GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS OPEN THREE-GAME WEEKEND TONIGHT AGAINST CRUNCH
Mar 8, 2024TONIGHT'S GAME OVERVIEW
The Rochester Americans (24-20-6-2) kick-off their first and only three-in-three of the season against the intrastate rival Syracuse Crunch (31-17-3-2) at 7:05 p.m. All the action from The Blue Cross Arena will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.
The Amerks, who have points in 12 of their last 18 games, currently sit in fourth place in the AHL’s North Division standings, just one point behind the Toronto Marlies and three back of the third-place Belleville Senators.
On the heels of a 3-2 overtime win over Laval on Wednesday, Syracuse has won four straight and seven of its last 10, which includes a pair of wins over Rochester in that span. Tonight’s matchup marks the first of three straight for the Crunch against the Amerks.
SEASON SERIES SNAPSHOT
The season series has favored the visiting team as seven of the first eight meetings thus far has been won by the road team and five of the eight have been one-goal decisions.
The Amerks have scored at least one power-play goal in 26 of their 44 games (36-for-158) against Syracuse since Seth Appert took over as head coach prior to the 2020-21 season.
Lukas Rousek (3+3) and Brandon Biro (2+4) both have six points opposite the Crunch. Veteran netminder Dustin Tokarski posted back-to-back road wins against his former team while Devon Levi remains in pursuit of his first win against Syracuse as he is winless in his first four appearances.
LAST TIME OUT
Rookie defenseman Zach Metsa scored the lone goal for the Amerks in a 4-1 defeat to the Belleville Senators this past Saturday at CAA Arena.
After producing a pair of assists in Friday’s 4-1 win over Belleville, Metsa provided the only point for Rochester as the Senators flipped the script in Saturday’s rematch. Tyson Jost, Michael Mersch and Brandon Biro all paced the Amerks with three shots each.
Goaltender Devon Levi (7-5-3) made his second straight start and 13th in the last 16 games since being reassigned to Rochester on Jan. 20. The rookie netminder made 34 saves in the defeat and has faced 20 or more shots in each of his last 11 appearances.
THE BEST OFFENSE IS A GOOD DEFENSE
Jeremy Davies and Kale Clague are among the AHL’s top scoring defensemen, having combined for 11 goals and 45 points this season.
Davies, who had points in three straight games for the second time this season since closing out the month of October on a five-game point streak, scored his eighth goal of the year in Rochester’s 2-1 overtime win at Toronto last month. He enters tonight tied for 10th in goals by a defenseman and remains on pace to match the career-high 11 he scored last season. He’s never gone more than four straight games without a point.
Back from a three-game stint with the Buffalo Sabres, Clague is tied for 29th among all blueliners with 20 assists. With two assists at Utica back on Feb. 14, he has reached the 20-assist mark for the second time in his career and has eclipsed the 20-point mark for the third time since his rookie campaign.
ROUSEK RACKING UP THE POINTS
Lukas Rousek has been one of the team’s most consistent point-getters since the turn of 2024, having recorded points in 16 of 24 games in that stretch while also producing 22 points over his last 30 games since Dec. 20.
Rousek, a sixth-round selection (160th overall) by the Sabres in the 2019 NHL Draft, currently leads the team with 28 assists and 38 points while his 10 goals are tied for sixth. Among all Amerks who have appeared in at least 30 games, he is tops in points per game (0.79).
Currently on recall with Buffalo, the AHL All-Star saw his career-long point streak come to an end on Jan. 26, stopping at 13 games. He totaled 14 points between Dec. 20 and Jan. 20, the second-longest point streak in the league behind only Toronto’s Alex Steeves, who had a point in 16 straight games.
Rousek’s point streak was the longest by an Amerk in 24 years since Hall of Famer Domenic Pittis had points in 14 straight contests from Jan. 22 to March 4 during the 1999-2000 campaign.
