GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS BEGIN WEEKEND SET WITH DEFENDING EASTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPS
Five things to know as Rochester begins three-game road trip in Charlotte
Dec 5, 2025By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48
It’s the start of another three-game road trip for the Rochester Americans (12-9-1-0) as they make a weekend visit to Bojangles’ Coliseum to face-off against the defending Eastern Conference champion Charlotte Checkers (10-5-2-0).
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Here are five things to know ahead the first of two matchups against the Checkers.
POINT TAKEN
Down 3-0 early in the second period, Isak Rosén and Konsta Helenius spearheaded a Rochester rally to even the score, but the Utica Comets would ultimately get the last laugh in overtime, pulling out of the Flower City with a 4-3 win Wednesday night.
Rochester’s goals came in a span of 7:31 during the middle period. Rosén and Helenius each scored power-play goals on the night, while Devon Levi stopped 24 shots at the other end of the ice, including a penalty shot, to help the Amerks secure a vital standings point.
Wednesday marked the ninth time this season the Amerks have scored two power-play goals in a game. Their power-play tops the Eastern Conference and ranks fifth overall at 26.6%.
Charlotte has been idle for six days, having last played Saturday in a 5-3 loss against Toronto. The two teams had split a pair of games on the weekend. The loss snapped a seven-game point streak for the Florida Panthers’ AHL affiliate.
REVERE ROSÉN
One of Buffalo’s top prospects has continued to torment the AHL while he’s here. Rosén has made the most with his time in an Amerks jersey this season, ranking third in team scoring with 16 points (8+8) despite playing in only 11 of Rochester’s 22 games on the season. That’s because the fourth-year pro spent a healthy chunk of time with the Sabres, scoring three goals and seven points over a 10-game stay with the blue and gold.
Rosén has produced three goals over his three games back on reassignment. Five of his eight goals as an Amerk have come on the power-play, putting him in a tie for second in power-play goals on the AHL leaderboard. His 1.45 points-per-game leads the Eastern Conference.
Because they’re in the Atlantic Division, Rosén hasn’t seen much of Charlotte over his career. The Solna, Sweden, native has scored twice and totaled four points over 10 games against the Checkers.
NOVA FROM NOVI
Nikita Novikov continues to play efficient minutes and steady hockey for the Amerks in his third year with the team. The, Russian-born defenseman finished last season plus-28, the best +/- rating for an Amerk in 26 years.
Novikov yields a plus-51 rating over his 155 games with Rochester, along with 10 goals and 49 points. In each of the 10 games he’s scored, the Amerks have won. This includes a meeting with the Checkers in Charlotte almost a year ago to date (Dec. 7).
So far this season, the 6-foor-4 blueliner has six points (1+5). He and Jack Rathbone are the only Amerks’ defensemen to have appeared in every game.
CHECKMATE
Tonight is meeting one of four on the season between Rochester and Charlotte. The rematch from Friday’s tilt comes Saturday evening. Following that, Charlotte makes two separate visits to Blue Cross Arena, skating against the Amerks on Feb. 18 and concluding the season series on Apr. 1 to kick-off the final month of the regular season.
Of the returning players this season, only Novikov (1+1), Graham Slaggert (1+1), and Brendan Warren (1+0) scored against the Checkers during the 2024-25 campaign as they each skated in all four games. Riley Fiddler-Schultz, Helenius, Anton Wahlberg and Levi notched one assist apiece.
In the first game in Charlotte last season on Dec. 6, Rochester fell by a 6-0 score before flipping the script the next day as Levi blanked the Checkers, marking his second shutout in eight days. Levi also picked up the secondary helper on Slaggert's eventual game-winning goal in the first period.
Charlotte's current roster features Mitchell Vande Sompel, who is the cousin of former Amerk and current Buffalo Sabres defenseman Jacob Bryson. Checkers assistant coach Bobby Sanguinetti spent the 2015-16 season with Rochester, recording 15 points (7+8) in 40 games. The former defenseman played for Charlotte before he was an Amerk, then returned to the Checkers during his final season as an AHL player to win a Calder Cup with the team in 2019.
BEASTS OF THE EAST
Sanguinetti won a cup as a player and almost did it again as a member of the coaching staff. Charlotte enters the new season as defending Eastern Conference Champions following the team’s run to the Calder Cup last spring.
To get there, the Checkers were one of four teams with above 43 wins during the regular season. They then went the distance against Providence, winning that series, 3-2, before eliminating the two-time defending Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears in a three-game sweep. The brooms remained out for Laval, who after topping Rochester in the North Division Finals, were unable to squeeze out a win on Charlotte. The Checkers’ run ended in a six-game final that went the way of Abbotsford.
Charlotte returned key pieces to its roster in the offseason, most notably their captain, Trevor Carrick. The 12th-year pro is the team’s all-time leader in games played, assists, and penalty minutes. Carrick was with the Checkers for their last cup victory in 2019 and through other stints with Syracuse, San Diego, and San Jose has amassed 99 goals and 707 AHL games, making him one of the longest tenured active players in the league.