TACO BELL WRAP-UP: AMERKS ON HOLIDAY HIGH NOTE
Rosén’s overtime winner sends Amerks into week-long break with 15 wins
Dec 22, 2025By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48
The Rochester Americans (15-10-2-1) split a two-game week at home that was capped off with a 3-2 come-from-behind overtime win over the Belleville Senators.
After a 3-2 loss to Utica Wednesday, the Amerks got the response they were looking for ahead of their week-long holiday break with the win over the Sens as they enter the tail end of December third in the North Division.
Here are some takeaways from games two and three of Rochester’s homestand.
ROSÉN RISING
It was another week of success for forward Isak Rosén, who scored three goals over two games to extend his team lead with 12 goals on the season, including the overtime game-winner Friday on a wraparound against Belleville’s Hunter Shepard to ensure the Amerks could pick up points for the seventh time in eight games.
The 22-year-old prospect has produced points in a career-best 11 straight AHL games, accumulating nine goals and 16 points. In his 15 games as an Amerk this season, Rosén has amassed 12 goals and 22 points. His 1.47 points-per-game is third in the AHL and Rosén is third in team scoring despite playing nine fewer games than leading scorer Zac Jones and 12 fewer than Konsta Helenius, who leads all Amerks forwards in scoring.
Since the start of the 2024-25 season, the Amerks have gone 28-2-1-0 in games where Rosén scores. In multi-point affairs as an Amerk, the team has gone 42-1-2-0 when Rosén has an output of two or more points.
Z LEADS D
Jones continues to forge ahead as the AHL’s points leader amongst all defensemen with 28 points (2+26) through 24 games. Jones, 25, posted four points over this past week with a goal and three helpers to extend his point streak to five games. Additionally, the Glen Allen, Virginia, native has posted points in 19 of his 24 games played.
The bulk of Jones’ production has come on the power-play, with the veteran blueliner logging 19 of his points by way of power-play assists. Jones is on pace to shatter any of his three prior AHL seasons. His best campaign came in the 2021-22 campaign with Hartford, where Jones collected 35 points (9+26) over 52 games.
The Amerks’ defenseman was a third-round pick out of the New York Rangers’ organization in 2019.
LEO HITS TRIPLE DIGITS
Amerks head coach Michael Leone had more than just the team’s overtime win on Friday to celebrate. The 37-year-old, who is the second-youngest active head coach in the AHL, was credited for his 100th game behind the bench.
Over his time as the 34th head coach in the 70-year history of the franchise, Leone has guided the club to a 57-32-11 mark while also helping Rochester reach the North Division Finals. Since the start of the 2024-25 campaign, Leone’s Amerks are tied for second in the AHL with 329 goals scored, including 81 tallies on the man-advantage, which are most in the Eastern Conference, while the club’s 16 shorthanded markers rank third in the AHL during that same span.
COMING UP NEXT
After Friday, the Amerks are idle until Saturday, Dec. 27 for the conclusion of their four-game homestand as the Cleveland monsters enter town for the front half of a home-and-home series.
Saturday’s contest will be meeting three of eight in the season series between the two North Division adversaries, with the home team dropping the previous two encounters.