GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS OPEN POSTSEASON TONIGHT IN TORONTO
Facts and stats as Rochester begins quest to end 30-year Calder Cup drought
Apr 22, 2026By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48
It came down to the wire, but the Rochester Americans are officially in the Calder Cup Playoffs. After a three-game weekend to end the regular season, the Amerks are back on the road Wednesday night in Game 1 of the first round against the Toronto Marlies.
| HOW TO WATCH | GET TICKETS | GAME NOTES | ROSTER SHEET | PLAYOFF MEDIA KIT | REGULAR SEASON MEDIA KIT | LINE CHART |
HOW THEY GOT HERE
Rochester’s playoff fate was undetermined until the end of the final period of regulation on the final day of the regular season Sunday at Hershey.
Thanks to Carson Meyer scoring a game-tying goal in the back half of the third, the Amerks were able to force overtime, earning the singular point they needed to clinch the 23rd and final available playoff spot in the AHL.
Devon Levi did his part, making 26 saves, including two on partial breakaway opportunities for the Bears in the second period to help Rochester earn a point.
The team finished its 70th-anniversary season in franchise history with a 31-31-6-4 record and 72 points to qualify for the playoffs for a fifth consecutive season. This marks the longest stretch of playoff berths by the Amerks in over two decades since the organization went every year from 1990-2005.
Toronto’s path was less challenging, finishing 10 points ahead of Rochester with 82 via a 36-26-5-5 record. The Marlies ended the season on a three-game winning streak, including back-to-back victories against the Laval Rocket, whom the winner of this best-of-three will face in the North Division Semifinals.
The Marlies fell a point shy of Cleveland to finish in the top three, forcing them to enter the play-in round for a third consecutive year. This marks the fourth consecutive trip to the postseason for the Maple Leafs’ AHL affiliate and is their 15th playoff run since the team relocated from St. John’s, Newfoundland ahead of the 2005-06 campaign.
PLAYOFF HISTORY
This year marks the 30-year anniversary of Rochester’s last Calder Cup win in 1996, when the Amerks celebrated on their home ice after a 2-1 win over the Portland Pirates in Game 7. The team last played in the finals in 2000 against Hartford.
Toronto’s success came more recently as they lifted hardware in 2018, winning the Calder Cup and become Toronto’s first pro hockey team to win a championship in half a century after topping the Texas Stars in a seven-game series that went the distance.
Neither team has a player on its roster from its last championship win. Mason Geertsen, Peter Tischke, and Gavin Bayreuther are the only members of Rochester’s playoff roster that were alive when the team last won.
The Amerks and Marlies face-off for their fifth-ever meeting in the Calder Cup Playoffs and first since 2023. Each of the previous four series were sweeps, with Toronto blanking the Amerks in the first round of playoffs in 2012, 2013, and 2019 before Rochester got its revenge with a 3-0 sweep in the 2023 North Division Finals. This will be the first time the two sides meet in a best-of-three format.
SEASON SERIES SNAPSHOT
The two teams split the six-game head-to-head series during the 2025-26 season, with the host team winning each game. Rochester earned a pair of 4-3 home victories before posting a 5-2 win to close out the series, while Toronto outscored Rochester 13-5 in its wins.
During the regular season, Rochester boasts an 8-7-0-2 record against Toronto over the last six seasons at Blue Cross Arena. Overall, Rochester owns a 13-15-2-2 mark in the head-to-head series since the 2020-21 campaign.
Since the start of the 2023-24 campaign, there have been six games decided beyond regulation, including three of the last eight most recent get-togethers between the two teams dating back to April 19, 2025.
In 36 of the last 54 meetings between the two teams dating back to the 2016-17 season, the team that scored first has come away with the victory. Seven of the last 15 games between the two clubs dating back to 2023-24 have been one-goal affairs.
THE COACHES
Amerks head coach Michael Leone becomes the third straight Amerks head coach to lead the team to the postseason in each of his first two seasons behind the bench, minus the COVID-impacted years (2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons). The 38-year-old Michigan native is the second-youngest AHL head coach, trailing only former teammate in junior hockey, Trent Vogelhuber, who is at the helm in Cleveland.
Leone will be opposed by third-year head coach John Gruden, who has led the Marlies to the playoffs and 80-plus point regular season finishes in each year behind the bench. Gruden, 55, spent five seasons as an assistant coach in the NHL, mostly with the New York Islanders from 2018-22, followed by a season with Boston.
Both coaches are American-born and spent time as bench bosses in major junior, with Gruden capturing an OHL Championship with Hamilton in 2018. After missing playoffs in two of the three seasons prior, Leone came onboard to head the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers to consecutive playoff appearances since the team had gone six straight years from 2009-14.
PLAYER NOTABLES
Zac Jones was the recipient of the AHL’s Eddie Shore Award, presented annually to the league’s top defenseman. The 25-year-old signed with the Sabres over the offseason and went on to have a career year, scoring 10 goals and 62 points over 60 games. Jones led the AHL in assists, becoming the second defenseman in the 90-year history of the AHL to lead the league in assists. The only other was Craig Levie in 1980-81.The Glen Allen, Virginia native produced five assists over six games against Toronto this season.
Second-year pro Konsta Helenius is the first teenager in Amerks history to lead the team in points at the end of a season. The Sabres’ 2024 first-round pick was a point-per-game player through 63 contests, amassing 21 goals and 42 assists. This includes 10 points (3+7) during the final month of the regular season. Helenius capped off his year with a goal and an assist in Rochester’s pivotal game against Hershey and 40 of his 93 career points have been at the expense of Canadian teams (Toronto, Belleville, Laval).
Devon Levi finished the season leading the AHL with 3,029:06 minutes played and finished tied for games played at 52. He is the first Amerks netminder to reach the half-century mark in starts since Linus Ullmark (55) in 2016-17. The former AHL All-Star also ranked second in saves (1,342) and tied for eighth in wins (23). He enters the series with a 6-3-0 record during the regular season against the Marlies, showing a .935 save percentage and a 2.15 goals-against-average in nine career appearances.
As many as 15 different Amerks could look to make their Calder Cup Playoff debuts. The list includes Red Savage, Olivier Nadeau, Tyler Kopff, Aidan Fulp, Noah Laaouan, Radim Mrtka, Isaac Belliveau, Carson Meyer, Matteo Costantini, Gavin McCarthy, Maxim Strbak, Chris Douglas, Liam Valente, Topias Leinonen, Scott Ratzlaff.
Marlies’ captain Logan Shaw is the only player between both teams to have played in every game during the 2025-26 regular season. It marks the first time the 33-year-old has ever played in every game in a season. Shaw has skated in 589 regular-season games and over 600 AHL contests including playoffs. Over the course of his career, Shaw has faced 39 different teams in the league, producing more points against Rochester than any other opponent with 41 points (10+31) in as many games.
Former Amerk Alex Nylander posted over 20 goals for a fourth season over his AHL career. The duo of Nylander and Shaw combined for 47 goals and 107 points, yet the duo has a combined 7-26 record in playoff games, having never made it past the second round.