TACO BELL WRAP-UP: AMERKS EARN MAGICAL POINT TO BE PLAYOFF BOUND
Rochester earns point in final game of regular season to clinch postseason berth
Apr 20, 2026By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48
The Rochester Americans (31-31-6-4) may not have won a game in their final week of the season, but they did force overtime Sunday evening against the Hershey Bears, earning the final point they needed to punch their ticket to the Calder Cup Playoffs for a fifth straight season.
Rochester barely missed earning a point Friday against the Monsters, then had a forgetful game in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Saturday before going on to play one of their best games of the season to eke out the only point they needed in a 5-4 overtime loss to Hershey in the regular season finale.
Here’s a look back on the final week of the 70th-anniversary season.
BRUISED, BATTERED, AND BANDAGED
Against all odds, the Amerks saw the much-needed return of defensemen Jack Rathbone and Zac Jones, along with forward Riley Fiddler-Schultz to the lineup despite the trio dealing with a swarm of injuries.
Rathbone and Fiddler-Schultz were originally projected to miss the remainder of the regular season, but the veteran defenseman appeared in all three of Rochester’s games over the weekend, while Fiddler-Schultz winced his way through Sunday’s finale. The duo both provided an assist in Sunday’s game where Rochester forced overtime to qualify for playoffs.
Earlier in the week, head coach Mike Leone stated that Jones would miss the entire weekend due to injury, yet Rochester’s Most Valuable Player rose to the occasion to dress for Sunday, providing a pair of assists to end his historical first season as an Amerk with 62 points (10+52).
Jones becomes just the second defenseman ever in league history to lead the AHL in assists following Craig Levie in 1980-81 while also finishing as the top scoring blueliner.
LEVI’S BIGGEST WIN YET
Sunday may not have been a playoff game, but it was as close to an elimination game as you could play during the regular season.
Devon Levi had been there twice before, coming up short in Game 5 of both the 2024 North Division Semifinals and 2025 North Division Finals. This time, the 24-year-old was ready.
Levi made 26 saves in Hershey on Sunday, including a pair of partial breakaway stops in the second period on Ivan Miroshnychenko and Grant Cruikshank to keep Hershey from ever having more than a one-goal lead.
While he did not come up with the win, Levi made enough saves to get the Amerks through 60 minutes. He ends his season with a 23-20-9 record through 52 starts, the most by any goaltender this season. The third-year pro has helped Rochester earn points in each of his two career games played at Hershey.
MEYER’S MEMORABLE MOMENT
Carson Meyer has played 256 AHL games, but none in the Calder Cup Playoffs. His goal in the third period Sunday will change that.
Down 4-3 with under 10 minutes to play, Meyer skated to the top of the zone to fire a wrist shot that went five-hole past Bears’ goaltender Clay Stevenson on the power-play to even the score, ultimately sending the Amerks to overtime and subsequently, the Calder Cup Playoffs.
The sixth-year pro began the season recovering from the previous year’s season-ending injury. Not making his debut until November, the Powell, Ohio, native posted 14 goals and 31 points through 55 games in his first season with the red, white, and blue.
Since debuting in the COVID-shortened season, the 28-year-old has amassed 79 goals and 162 points.
COMING UP NEXT
The Amerks will face the Toronto Marlies in the best-of-three opening round as the team begins the quest of ending a 30-year drought and returning the Calder Cup to the Flower City. The Amerks last faced Toronto in postseason play during the 2023 North Division Finals, sweeping the division champions enroute to their trip to the Eastern Conference Finals.
The series will begin at Coca-Cola Coliseum Wednesday night, before the Amerks then host Toronto for Game 2 Friday at Blue Cross Arena. Should the two sides split the first pair of games, a winner-take-all Game 3 would take place Sunday, Apr. 26 back in Toronto.
The winner of this series will face the Laval Rocket in the North Division Semifinals.