NEW YEAR, NEW NEUCHEV
After producing just five points in his first 23 games, rookie foward Viktor Neuchev has unsurprisingly emerged as Rochester’s top scoring rookie since the middle of February.
Dating back to Dec. 29 and the turn of the New Year, Neuchev has erupted for 13 points on five goals and eight assists over his previous 17 games.
Neuchev has recorded at least one point in eight games over that span, including a season-long six-game point streak from Dec. 29 to Jan. 20 which saw him score three goals and record eight points.
Buffalo’s third-round selection (74th overall) in 2022, Neuchev’s most impressive performance of the season came back on Jan. 27, finding the back of the net for the third time in four games with the game-winning goal while also adding two assists in the 7-4 win over Laval. Since Jan. 5, Neuchev has recorded four multi-point games, which includes a pair of three-point efforts.
Of Neuchev’s seven goals this season, five have been scored on home ice and three have come against Laval. Neuchev, who had a 40-goal season while playing for Russia’s junior league during the 2021-22 campaign, currently leads all Amerks rookies with 19 points (7+12) and 58 shots in 39 games.
WORKING OVERTIME
The Amerks 2-1 overtime loss in Hershey back on Feb. 24 was the third game over the last seven for Rochester that went beyond regulation, all of which finished in a 2-1 score. Overall, the Amerks have gone to extra time on 18 different occasions, the most by any team this season, including each of the first three games of the campaign.
Four of the last eight games against Syracuse have required extra time to determine a winner, including each of the last three which saw the Crunch overcome a pair of 2-0 deficits before defeating Rochester in overtime on back-to-back nights.
Four of Jiri Kulich’s team-high five game-winning goals this season have come by way of overtime while Isak Rosen, Brandon Biro and Jeremy Davies have each netted the clinching goal during the extra frame.
Never before in the near 68-year history of the franchise have the Amerks opened a season with three consecutive overtime contests.
Of Rochester’s 12 games in February, five were decided past regulation. The club was 1-3 in overtime in the month and showed an 0-1 record in the shootout.
Dating back to Jan. 20 of last season, 28 of Rochester’s previous 91 regular-season games have required overtime to determine a winner. Of the Amerks 41 wins during that same span, 15 have come came following the end of regulation.
The Amerks show a 7-6 record in overtime this season and are 3-2 in the shootout. Rochester tied an AHL record with 29 overtime games in 2017-18, showing a 9-11 record in overtime and 3-6 in the shootout.
LEANING ON LEVI
Devon Levi has earned the start in 13 of the last 16 games since being reassigned to Rochester on Jan. 20, including five straight to open the month of February. He enters the week having won four of his last eight and six of his last 11.
Levi, who boasts a 7-5-3 record in 15 appearances with the Amerks, totaled 130 saves on 136 shots he faced over his recent three-game win streak, boasting an impressive 1.95 goals-against average and a .956 save percentage over that span.
His career-high 52 saves in the Amerks overtime win at Toronto on Feb. 19 were the most by an Amerks goaltender since Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen had 54 in a 2-1 win at Syracuse on Feb. 25, 2022.
Levi, who ranks 12th among rookie netminders with a 2.53 goals-against average, has held the opposition to three or fewer goals in 11 of his 15 starts. He’s 7-1-3 this season in those games.
Levi won the Mike Richter Award, given annually to the top goaltender in men’s college hockey, for the second straight year following the 2022-23 season.
The only two-time winner in the award’s history, Levi led the nation again with a .933 save percentage, and tied for third in both shutouts (6) and saves (1,183).
TOKARSKI ON THE MOVE
Veteran goaltender Dustin Tokarski, who missed the first eight games of the season due to an injury he sustained in training camp, made his season debut back on Nov. 3 against Utica.
In doing so, the two-time Calder Cup winner and AHL All-Star became just the 18th goaltender in league history to play in 400 career games, a list that also includes former Amerks Bobby Perreault (512), Michael Leighton (507), Drew MacIntyre (440) and Ed Chadwick (417).
