GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS START EMPIRE STATE WEEKEND IN UTICA
Five things to know as Amerks look to maintain dominance over intrastate rival
Oct 17, 2025By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48
The Rochester Americans (1-1-0-0) skate into the second weekend of the AHL’s season with a pair of rivalry games, starting Friday night in Utica against the Comets (0-1-1-0).
Here are five things to know before game two of three on Rochester’s first road trip of the 2025-26 campaign.
ABOUT A WEEK AGO
Tonight marks the first of 10 scheduled meetings between Utica and Rochester this season, but the pair of North Division squads dropped the puck on their respective 2025-26 journeys seven days prior.
The Amerks split a home-and-home series with the Toronto Marlies as each team picked up wins on their home openers. Rochester opened up with a 3-0 lead Friday, thanks in part to a pair of power-play goals from Isak Rosén. Toronto battled back to keep it close, but Brendan Warren’s breakaway goal in the middle period was enough to thwart a Toronto triumph, leading the Amerks to a 4-3 win.
Less than 24 hours later, a scoreless affair north of the border was broken up by Travis Boyd 14:21 into the second with his first of two goals in the period, helping kickstart the Marlies to a 4-1 final in their favor. Jake Leschyshyn tucked in a power-play goal for the lone Amerk conversion midway through the third period, while Topias Leinonen made 17 saves in his North American professional debut, including a breakaway stop early in the third period.
Elsewhere, Utica opened its 13th season with a pair of home games against Cleveland that resulted in back-to-back one-goal losses for the New Jersey Devils’ AHL affiliate.
On the team’s home opener, Comets’ goaltender Nico Daws tried matching Cleveland’s Ivan Fedotov save for save, but a second-period Monsters goal was enough to make the difference in a 1-0 final.
The next night, Brian Halonen evened the score at 2-2 with six minutes to play in regulation, but took a slashing penalty at the end of regulation, setting up Cleveland for the win 23 seconds into three-on-three play.
CASHING IN AT THE BANK
It’s been a one-sided season series for the last three years between the Amerks and Comets, with the red, white, and blue serving as heavy favorites.
Since the start of the 2022-23 season, Rochester has gone 25-7-1-1 against its intrastate rival. That includes a 14-2-0-1 record when playing on the road at Adirondack Bank Center. Prior to a 3-2 shootout loss last February, the Amerks had won nine straight meetings in Utica.
The Amerks have been a third period team against Utica, outscoring them 55-36 in the final frame of regulation over the last three seasons.
Rosèn posted 13 points (7+6) across 10 games facing the Comets last season. Over his four-year career, the Stockholm, Sweden, native has scored more goals against Utica (14) than any other team he’s faced.
CAPTAIN CALL-UP
Defenseman and 65th captain in franchise history, Zach Metsa, is headed to the National Hockey League.
The third-year pro was recalled by the Sabres, who signed him to a two-year, two-way contract this past offseason. In a corresponding move, fellow blueliner Ryan Johnson has been reassigned to the Amerks after appearing in three games with the blue and gold to start the year.
Metsa earns a call-up for the first time in his career. The Delafield, Wisconsin, native arrived on the scene for Rochester during the team’s 2023 playoff run to the Eastern Conference Finals. Over two regular seasons plus the start of this year, Metsa, 26, has produced 14 goals and 70 points over 125 games.
The 2024-25 season saw Metsa scoop 39 assists, ranking him fourth across all AHL defensemen. Ahead of Rochester’s historic 70th season, the former NCAA National Champion and captain for Quinnipiac University was awarded the captaincy in Rochester, becoming the youngest player to lead the Amerks in 18 years and the fifth-youngest captain over the last 30 seasons.
Johnson, 24, inked a three-year contract with Buffalo at the start of free agency in July. The 24-year-old spent most of last season in Rochester, being one of 10 skaters to appear in at least 66 games with the team. During that time, the Newport Beach, California, native produced two goals and 13 points.
BEAST MODE
Amerks head coach Michael Leone confirmed earlier in the week that Devon Levi will make his second start of the season Friday night in Utica. The All-Star goaltender made 24 saves in the team’s 4-3 win over Toronto last week and showed a perfect 5-0-0 record against the Comets a season ago.
Levi has never lost a game facing the Comets. Since joining the Amerks in December of 2023, the Sabres’ prospect has gone 8-0-0 against Utica with a 2.38 goals-against average, coupled with a .927 save percentage.
Friday marks the 70th career appearance for Levi as an Amerk. Rochester has collected points in nearly 73% of Levi’s career starts.
BY HOOK OR BY CROOK
The New Jersey Devils began free agency by signing forward Angus Crookshank away from the Ottawa Senators on a two-year contract. After being drafted by the Sens in 2018, Crookshank went on to score 77 goals and put up 149 points in 202 AHL games with Belleville.
Crookshank has played three full AHL seasons, each ending with the winger scoring over 20 goals. The former Senator was a familiar foe with the Amerks during his time in Belleville, scoring 10 goals in 19 games against the red, white, and blue.