GAME PREVIEW: DECEMBER STARTS WITH AMERKS HOSTING LOWLY COMETS
Five things to know as Rochester closes out three-game homestand against Utica
Dec 3, 2025By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48
The final month of the 2025 calendar year begins with the Rochester Americans (12-9-0-0) looking to end their three-game homestand on a winning note against the Utica Comets (2-12-2-1) Wednesday night at Blue Cross Arena.
Here are five things to know before the Comets make their first trip to the Flower City this season.
JONES IN THE NICK OF TIME
November concluded in dramatic fashion for the Amerks last Friday night as the team rallied for a 4-3 win over the intrastate rival Syracuse Crunch.
With less than four minutes left in the third period, Carson Meyer cruised toward the front of the goal to redirect a point shot taken by Vsevolod Komarov for a tying conversion that made it 3-3. Late in the frame, Komarov again shot a puck that was knocked down in front, only this time it would be fellow defenseman Zac Jones pinching in after a loose puck to poke it under the legs of the Crunch goaltender with 14 seconds remaining in regulation, nabbing the Amerks a 4-3 lead that they would hold onto in front of 7,349 fans at Blue Cross Arena.
After Syracuse left empty-handed in its post-Thanksgiving trip to Rochester, the team feasted on Utica the next night, topping the Comets by a 5-3 final. Despite the loss, Utica trumped Syracuse in shots, dictating the bulk of play with a 40-21 shot differential. Effort aside, the Comets enter Rochester having dropped eight consecutive games, showing an 0-6-1-1 mark over that span.
NOAH’S ARC
Black Friday saw Noah Laaouan cash in on his first AHL goal, scoring to tie the game with Syracuse late in the second period. Laaouan’s goal came in his 20th AHL game, having played 13 with the Amerks this season. The Halifax, Nova Scotia, native has spent the majority of his first four professional seasons in the ECHL, having skated in seven AHL games prior to this season split between Rochester and Tucson.
Laaouan has registered at least a shot on goal in nine of his last 10 games. The 24-year-old has a goal and two assists for three points this season. A year ago with Rochester’s affiliate in Jacksonville, Laaouan led the team’s blueline in scoring with eight goals and 44 points.
DECEMBER BREAKDOWN
It will be a change in pace for the Amerks after playing a dozen games in November. Both last month and January will see Rochester play a season high-12 times, while December and February fare lighter with nine outings each month.
Five of Rochester’s nine tilts in the month will come on home ice and six of the nine overall games are facing North Division opponents. The Amerks hit the road following Wednesday to venture south to Charlotte for two games, then to Belleville next Wednesday before returning home Dec. 13 to drop the puck on a four-game homestand.
Utica visits Rochester both tonight and two weeks from now on Dec. 17. The final games of 2025 come via a home-and-home series for the Amerks against Cleveland Dec. 27 at home and Dec. 29 in the Buckeye State.
ICE TILT
Tonight is meeting three of 10 on the season series and the first of five home games the Amerks will host Utica this season. The Amerks have dominated the Comets over the last four seasons, thwarting Utica with a 27-7-1-1 mark, which includes a 16-2-0-1 record on the road since the start of the 2022-23 season. Rochester has outscored Utica 129-100 over that same span, and after the second period alone, the Amerks have dismantled the Comets by a 58-39 margin.
The Amerks have won 16 of the last 18 games on the road against the Comets, including a pair of wins in the earlier meetings with Utica this season, topping the Comets 7-4 on Oct. 17, while hanging on for a 4-3 win less than two weeks ago on Nov. 22 at Adirondack Bank Center.
Goaltender Devon Levi posted a perfect 5-0-0 in five appearances versus the Comets in 2024-25 while showing a 2.62 goals-against-average and a .908 save percentage. In his career against Utica since joining the Amerks during the 2023-24 slate, the third-year netminder has a 10-0-0 mark, a .921 save percentage and a 2.56 goals-against-average.
UTICAN’T
It’s been back-to-back seasons now of the struggling Comets coming out the starting gates in a position that is difficult to make up ground for.
New Jersey’s AHL affiliate had gone winless through its first 13 games a season ago, and this year the team has just two victories over 17 tries. Comet scoring is at an alarmingly low rate, converting for less than two goals a game on average with 32 in 17 contests. Their goals for are fewest in the league, while their power-play is at the bottom of the Eastern Conference at 12.1%.
Xavier Parent is the only Comet to have double-digit point totals at 10 (5+5). This includes a pair of goals and three points against Rochester this season. Even with the team’s struggles, the fourth-year pro has amassed points in four of his last five games.
Nico Daws has gotten the bulk of the workload in goal, appearing in 11 games this season. Over the last three seasons, Daws’ AHL record is 15-33-6, though the 24-year-old has been rewarded for his efforts sporadically throughout his years in the Devils’ organization, taking the crease for 53 games in the NHL.