Tokarski, who’s in his second stint with the Amerks and 10th different AHL franchise, went 1-1-0 during a brief two-game stint with Rochester as part of the COVID-shortnened 2020-21 campaign. He went 12-20-7 in 42 appearances with the Buffalo Sabres from 2021-23.
Currently in his 15th season, he joins Marcel Paille and Michael Leighton as the only goaltenders all-time to play at least 15 seasons in the AHL.
Tokarski, who’s 7-7-3 in his first 18 appearances, surpassed the 10,000-save mark for his AHL career following a 31-save effort against Utica on Nov. 10. He also reached the 12,000-save mark for his pro career the week prior when he made his season debut against the Comets.
Entering tonight, the 34-year-old Tokarski, is only six wins away from tying Red Almas for 11th all-time in career wins (218). He’s also two games away from tying Neil Little for 15th all-time (419) and will tie Yann Danis for eighth all-time on his next shutout.
A (JOB)ST WELL DONE
Amerks forward Mason Jobst enters tonight with 20 points (9+11) over his last 21 games, the most by an Amerk since the turn of the new year. Jobst, who appeared in his 200th professional game at Utica on Feb. 14, recorded a career-best three-assist outing on Feb. 16 against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and followed that up by scoring goals in three straight games, including his career-high 16th goal of the season last Friday night against Belleville.
After closing out the 2022-23 campaign with career-highs in all offensive categories, the fifth-year forward has already surpassed his goal total in 18 fewer games this season. Jobst, who is the second Amerk this season to reach the 30-point mark, is second on the team in goals (16) and points (35) while his 19 assists are second-most amongst all Rochester forwards.
In 206 career games, all in the American Hockey League with Rochester, San Jose, Bridgeport, and Binghamton, the Ohio State product has notched 45 goals and 66 assists for 111 points.
SERIES NOTABLES
Both Rochester and Syracuse come into the matchup with winning records when leading after the second period. The Crunch boast a 19-2-1-0 mark this season when carrying a lead into the third period while the Amerks are a near-perfect 15-0-0-1 in that regard.
Amerks captain Michael Mersch enters tonight having played 201 games with Rochester since joining the club during the 2020-21 campaign. Mersch, who has 144 points (60+84) with the Amerks, became the 58th forward in franchise history to skate in at least 200 games last Friday night at Belleville. On his next goal, it would be the ninth time Mersch has recorded double figures in his career when he has skated in at least 30 games.
Rochester enters tonight with a 2-27-5-2 record in the last 36 games against the Crunch dating back to the start of 2016-17 season when they score two or fewer goals. Both wins came by way of a 2-1 score on Jan. 28, 2022 and Feb. 25, 2022 (OTW). The Amerks, who have been held to two or fewer goals in each of the last five contests against Syracuse, are 0-4-2-0 this season and were 0-3-2-1 in 2022-23 when being held to two goals or less.
