GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS CLOSE OUT WEEKEND TODAY AGAINST CRUNCH
Feb 19, 2023TODAY'S GAME OVERVIEW
The Rochester Americans (23-20-2-1) return home today to close out their first three-in-three weekend as they welcome back the Syracuse Crunch (22-18-4-3) for an afternoon matinee at The Blue Cross Arena. Game time is slated for a 3:05 p.m. start and will be carried on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.
The Amerks are 1-1-0-0 through their first two games of the weekend after splitting a home-and-home series with the North Division-leading Toronto Marlies. After skating to a 6-2 blowout win on home ice on Friday, Rochester was dealt 5-1 loss in Saturday's rematch north of the border.
HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES SNAPSHOT
The Amerks have claimed five of the first seven meetings against the Crunch this season, including two get-togethers in Rochester. The Amerks have outscored and outshot the Crunch 12-10 and 82-69 on home ice.
Rochester has scored a power-play goal in 23 of its last 40 games against Syracuse, going 35-for-138 (25.4%) with the man-advantage over that span.
Both the Amerks and Crunch have won 26 times against one another over the last five years with each team winning at least 15 games on the road.
The Amerks sit just two points back of the Crunch in the North Division.
LAST TIME OUT
The Amerks were unable to sweep the home-and-home series with the Toronto Marlies, who after dropping a 6-2 decision to the Amerks on Friday, flipped the script with a 5-1 win in yesterday afternoon's rematch between the two teams at Coca-Cola Coliseum on Saturday.
Rookie forward Filip Cederqvist snapped a 20-game goal-scoring drought as he notched his fourth of the season late in the third period to spoil Toronto’s bid for a shutout. Linus Weissbach and Brendan Warren each recorded an assist on the play while goaltender Malcolm Subban (11-10-1) made his 22nd appearance of the slate. Subban made 25 saves but suffered the defeat in the goal crease for Rochester. Warren, who matched a career-high with four shots on goal, also equaled his personal-best in assists on the season.
SUBBAN SHOULDERING THE WORKLOAD
After suffering a defeat in his season-debut on Nov. 18, Subban has gone 11-9-1 since over his last 20 starts, including seven straight wins between Dec. 10 to Jan. 14. The seven-game win streak was the longest of his pro career and the third-longest streak among all AHL goaltenders behind Toronto's Joseph Woll and Calgary's Dustin Wolf.
He was the first Amerks goaltender to post seven straight wins since Jonas Johansson won nine consecutive contests during the 2019-20 campaign.
Subban had arguably his best performance of the season during a 75-save weekend in Rochester’s two-game sweep over the Charlotte Checkers in mid-December. A night after stopping a regular-season career-high 45 saves, Subban was flawless in a 30-save shutout on Dec. 17, his first in the AHL since April 8, 2017, with the Providence Bruins.
Subban, who picked up his 100th career win in the 5-4 overtime victory over Utica on Dec. 28, has topped the 30-save mark six times in his last 17 starts.
BIRO PILING UP THE POINTS
Despite missing six games due to injury, third-year forward Brandon Biro has blazed his way atop the team's scoring lead following a productive December in which he led the team with 16 points (6+10) in 10 games. He recorded multi-point efforts in seven of his 10 appearances, including six straight between Dec. 9 and Dec. 30 before closing out the month with an assist in the 3-2 win in Toronto.
Biro, who made his NHL debut with the Buffalo Sabres last season, currently shares the team lead in points (31) and ranks second in assists (22) through 36 games and his seven-game point streak to close out the 2022 calendar year was the longest of his career.
Dating back to last season, Biro has totaled 72 points on 21 goals and 51 assists over his last 84 games and hasn't gone more than seven games without a point since Nov. 27, 2021.
JOBST HAVING A CAREER YEAR
Mason Jobst has made the most of his second opportunity with the Amerks as the fourth-year pro is in the process of assembling a career-year.
Through 37 games this season, the Speedway, Indiana, native has already established career-highs in all offensive categories, including goals (7), assists (13) and points (20).
With an assist in the 5-4 overtime win in Belleville on Feb. 4, Jobst reached the 20-point mark for the first time in his pro career, becoming then the ninth different Amerk to eclipse the mark.
Since the turn of the New Year, Jobst has amassed four goals and seven points over his previous 11 games, including his first career hat trick in the 7-5 loss to the first-place Toronto Marlies back on Jan. 14. Jobst single-handedly outscored Toronto in the second period with back-to-back goals before netting what was the go-ahead goal in the third period.
Jobst has totaled 33 points (11+12) over 63 career games with the Amerks dating back to last season.
PROWESS ON THE BLUELINE
Entering the Jan. 19 game against Laval, Ethan Prow was the only Amerks defenseman to appear in every game this season. Overall, he has skated in 115 of the 121 games dating back to the start of the 2021-22 campaign.
