TACO BELL WRAP-UP: AMERKS COME UP CLUTCH IN CONNECTICUT
Four different Amerks post three-point games over two-win weekend
Nov 17, 2025By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48
The Rochester Americans (10-6-0-0) garnered four out of a possible six points over their three-game week to enter the middle of November tied for first in the North Division standings.
The week began with a 6-4 loss to Belleville at home Wednesday, which saw the Amerks score each of their four goals in the third period as part of a rally cry to claw back in the game after trailing 4-0 going into the frame.
While their efforts weren’t rewarded then, that output carried over onto the road and into the weekend, where Rochester combined for nine goals over two games in Connecticut to take out the Wolf Pack in overtime (4-3), then go ahead late in Bridgeport (5-3), leaving the Islanders lost at sea.
Let’s roll into the key reasons for Rochester getting back to its winning ways.
A QUALITY QUARTET
Over Friday and Saturday, four different Amerks registered three-point performances to help the red, white, and blue secure their wins.
Friday in Hartford, the Amerks trailed 2-0 and 3-1 in the first period to the Wolf Pack. Then in the second period, Trevor Kuntar scored his first of the night. The second-generation Amerk would tip his second goal through on a power-play with under three minutes to play in regulation, sending the contest to overtime where Riley Fiddler-Schultz pulled off the heroics.
Kuntar logged an assist, while Fiddler-Schultz had a pair of helpers for the duo to each amass three points on the night. The occasion marked the first time in each of their AHL careers where Kuntar and Fiddler-Schultz both converted for three points in a game. Over Kuntar’s last five games, the third-year pro has produced eight points (5+3). Fiddler-Schultz’s overtime game-winner was the first of his pro career, having last scored beyond regulation in March 2023 with WHL-Calgary.
On Saturday, Sabres’ prospect Anton Wahlberg flung the puck down the ice into an empty net late in the game to complete his first three-point outing as a pro. The second-year Amerk recorded two assists earlier on the night, both coming on Jagger Joshua’s two first-period power-play goals. Joining Wahlberg with the assist on those tallies was Zach Metsa, who earned another apple on the game-winning goal by Konsta Helenius. Metsa’s three-assist night is the most by an Amerk this season and is his third career three-assist night, with each time coming against teams in the Atlantic Division.
The Amerks’ captain is operating at a point-per-game pace with 11 points (2+9) in as many tilts. With points in Saturday’s game, Metsa is now on a career-best six-game point streak, logging two goals and eight assists over the current stretch.
KEEPING UP WITH THE JONES
Ahead of Saturday’s game in Bridgeport, the Amerks received a welcome reinforcement in the form of defenseman Zac Jones. The 25-year-old had missed the previous four games with the Amerks as the veteran blueliner had been on recall to Buffalo, but did not appear in any games for the Sabres.
Jones had a quiet night in his return to the lineup, but remains atop Rochester’s point leaders with 13 points (all assists), while continuing to pace the AHL’s blueline, tying him with Milwaukee’s Ryan Ufko for the league lead.
Over 120 AHL games, Jones has scored 18 goals and logged 62 assists for 80 points.
POWERING UP
Entering Friday, the Amerks’ man-advantage had been in a bit of a slumber, going 4-for-31 over a six-game stretch. The tide appears to have turned in Connecticut, however, as Rochester went a combined 3-for-7 against the Wolf Pack and Islanders, the latter of which entered Saturday’s game with a top-10 ranked penalty kill.
Kuntar and Joshua are responsible for the team’s conversions on the power-play, which enters the week placed fifth in the AHL at 25.3%. The Amerks lead the Eastern Conference on the power-play and are the only Eastern Conference team in the top-nine man-advantage units in the AHL.
This comes while the Amerks are still without their top three forwards on the power-play in Isak Rosén, Noah Östlund, and Josh Dunne, who have all been up with the Sabres for several weeks.
COMING UP NEXT
A three-game road trip concludes for Rochester Wednesday night in Lehigh Valley where the Phantoms (9-4-1-1) await the Amerks for their first of two meetings on the season.
Following that, the Amerks return to the Flower City for a Friday night rematch with Bridgeport (5-8-1-1) to conclude their season series. The voyage through the Atlantic Division gets put on pause from there, as Rochester will play four straight back inside the North, beginning on the road Saturday against the Utica Comets (2-8-2-1).