GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS AND CRUNCH FACE-OFF ON BLACK FRIDAY
Five things to know as Rochester continues holiday homestand against Syracuse
Nov 28, 2025By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48
On the other side of Thanksgiving, the Rochester Americans (11-9-0-0) continue their three-game homestand on Black Friday with an intrastate showdown against the Syracuse Crunch (12-6-0-0) at Blue Cross Arena.
Here are five things to note ahead of tonight’s rivalry game.
EARLY BREAK
Ahead of the Thankagiving holiday, the Amerks were slow out the gate and were unable to match Cleveland’s efforts in a 3-1 loss to the Monsters Wednesday evening.
Jake Leschyshyn scored the lone goal for Rochester with a power-play tally in the second period to even the score at the time, but the Monsters would go back in front 4:01 later, then tack on in the final minute of the game with an empty-net goal.
Rochester was outshot, 40-26, allowing the most shots they have in a single game this season. Devon Levi made 37 saves in his best start of the month. The totals weren’t just a season-high for Levi, but also marking the first time the third-year pro has made more than 35 saves since Mar. 15, 2024 against Toronto, where Levi turned away 41 shots.
Levi has made 80 starts as an Amerk. His 37 saves Wednesday marks the sixth time the Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec, native has made at least 37 stops.
Syracuse began its holiday feast a day early during its visit to Utica, where Conor Geekie scored twice and posted three points en route to a 5-3 win over the Comets. Brendan Furry also had a two-goal game for the Crunch, who skate into the Flower City having won their last three contests.
FANTASTIC FOUR
The top four teams in the all-too-close North Division are separated by just two points as the AHL enters the final weekend of November. At 22 points, Rochester sits in a tie with Belleville for third and fourth in the standings, though the Amerks own multiple tiebreakers, most notably regulation wins, where Rochester has nine compared to Belleville’s eight.
In front of them are Laval and Syracuse, each sporting 12-6-0-0 records with 24 points and 11 regulation wins. Both the Rocket and Crunch own two games in hand on Rochester.
The next closest division with this little separation is the Pacific, where teams one through four are separated by a six-point margin. Back to the North, a pair of teams behind the Amerks aren’t far off either. Fifth-place Toronto sit four back of the Amerks with two games in hand, while the Monsters are six points shy of Rochester with half a dozen games in hand.
19 JOINS THE 200 CLUB
Fourth-year pro and Amerks forward Graham Slaggert skated in his 200th AHL game Wednesday night against Cleveland. The South Bend, Indiana, native has seen 135 of those 200 contests come in an Amerks jersey, as Slaggert began his career in Toronto before joining the Amerks at the start of the 2023-24 campaign.
Slaggert has 25 goals to match his 25 assists for 50 points throughout his career. His best season to date came last year, when Slaggert amassed 12 goals and 24 points. Five of his dozen conversions came shorthanded to finish the season in a tie for the league lead in shorthanded goals, subsequently becoming the first Amerk in 30 years to score five shorthanded goals in a single season.
The 26-year-old became the third different Amerk this season to reach 200 AHL games, joining fellow forwards Isak Rosén and Brendan Warren. Of his 200 games played in the league, 37 have come against Syracuse. Slaggert has faced the Crunch more than any other team in his career.
STILL A LOT OF ROUNDS TO GO
In fitting fashion, the Amerks face-off with Syracuse more than any other team in the AHL this season. Tonight is meeting four of 12, with the Crunch enjoying a 2-1-0-0 mark on the season series to date. Rochester won last year’s season series with a 7-3-1-1 record against Tampa Bay’s AHL affiliate.
Rosén (9+12) leads all Amerks in scoring against the Crunch dating back to 2023-24 season, having appeared in 24 games in that span. In 48 career games versus Syracuse, the Sabres prospect, who appeared in 10 games with Buffalo this season, has tallied 31 points (13+18), his most against any other AHL team.
Viktor Neuchev leads the series to start the year with four points (1+3) against the Crunch. Leschyshyn is the only Amerk with multiple goals facing Syracuse this season.
Tonight is the final time the Amerks play Syracuse in the calendar year. Once flipping to 2026, Rochester will meet the Crunch three times in January and a season-high four meetings in March. The intrastate rivals have also matched up in three consecutive North Division Semifinal rounds in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
JAKOB’S LADDER
Newcomer Jakob Pelletier has been climbing the AHL’s scoring charts to start the season with Syracuse, leading the Crunch with 20 points (6+14) over his 16 games played. The fifth-year pro was acquired in the offseason after splitting last year mostly in the NHL between Calgary and Philadelphia.
A former first-round pick of the Flames in 2019, Pelletier has amassed 11 goals and 29 points over 87 NHL games. He was called up once earlier in the season for Tampa Bay, appearing in one game with the Lightning. When in the AHL, the 24-year-old is operating at nearly a point-per-game pace, producing 150 (57+93) across 155 games.
Pelletier enters Friday on a four-game point streak with a goal and six assists over that span.