In 45 games this season, Prow is tied for 14th in scoring amongst all AHL defensemen with 27 points while his team-high 23 assists are currently tied for 11th-most at his position. This season marks the fourth straight in which the veteran defenseman has reached the 20-assist mark and the fifth consecutive year with 20 or more points, which includes an abbreviated campaign overseas in 2020-21.
The seventh-year pro has posted 15 points (2+13) in his last 20 outings dating back to Dec. 28 and comes into today with eight assists over his last 10 games.
He leads all Amerks defensemen with five multi-point outings, including a two-goal effort in the 4-3 win at Syracuse back on Jan. 7, and has never gone more than five games all season without a point.
SERIES NOTABLES
So far this season, Rochester has used five different goaltenders compared to Syracuse's four. It marks the third straight season that the Amerks have used at least five different goaltenders.
Amerks defenseman Chase Priskie spent part of the 2020-21 season with the Crunch, notching seven points (3+4) in 15 games. In five games against Rochester that year, Priskie recorded three assists.
Rochester assistant coach Michael Peca spent the majority of the 1994-95 season with the Crunch, where he produced 34 points on 10 goals and 24 assists in just 35 games. It marked Peca’s one of two brief stops in his AHL career, the other being a nine-game stint with the Hamilton Canucks.
Alex Barré-Boulet (15+44) and Darren Raddysh (12+36) currently lead all Crunch skaters with 59 and 48 points, respectively. The duo are tied for second and eighth in the AHL in scoring, respectively, while Raddysh is second among all defensemen in goals (12) and points (48).
Syracuse Crunch vs Rochester Americans: Head To Head Stats
Summary
|
Description |
Result |
|
| Head to Head Record 2022-23 Regular Season | Syracuse 2-5-0-0 | Rochester 5-2-0-0 |
| Head to Head Record 2021-22 Regular Season | Syracuse 8-3-1-0 | Rochester 4-6-2-0 |
| Last 5 Years record between teams | Syracuse 26-19-5-2 | Rochester 26-20-5-1 |
| Syracuse vs. Rochester Last 5 Years record at Syracuse | Syracuse 11-12-2-2 | Rochester 16-9-2-0 |
| Syracuse vs. Rochester Last 5 Years record at Rochester | Syracuse 15-7-3-0 | Rochester 10-11-3-1 |
| Previous Meetings This Season | Rochester 4 @ Syracuse 1 (Feb 11 2023) Final Rochester 4 @ Syracuse 3 (Jan 7 2023) Final Syracuse 5 @ Rochester 1 (Dec 7 2022) Final Rochester 3 @ Syracuse 1 (Nov 9 2022) Final Syracuse 2 @ Rochester 7 (Nov 2 2022) Final Rochester 2 @ Syracuse 6 (Oct 22 2022) Final Syracuse 3 @ Rochester 4 (Oct 21 2022) Final |
How the two teams match up
|
Rochester |
Syracuse |
|
| Team Record | 23-20-2-1 -- 49 points | 22-18-4-3 -- 51 points |
| Division Ranking | 4th North | 3rd North |
| Conference Ranking | 10th Eastern | 8th Eastern |
| League Ranking | 20th | 18th |
| Past 10 Games | 4-6-0-0 | 4-5-1-0 |
| Streak | 0-1-0-0 | 1-0-0-0 |
| Last Game | 5-1 L @ Toronto (Feb 18 2023) Final | 8-5 W @ Utica (Feb 18 2023) Final |
| Home Record | 12-10-1-0 | 10-8-4-1 |
| Away Record | 11-10-1-1 | 12-10-0-2 |
| GF | 141 | 169 |
| GA | 155 | 156 |
| PP (Overall) | (32/167) 19.2% | (29/151) 19.2% |
| PP (Home) | (23/83) 27.7% | (14/81) 17.3% |
| PP (Away) | (9/84) 10.7% | (15/70) 21.4% |
| PK (Overall) | (32/149) 78.5% | (37/192) 80.7% |
| PK (Home) | (16/72) 77.8% | (14/97) 85.6% |
| PK (Away) | (16/77) 79.2% | (23/95) 75.8% |
| PP vs. Opp. | (5/32) 15.6% | (3/20) 15% |
| PK vs. Opp. | (3/20) 85% | (5/32) 84.4% |
| Leading Rookie | Kulich (11-15-26) | Carlile (5-10-15) |
| Most PIM | Weissbach - 43 | Element - 71 |
| Team PIM/GM | 10.3/Game | 16.9/Game |
| Leading Scorers | Rousek (10-21-31) | Barré-Boulet (15-44-59) |
| Biro (9-22-31) | Raddysh (12-36-48) | |
| Weissbach (13-16-29) | Ryfors (19-19-38) | |
| Murray (15-12-27) | Goncalves (9-26-35) | |
| Mersch (9-18-27) | Carrick (7-19-26) | |
| Last 5 Games | 5-1 L @ Toronto (Feb 18 2023) Final | 8-5 W @ Utica (Feb 18 2023) Final |
| 6-2 W vs Toronto (Feb 17 2023) Final | 4-2 L @ Belleville (Feb 15 2023) Final | |
| 2-1 L @ Cleveland (Feb 14 2023) Final | 4-1 L vs Rochester (Feb 11 2023) Final | |
| 4-1 W @ Syracuse (Feb 11 2023) Final | 3-1 L @ Laval (Feb 10 2023) Final | |
| 4-0 L vs Springfield (Feb 10 2023) Final | 5-3 L vs Charlotte (Feb 4 2023) Final | |
| Leading After 1st | 13-3-0-0 | 11-2-0-0 |
| Leading After 2nd | 15-4-1-0 | 17-3-0-1 |
| Tied After 1st | 5-8-2-1 | 9-6-1-1 |
| Tied After 2nd | 3-2-1-1 | 3-2-0-1 |
| Trailing After 1st | 5-9-0-0 | 2-10-3-2 |
| Trailing After 2nd | 5-14-0-0 | 2-13-4-1 |
| Out Shooting Opponents | 8-8-1-0 | 10-11-2-1 |
| Out Shot by Opponents | 15-9-1-1 | 9-6-2-2 |
| 1-Goal Games | 12-5-2-1 | 6-5-4-3 |
| 2-Goal Games | 6-5-0-0 | 5-8-0-0 |
| 3-Goal Games | 1-3-0-0 | 2-3-0-0 |
Syracuse Crunch
| # | Player | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 | Darren Raddysh | 7 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 4 |
| 85 | Daniel Walcott | 7 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 14 | 3 |
| 46 | X Gemel Smith | 5 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 23 | 0 |