Syracuse Crunch vs Rochester Americans: Head To Head Stats
Summary
|
Description |
Result |
|
| Head to Head Record 2023-24 Regular Season | Syracuse 6-0-1-1 | Rochester 2-4-2-0 |
| Head to Head Record 2022-23 Regular Season | Syracuse 6-5-1-0 | Rochester 6-3-2-1 |
| Last 5 Years record between teams | Syracuse 30-15-6-2 | Rochester 23-21-8-1 |
| Syracuse vs. Rochester Last 5 Years record at Syracuse | Syracuse 11-9-4-2 | Rochester 15-9-2-0 |
| Syracuse vs. Rochester Last 5 Years record at Rochester | Syracuse 19-6-2-0 | Rochester 8-12-6-1 |
| Previous Meetings This Season | Syracuse 5 @ Rochester 2 (Feb 28 2024) Final Rochester 2 @ Syracuse 3 (Feb 10 2024) Final OT Syracuse 3 @ Rochester 2 (Feb 9 2024) Final OT Syracuse 2 @ Rochester 1 (Jan 31 2024) Final Syracuse 3 @ Rochester 1 (Dec 27 2023) Final Rochester 3 @ Syracuse 2 (Dec 23 2023) Final OT Rochester 5 @ Syracuse 4 (Nov 4 2023) Final SO Syracuse 7 @ Rochester 2 (Nov 1 2023) Final |
How the two teams match up
|
Rochester |
Syracuse |
|
| Team Record | 25-20-6-2 -- 58 points | 32-17-3-2 -- 69 points |
| Division Ranking | 5th North | 2nd North |
| Conference Ranking | 10th Eastern | 4th Eastern |
| League Ranking | 19th | 7th |
| Past 10 Games | 4-4-1-1 | 7-3-0-0 |
| Streak | 0-1-0-0 | 4-0-0-0 |
| Last Game | 4-1 L @ Belleville (Mar 2 2024) Final | 3-2 W @ Laval (Mar 6 2024) Final OT |
| Home Record | 10-11-3-1 | 14-8-3-1 |
| Away Record | 15-9-3-1 | 18-9-0-1 |
| GF | 164 | 168 |
| GA | 186 | 146 |
| PP (Overall) | (32/180) 17.8% | (35/189) 18.5% |
| PP (Home) | (10/79) 12.7% | (17/90) 18.9% |
| PP (Away) | (22/101) 21.8% | (18/99) 18.2% |
| PK (Overall) | (38/182) 79.1% | (32/214) 85.0% |
| PK (Home) | (17/73) 76.7% | (16/87) 81.6% |
| PK (Away) | (21/109) 80.7% | (16/127) 87.4% |
| PP vs. Opp. | (4/27) 14.8% | (3/19) 15.8% |
| PK vs. Opp. | (3/19) 84.2% | (4/27) 85.2% |
| Leading Rookie | Neuchev (7-12-19) | Groshev (10-15-25) |
| Most PIM | Davies - 69 | Element - 84 |
| Team PIM/GM | 10.9/Game | 12.7/Game |
| Leading Scorers | Rousek (10-28-38) | Goncalves (10-35-45) |
| Jobst (16-19-35) | Dumont (14-14-28) | |
| Rosen (13-18-31) | Robert (11-17-28) | |
| Kulich (17-12-29) | Koepke (14-13-27) | |
| Biro (12-17-29) | Chaffee (12-14-26) | |
| Last 5 Games | 4-1 L @ Belleville (Mar 2 2024) Final | 3-2 W @ Laval (Mar 6 2024) Final OT |
| 4-1 W @ Belleville (Mar 1 2024) Final | 4-2 W @ Toronto (Mar 2 2024) Final | |
| 5-2 L vs Syracuse (Feb 28 2024) Final | 3-2 W vs Toronto (Mar 1 2024) Final | |
| 2-1 L @ Hershey (Feb 24 2024) Final OT | 5-2 W @ Rochester (Feb 28 2024) Final | |
| 2-1 L vs Belleville (Feb 23 2024) Final SO | 5-2 L vs Utica (Feb 25 2024) Final | |
| Leading After 1st | 12-5-2-1 | 15-1-1-0 |
| Leading After 2nd | 15-0-0-1 | 19-2-1-0 |
| Tied After 1st | 5-6-2-1 | 10-5-2-1 |
| Tied After 2nd | 6-6-5-0 | 9-3-2-0 |
| Trailing After 1st | 8-9-2-0 | 7-11-0-1 |
| Trailing After 2nd | 4-14-1-1 | 4-12-0-2 |
| Out Shooting Opponents | 9-7-1-0 | 16-9-1-2 |
| Out Shot by Opponents | 15-12-5-2 | 14-8-2-0 |
| 1-Goal Games | 15-3-6-2 | 14-3-3-2 |
| 2-Goal Games | 4-5-0-0 | 8-7-0-0 |
| 3-Goal Games | 3-5-0-0 | 7-6-0-0 |
Syracuse Crunch
| # | Player | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39 | Gage Goncalves | 8 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 4 |
| 72 | Declan Carlile | 8 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 6 |
| 45 | Cole Koepke | 8 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 6 |
| 36 | Felix Robert | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 3 |
| 23 | Maxim Groshev | 8 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 2 |
| 9 | Gabriel Fortier | 7 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
| 62 | Jack Finley | 7 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | Philippe Myers | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 10 |
| 21 | X Jack Thompson | 7 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| 16 | Shawn Element | 7 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| 85 | Daniel Walcott | 5 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| 18 | Joe Carroll | 8 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 14 | 0 |
| 84 | X Emil Lilleberg | 4 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| 40 | Gabriel Dumont | 8 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8 | -1 |
| 54 | Lucas Edmonds | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 89 | Waltteri Merelä | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| 4 | Devante Stephens | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 2 |
