 15 points as well as a team-high 33 shots through 16 games this season.
SERIES NOTABLES
Amerks forward Andrew Oglevie scored his first career hat trick back on Nov. 30, 2019 against Cleveland, single-handedly outscoring the Monsters to lead the Amerks to a 3-2 win.
Rochester holds a record of 30-10-4-4 over Cleveland since the start of the 2011-12 campaign and earned a point in eight of the last 11 games, which includes all seven meetings last season.
Last season in the head-to-head series, all seven games were decided by one goal, including five that went beyond regulation.
Monsters forward and assistant captain Nathan Gerbe spent five seasons in the Buffalo Sabres organization from 2008-13 and was named the AHL’s Rookie of the Year in 2008-09 after leading all first-year players with 56 points (30+26) in 57 games for the Portland Pirates. In 108 career games with the Monsters, Gerbe has recorded 85 points 26 goals and 59 assists since joining Cleveland for the 2017-18 season.