TACO BELL WRAP-UP: DON STEVENS’ LEGENDARY WEEK ENDS WITH OT THRILLER
Rochester enters last two weeks of regular season with magic number trimmed to eight
Apr 5, 2026By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48
The Rochester Americans (29-27-5-4) closed out their final homestand of the 2025-26 season in dramatic fashion Saturday night.
After 5-3 and 5-2 losses to Charlotte and Belleville, respectively, the uphill battle looked to only get steeper as the AHL-leading Providence Bruins entered town, but the hometown crowd and honoring of a legend saw Rochester pull out all the stops for a 2-1 overtime thriller to get back in the win column.
A WEEK FOR STEVENS
While Don Stevens Appreciation Night took place Saturday, the Amerks Hall of Fame voice was celebrated throughout the week.
Stevens, the longest tenured broadcaster in the 90-year history of the AHL, was first honored by the Amerks’ parent club in Buffalo Tuesday night. The evening featured an acknowledgement on the videoboard, the presentation of a framed jersey, members of Stevens’ family in attendance, and an opportunity for the icon to lend his voice to the Sabres broadcast during the second period, providing play-by-play at the start of the frame. Stevens even served as the soundtrack for Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s penalty shot save on New York Islanders, Anders Lee.
The week concluded in front of nearly 8,000 fans at Blue Cross Arena, who gave a lengthy standing ovation to their voice of the last four decades, rendering Stevens speechless for moments before addressing the crowd at ice level. Several gifts were awarded to Stevens, both from a team and league level, but perhaps the most surprising element of the evening came when Hockey Hall of Fame curator Phil Pritchard appeared on the videoboard above the ice, announcing that Stevens would have one of his bobbleheads become the latest artifact to make its way into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Ontario.
Following Rochester’s victory against Providence, Stevens was announced to the crowd as the game’s first star, then proceeded downstairs into the Amerks locker room where forward Brendan Warren awarded the legend with the game puck in front of an appreciative dressing room.
BEAT THE BEST
Despite Providence on pace to rival the best points-percentage finish in league history, the Amerks rose to the challenge Saturday, capping the game off with a 2-1 overtime win thanks to the goal from Matteo Costantini. The game-winner is the first of the young rookie’s career, with Costantini scoring his fifth goal after finishing the month of March with points in four of the last five games. Anton Wahlberg converted early in the night, giving him goals in back-to-back games.
Prior to Saturday, Providence had won 15 of the last 22 meetings against Rochester. It marks the third straight season the Amerks have secured a win beyond regulation against the Bruins. During the 2023-24 campaign, Michael Mersch scored the three-on-three winner on the road to record his 400th professional point. Last March, it would be Jack Rathbone getting things done in a shootout.
Providence entered the night with a league best-51 wins and had gone 9-1 in overtime before the Amerks pulled off the upset.
KONSTANTLY MAKING HISTORY
Konsta Helenius continues to torment the opposition with his play.
The Sabres’ first-round pick from 2024 is on a seven-game point streak (4+8) and after recording an assist Saturday, the Finnish superstar pulled into a tie with defenseman Zac Jones for the team lead in points. But it was a goal on Wednesday that may be the most memorable.
While facing Charlotte, Helenius scored his 19th goal of the season during the second period. That resulted in the 19-year-old recording his 55th point, thus becoming the single-season record holder for most points by a teenager in Amerks franchise history.
Prior to Helenius, Jozef Cierny recorded 54 points (27+27) in his rookie year with the club in 1992-93. Helenius is also second in the AHL for points by a teenager this season, trailing Hershey’s Ilya Protas (62), though Konsta ranks first among all under-20’s in points-per-game at 1.02.
COMING UP NEXT
After four games on home ice over a seven-day span, the Amerks will travel away from the Flower City for a grueling four games over six days in four different markets.
Each visit marks the final time in the regular season that the red, white, and blue travel to said cities, starting Monday evening in Cleveland against a Monsters team that has punched their ticket to the playoffs, but are hoping to secure the three-seed they currently occupy. Doing so would allow Cleveland to avoid the best-of-three play-in round and advance automatically to the North Division Semifinals.
If playoffs started today, they would meet second-place Syracuse, whom the Amerks travel to for a Wednesday night matchup. After that, the club heads toward the New England area for a game against the equally playoff-hopeful Springfield Thunderbirds before concluding the week in Providence for a rematch with the Bruins.