| 12 | Alex Barré-Boulet | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | X Mitchell Chaffee | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| 14 | Tristan Allard | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 24 | X Max Crozier | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| 96 | Chris Harpur | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 76 | X Roman Schmidt | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 80 | Ilya Usau | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 60 | Hugo Alnefelt | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 74 | Sean Day | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 78 | X Jaydon Dureau | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | X Haydn Fleury | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 52 | X Pyotr Kochetkov | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 94 | Zachary Massicotte | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -1 |
| 90 | Matt Tomkins | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| # | Player | GP | W | L | OT | MIN | GA | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 90 | Matt Tomkins | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 243:17 | 8 | 1.97 | 0.915 |
| 52 | X Pyotr Kochetkov | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 59:57 | 2 | 2.00 | 0.905 |
| 60 | Hugo Alnefelt | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 185:18 | 7 | 2.27 | 0.900 |
Rochester Americans
| # | Player | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | X Lukas Rousek | 7 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 4 | -6 |
| 10 | Brandon Biro | 6 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 4 | -4 |
| 18 | Isak Rosen | 8 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | -5 |
| 25 | Jiri Kulich | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | -2 |
| 81 | Brett Murray | 7 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | -6 |
| 7 | Ethan Prow | 6 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | -5 |
| 26 | Mason Jobst | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | -4 |
| 28 | Michael Mersch | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Joseph Cecconi | 8 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| 4 | Jeremy Davies | 7 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -5 |
| 52 | Aleksandr Kisakov | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 20 | X Olivier Nadeau | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| 16 | Justin Richards | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -6 |
| 78 | X Jacob Bryson | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| 56 | Kale Clague | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 16 | -3 |
| 96 | Damien Giroux | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 23 | Ryan Johnson | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 22 | Zach Metsa | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -2 |
| 93 | X Matthew Savoie | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | -1 |
| 21 | X Filip Cederqvist | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -5 |
| 1 | Devin Cooley | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | X Riley Fiddler-Schultz | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -1 |
| 29 | X Michael Houser | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | Tyson Jost | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 |
| 44 | Tyson Kozak | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 |
| 27 | Devon Levi | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 79 | Viktor Neuchev | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 74 | Nikita Novikov | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -3 |
| 19 | Graham Slaggert | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -3 |
| 61 | Riley Stillman | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | -5 |
| 34 | Dustin Tokarski | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 45 | Brendan Warren | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -1 |
| 13 | Linus Weissbach | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -1 |
| # | Player | GP | W | L | OT | MIN | GA | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 34 | Dustin Tokarski | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 183:28 | 9 | 2.94 | 0.897 |
| 27 | Devon Levi | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 236:21 | 12 | 3.05 | 0.891 |
| 29 | X Michael Houser | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11:56 | 1 | 5.03 | 0.800 |
| 1 | Devin Cooley | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 48:04 | 6 | 7.49 | 0.778 |