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AHL Rochester Americans

Rochester Americans Game Preview: Saturday, April 2 at Cleveland

April 2, 2022 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release


Rochester's power-play has gone 54-for-229 with a 23.6% conversion rate that is currently third-best in the AHL. The Amerks' 54 goals on the man- advantage are most among all North Division teams and are six shy of the AHL lead behind Ontario.

The Amerks have scored at least one power-play goal in 35 of their first 64 games this season and have registered multiple power-play tallies in 13 overall, including a season-high four goals in the 7-3 win over Hershey back on Nov. 26.

The Amerks made only one move during the AHL's trade deadline earlier this week, but it was one that will undoubtedly positively impact the team in its pursuit of clinching a playoff spot for the second time in four years.

Rochester acquired veteran defenseman Mark Alt from the San Jose Barracuda in exchange for forward Mason Jobst.

Prior to Wednesday versus Utica, Alt, 30, appeared in 46 games with the Barracuda this season, tallying eight points on three goals and five assists.

Alt, who earned his first point as an Amerk last night, is a veteran of 453 AHL games with San Jose, Ontario, Colorado, Lehigh Valley/Adirondack and now Rochester, totaling 126 points (33+93) while also appearing in 20 NHL contests with Los Angeles, Colorado and Philadelphia.

Prior to turning pro, the 6-foot-4, 201-pound blueliner played three seasons at the University of Minnesota, where he amassed 39 points (7+32) in 117 career games with the Gophers.

Alt was a second-round selection (53rd overall) of the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2010 NHL Draft.

Rochester boasts a 35-14-4-4 record against Cleveland over the last 10 years dating back to the start of the 2011-12 campaign and has earned at least one point in 13 of the last 20 games.

The Amerks have scored 14 power-play goals in their last 17 games against Cleveland dating back to the start of the 2019-20 season, going 14-for-66 (21.2%) with the man-advantage over that span. Rochester's penalty kill unit has been successful in 58-of-73 shorthanded situations (79.5%).

In the previous 13 games with Cleveland, the winning club has scored at least four goals. In seven of the last eight meetings with the Monsters, the Amerks have tallied at least once in the first 20 minutes of play, which includes six of the first seven games this season.

HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES SNAPSHOT

The Rochester Americans (31-25-5-3) close out their weekend set with another go-round against the Cleveland Monsters (24-27-8-4) tonight at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Game time is slated for a 7:00 p.m. start and will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.

Despite having one win in their last five games, the Amerks have earned points in seven of their last nine and are 4-3-2-1 over their last 10 games.

The Monsters, meanwhile, have won two of their last four entering tonight.

By way of a 6-5 overtime victory over the Cleveland Monsters on March 19, Seth Appert became the sixth straight head coach to reach the 30-win mark in his first full season behind the bench.

Should the Amerks win nine of their remaining 12 games this season, Appert will become the first bench boss to lead his team to 40 wins in his first full season at the helm since Hall of Famer Randy Cunneyworth, who in nine seasons went on to become the winningest coach in franchise history.

Appert is 42-40-11 in 93 career games leading the Amerks dating back to the start of the 2020-21 season.

PETERKA FLOURISHING IN SECOND HALF

Coming off his three-goal outing against Cleveland last night, forward JJ Peterka became the third Amerk this season and just the seventh AHL rookie to reach the 20-goal mark.

After scoring just four times through the first three months of the season, Peterka has notched 35 points (16+19) in 35 games to begin 2022, including goals in back-to-back games on four different occasions over that span.

Peterka, who was taken 34th overall in the 2020 NHL Draft by the Sabres, leads all AHL rookies and is fifth in the AHL with 183 shots on goal. He's only gone two games all season without recording at least one shot on goal.

Peterka made his highly anticipated NHL debut on Dec. 28 as Buffalo hosted New Jersey before visiting the New York Islanders the very next day.

Following his return to the Amerks, he totaled five points on two goals and three assists in two games before being honored as the AHL's Rookie of the Month of the Week for the period ending Jan. 2, 2022.

Peterka has been held scoreless just 12 times since Dec. 19 and hasn't gone more than two games without recording a point during that same span. More impressively, the Amerks are 11-3-0-0 this season when Peterka registers a multi-point game, including 6-0-0-0 on home ice.

With a team-high 55 points (20+35) through 58 games, Peterka is the first Amerks rookie to reach the 50-point mark since Phil Varone had 52 points (11+41) in 76 games during the 2011-12 season. Peterka also leads the team and is ninth in the AHL with 35 assists.

Coming into the weekend, he's one of only five AHL rookies currently leading his respective team in scoring.

HEAD-TO-HEAD BREAKDOWN

After the cancellation of the remainder of the 2019-20 season and a truncated 2020-21 campaign failed to produce a 20-goal scorer for just the fourth time in franchise history, the Amerks could potentially have several by season's end with eight players currently with 10 or more goals.