| 36 | Felix Robert | 6 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 2 |
| 4 | Trevor Carrick | 6 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 0 |
| 15 | Simon Ryfors | 7 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
| 9 | Gabriel Fortier | 7 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 39 | Gage Goncalves | 7 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 0 |
| 12 | Alex Barré-Boulet | 7 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 2 | -1 |
| 40 | Gabriel Dumont | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 21 | Jack Thompson | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | -2 |
| 16 | Shawn Element | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | -1 |
| 62 | Jack Finley | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 | -4 |
| 20 | Ryan Jones | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | -1 |
| 74 | Sean Day | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 78 | X Jaydon Dureau | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| 22 | P.C. Labrie | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | -2 |
| 80 | Ilya Usau | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | -3 |
| 60 | Hugo Alnefelt | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | Rudolfs Balcers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -1 |
| 72 | Declan Carlile | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -4 |
| 54 | Lucas Edmonds | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 44 | X Tyson Feist | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 45 | Cole Koepke | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 |
| 35 | Jack LaFontaine | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 0 |
| 33 | Max Lagace | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | X Bennett MacArthur | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 |
| 5 | Philippe Myers | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -1 |
| # | Player | GP | W | L | OT | MIN | GA | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 | Hugo Alnefelt | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 98:24 | 2 | 1.22 | 0.951 |
| 35 | Jack LaFontaine | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 38:44 | 1 | 1.55 | 0.923 |
| 33 | Max Lagace | 6 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 278:03 | 20 | 4.32 | 0.859 |
Rochester Americans
| # | Player | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Brandon Biro | 7 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 0 | -2 |
| 7 | Ethan Prow | 7 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 4 |
| 13 | Linus Weissbach | 6 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 1 |
| 11 | Lukas Rousek | 7 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
| 81 | Brett Murray | 7 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 4 | -1 |
| 26 | Mason Jobst | 6 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 23 | Vinnie Hinostroza | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 25 | Jiri Kulich | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | -2 |
| 20 | Lawrence Pilut | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| 96 | Anders Bjork | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 3 |
| 4 | Jeremy Davies | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| 52 | Mitch Eliot | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | -3 |
| 71 | Filip Cederqvist | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 56 | X Kale Clague | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | -6 |
| 2 | X Oskari Laaksonen | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 28 | Michael Mersch | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| 18 | Isak Rosen | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | -2 |
| 43 | Matt Bartkowski | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 2 |
| 8 | X Zach Berzolla | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 44 | Tyson Kozak | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | Sean Malone | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 45 | Brendan Warren | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 88 | X Brandon Davidson | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 1 | X Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 15 | X Riley Sheahan | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | Joseph Cecconi | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -2 |
| 51 | Aleksandr Kisakov | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | -1 |
| 12 | X Matej Pekar | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | Chase Priskie | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 |
| 47 | Malcolm Subban | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
| 16 | Peter Tischke | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| # | Player | GP | W | L | OT | MIN | GA | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 47 | Malcolm Subban | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 174:52 | 8 | 2.74 | 0.923 |
| 1 | X Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 238:51 | 11 | 2.76 | 0.904 |