TACO BELL WRAP-UP: AMERKS SPLIT WEEKEND FACING INTRASTATE ADVERSARIES
Rochester wraps up road trip with 2-1-0 mark
Oct 20, 2025By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48
The Rochester Americans (2-2-0-0) concluded their first road trip of the 2025-26 season by splitting a pair of games in the Empire State against Utica and Syracuse.
After rallying in dominant fashion to grab a 7-4 win over the Comets, the Amerks’ offense was left in Utica as they ended up on the wrong side of a 3-0 final Saturday in Syracuse.
As we inch towards Halloween, it’s safe to say the Amerks had a mixed bag of tricks and treats over their second weekend of the season.
HIGH FIVE
How Friday’s first period against the Utica Comets started was a far cry from how things finished up. After surrendering the game’s first two goals six minutes in, the Amerks roared back with five goals in the first period alone, marking the first time in nearly eight years that a Rochester team has put five in the back of the net through 20 minutes.
The rally, beginning with a poke check goal from Vsevolod Komarov, sparked a stretch of seven unanswered from the visiting Amerks, with seven different skaters scoring. The night ended with Isak Rosén earning first star honors with a three-point performance (1+2). With three goals and six points, Rosén leads the North Division in scoring to start the season.
The previous time Rochester netted five first-period goals was Nov. 24, 2017, when the team scored half of their goals through the opening frame on their way to a 10-3 win over the Binghamton Devils. Friday’s outburst was the third time in the last five years the Amerks had scored at least four goals in the first on Utica, previously doing so April 22, 2021, and again on Jan. 12th, 2022.
CURIOUS GEORG(IEV)
Veteran goaltender Alexandar Georgiev made his Rochester Americans debut in the crease Friday against Syracuse.
The 29-year-old had cleared waivers from Buffalo and played in his first AHL game since Jan. 26, 2019. The AHL’s only Bulgarian-born player made 31 saves against Syracuse in the team’s 3-0 loss. Despite the loss, Georgiev stood out, specifically in the first period when turning aside 20 shots and also helping the Amerks to their first perfect night of penalty killing on the road this season, with the team going 3-for-3 while down a man.
Georgiev, entering his ninth professional season, has churned out 151 wins in the NHL, playing mostly for the New York Rangers and Colorado Avalanche. In 2024, Georgiev represented Colorado at the NHL All-Star Game and appeared in 11 Stanley Cup Playoff games later that year.
THE LIFE OF RYAN
After starting the season in Buffalo, defenseman Ryan Johnson was reassigned to the Amerks ahead of the team’s in-state road trip. The Newport Beach, California, native posted two assists in the team’s win against the Comets, while going plus-1 for the weekend.
Johnson, 24, signed a three-year contract with Buffalo in July and played his first three games of the season for the blue and gold.
Over parts of three seasons with the Amerks, the slick-skating defenseman has notched two goals and 24 points over 95 games. Johnson was paired with Jack Rathbone, the same defense partner he had through the bulk of last season. The duo combined to go plus-22 with 36 points (8+28).
COMING UP NEXT
The Amerks are back home to begin their first three-game week of the season with action on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.
Rochester will spend four of the next five weeks facing three opponents in a single week. The front two of this trio take place at Blue Cross Arena, with the undefeated Syracuse Crunch (4-0-0-0) skating into the Flower City Wednesday, followed by a meeting with the Laval Rocket (3-1-0-0) Friday in what will be Rochester’s first encounter with the Montreal Canadiens’ AHL affiliate since game five of the North Division Finals in May.
The week concludes in Cleveland, where the Amerks try to fend off the Monsters to kickstart a four-game road trip taking the team through the rest of October.