Michael Mersch and Quinn, who both returned to the lineup on March 18 against Cleveland, both reached the mark in their first game back, despite Quinn appearing in 20 fewer games than Mersch. Peterka joined the group on Friday night while Arttu Ruotsalainen (17), Brett Murray (15) and Linus Weissbach (13) are closing in on the milestone as well.

The Amerks currently own four of the AHL's top scoring rookies in JJ Peterka, Jack Quinn, Brandon Biro and Linus Weissbach, all of whom have combined for 174 points (65+109) through Rochester's first 64 games this season.

Peterka's torrid start to the second half of the year has him tied for first among all rookies in points (55), third in assists (35) and tied for fourth in goals (20).

Quinn, the Buffalo Sabres' eighth overall pick in 2020, is second among all first-year players with a team-high 23 goals and ranks fourth in points (49) despite only appearing in 33 games.

Quinn became the 101st AHL player this season to make his NHL debut when he took the ice against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Jan. 11. He finished with team-highs in shots (3) and shot attempts (6) while earning 16:30 of total ice time. He then returned to the Sabres a day after scoring his 18th goal of the season for Rochester and was rewarded with his first two NHL points, including a goal against Vezina Trophy winner and Stanley Cup champion Braden Holtby in the Sabres' 5-4 loss to the Dallas Stars on Jan 20.

Despite missing the last 15 games due to injury, Biro is still tied for 12th in scoring amongst all rookies with 36 points (9+27) in 40 games.

Weissbach has notched 14 points (4+10) in his last 21 games. He finished the month of February with 11 points (1+10) in 13 contests, including a season- high three-assist effort on Feb. 27 at Toronto to bring the month to a close.

With Peterka already at 55 points and Quinn at 49 points, it marks the first time since the 2006-07 season the club will finish the regular season with multiple rookies with 40 or more points.

FANTASTIC FOUR

Rochester has two of the league's top point-producing defensemen in Ethan Prow (9+31) and Oskari Laaksonen (5+25), who enter the weekend fifth and tied for 17th in scoring amongst all blueliners, respectively.

Prow, who reached the 40-point mark for the second time in his AHL career, is also tied for fourth with 31 assists, which are six more than Laaksonen. His nine goals are tied for eighth-most by a defenseman this season and only three off the league lead. With an assist this past Wednesday against Utica, Prow has recorded 22 points (5+17) over his last 28 games. Additionally, he has totaled 121 points (36+85) over his last 174 AHL contests dating back to the 2018-19 campaign.

Laaksonen, who shows four points (1+3) over his last eight games coming into tonight, also ranks fourth among defensemen with 20 power-play assists, as all but five of his 25 assists this season have come on the man- advantage. Equally as impressive, 25 of his 30 points have come on the power-play.

His best performance of the season came back on Jan. 12 when he recorded a career-high four assists in the 7-6 win over Utica, including three in the first period and three of which came on the power-play. He finished two assists shy of tying the franchise record for most in a single game.

THE BEST OFFENSE IS A GOOD DEFENSE

Of the 16 different defensemen the Amerks have used this season, 15 have notched at least one point while 11 have recorded at least one goal. Additionally, of the 26 different forwards to appear in one game for Rochester, 19 have scored a goal and 22 have produced a point.

Over his last 39 games since the turn of the New Year, Amerks forward Arttu Ruotsalainen has tallied 41 points on 16 goals and 25 assists, a stretch which began with a three-point effort versus Hartford on Jan. 2.

Ruotsalainen has also turned in a multi-point effort in 11 games over that same span, an impressive run highlighted by three consecutive two-goal games for the first time in his AHL career. He's recorded at least one point in 13 of his last 15 outings since Feb. 27.

Wednesday night, Ethan Prow became the fifth different Amerk to reach the 40-point mark, joining Peterka, Quinn, Mersch and Ruotsalainen.

Rochester is the only team in the league this season with five players who have 40 or more points this season. Additionally, the club is only team to have three different rookies with at least 10 goals, 20 assists and 30 points in Peterka, Quinn and Weissbach.

THE ROAD TO BUFFALO LEADS THROUGH ROCHESTER

Players that have appeared in at least one game this season for both Rochester and Buffalo:

FORWARDS (8)

Brandon Biro*

Mark Jankowski

Peyton Krebs

Ryan MacInnis

Brett Murray

JJ Peterka*

Jack Quinn*

Arttu Ruotsalainen

DEFENSEMEN (3)

Casey Fitzgerald*

Ethan Prow*

Mattias Samuelsson

GOALTENDERS (3)

Aaron Dell

Michael Houser

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

* = Made NHL debut

Rochester's 6-5 overtime loss to Bridgeport on Sunday was the 16th game this season - and ninth since Feb. 11 - that went beyond regulation for the Amerks.

The Amerks are 6-5 in overtime but show just a 2-3 mark in shootouts.

Only five more teams have played more overtime games than the Amerks.

Rochester tied an AHL record with 29 overtime games in 2017-18.

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