GAME PREVIEW: AMERKS WRAP-UP ROAD TRIP IN SYRACUSE
First game against division rival since North Division Semifinals
Oct 18, 2025By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48
The Rochester Americans (2-1-0-0) close out their first road trip of the 2025-26 season with a playoff rematch against the rival Syracuse Crunch (2-0-0-0) Saturday night at Upstate Medical University Arena.
Here are five things to know ahead of the finale to this three-game trip and the first of a home-and-home series between the cross-town foes.
SEVENTH HEAVEN
The start to Rochester’s game in Utica was a far cry from where it finished. After surrendering two early goals, the Amerks flipped the switch, posting five goals before the end of the first period on the team’s way to a 7-4 victory over the Comets.
The five-goal first was Rochester’s first in nearly eight years, last doing so Nov. 24, 2017 against Binghamton. Seven different Amerks found the back of the net, including power-play goals from Konsta Helenius and Isak Rosén, who finished his night with a three-point performance (1+2) and has a league-leading six points (3+3) through the first three games of the season.
Noah Östlund, Vsevolod Komarov, Viktor Neuchev, Brendan Warren, and Riley Fiddler-Schultz joined in on the goal-scoring, while Devon Levi prevented it on the other end with 26 saves, improving to 2-0-0 on the season and remaining undefeated against Utica for his career. The 23-year-old owns a perfect 9-0-0 record with a .921 save percentage and a 2.56 goals-against average.
The seven-goal output is Rochester’s first of the season and first since Jan. 29, also against the Comets.
ASKING ALEXANDAR
Amerks head coach Michael Leone confirmed veteran goaltender Alexandar Georgiev will make his Amerks debut Saturday against the Crunch, marking his return to the AHL for the first time since Jan. 26, 2019.
Since then, the league’s first and only Bulgarian-born net minder has spent six consecutive seasons in the NHL, splitting his time between the New York Rangers and Colorado Avalanche. Georgiev, 29, has amassed 151 NHL wins, 15 shutouts, and was an All-Star in 2024. Over the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, Georgiev posted an impressive 78-34-11 record while leading the league in back-to-back seasons over that span.
The ninth-year pro has appeared in 48 AHL games with Hartford, doing so from 2017-19. In that time, Georgiev went 16-22-7. He has one appearance against Syracuse, making 43 saves in a 4-3 overtime win Feb. 9, 2018.
CRUNCH THE NUMBERS
Rochester posted a 7-3-1-1 record in the season series last season, which included sweeping the Crunch in a home-and-home to close out the month of November, splitting a two-game set before Christmas, turning in a pair of wins heading into the All-Star break and two in March.
Prior to the 5-2 defeat back on Dec. 18, 2024, the Amerks had won four straight meetings against the Crunch dating back to last season and blanked Syracuse twice over that span, including Devon Levi's first pro shutout in a 3-0 win back on Nov. 29.
Dating back to the start of the 2016-17 season, the Amerks are 42-11-5-1 when scoring three or more goals against Syracuse.
Rosén (9+11) leads all Amerks in scoring against the Crunch dating back to 2023-24 season, having appeared in 22 games in that span. The Stockholm, Sweden, native, who capped the 4-3 come-from-behind overtime win back on Feb. 1, tallied two of his six game-winning goals against the Crunch last season.
After being held without a point for the first two games versus the Crunch last season, Östlund posted seven goals and four assists in seven tilts, which featured four multi-point outings, his first AHL hat-trick and goals in four straight and five of the last six games.
The Amerks and Crunch have met in three consecutive postseasons, with the Amerks winning two of three North Division Semifinal series, including this past Spring’s where the red, white, and blue allowed the first two goals in Game 1, then went on to blank Syracuse the rest of the way in a 3-0 sweep.
While the Amerks played last night, Syracuse was idle after going 2-0-0-0 on opening weekend against the Hershey Bears.
ZAC ATTACK
Amerks defenseman Zac Jones has come as advertised to begin his tenure in the red, white, and blue. The offensive-minded blueliner has four assists through three games, with each helper coming on the power-play.
The fifth-year pro celebrates his 25th birthday in Syracuse playing a team he has only faced four times prior but is operating at point-per-game pace (1+3).
Jones spent the bulk of the 2024-25 campaign with the Rangers in the NHL, but his AHL numbers see the Glen Allen, Virginia, native with 18 goals and 71 points in 111 games.
FEELING PELLY SPECIAL
Forward Jakob Pelletier impressed in his first weekend with the Crunch. He grabbed a pair of goals and finished the weekend with four points in two games as the 24-year-old begins a three-year contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning that he signed this past offseason.
Pelletier, 24, notched three points (2+1) in the season opener to lead the Crunch to a 5-2 win. He began the team's comeback from a 2-0 deficit by scoring the Crunch's first goal of the season. Both of his tallies were power-play goals.
His lone point on Sunday was the primary helper on Dominic James’ overtime game-winning goal. He has 134 career AHL points (53g, 81a) in 141 AHL games for Syracuse, Calgary and Stockton. Additionally, the Quebec resident has skated in 86 NHL games between Calgary and Philadelphia, scoring 11 goals and 29 points.