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Rochester Americans Game Preview: Saturday, January 21 at Hartford

January 21, 2023 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release


The Amerks boasted a 3-0-1-0 record in the four games last season, which included a perfect 2-0-0-0 mark on home ice.

In six of the last 10 meetings, the visiting team has come away with the victory. Additionally, six of the previous eight tilts have been one-goal games Dating back to the 2017-18 campaign, Rochester has earned wins in six of the last nine contests against Hartford while also recording at least one point in 11 of the previous 13 exchanges, going 8-2-1-2 over that span.

Both teams have at least nine wins this season when leading after the second period with Rochester showing a 13-3-1-o record in that regard.

HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES SNAPSHOT AGAINST WOLF PACK

The Rochester Americans (19-13-2-1) close out their New England trek while also looking to halt a three-game skid tonight against the Hartford Wolf Pack (14-14-3-6) at 6:00 p.m. All of the action from XL Center will be carried on 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.

Tonight's matchup is the first of two meetings between the two teams this season and the only contest in Hartford's XL Center. After tonight's contest, the two teams remain idle until March 10 when the Amerks welcome the Wolf Pack to The Blue Cross Arena for the only time this season. Rochester boasted a 3-0-1-0 mark in 2021-22 versus Hartford.

SUBBAN SURGING INTO THE NEW YEAR

After suffering a defeat in his season-debut on Nov. 18, Subban has gone 9-3-1 since, including seven straight wins between Dec. 10 to Jan. 14. The seven-game win streak was the longest of his pro career and the third- longest streak among all AHL goaltenders behind Toronto's Joseph Woll and Calgary's Dustin Wolf.

He was the first Amerks goaltender to post seven straight wins since Jonas Johansson won nine consecutive contests during the 2019-20 campaign.

Subban had arguably his best performance of the season during a 75-save weekend in Rochester's two-game sweep over the Charlotte Checkers in mid-December. A night after stopping a regular-season career-high 45 saves, Subban was flawless in a 30-save shutout on Dec. 17, his first in the AHL since April 8, 2017, with the Providence Bruins.

Subban, who picked up his 100th career win in the 5-4 overtime victory over Utica on Dec. 28, has topped the 40-save mark three times in his last nine starts and is currently tied for 20th amongst all netminders with nine wins.

LAST TIME OUT

A goaltending duel between Malcolm Subban and Corey Schneider carried over into overtime, where the Amerks ultimately came up short in a 1-0 loss to the Bridgeport Islanders Friday at Total Mortgage Arena.

All but two Amerks registered at least one shot led by defenseman Jeremy Davies, who had a team-high six shots and came within one of matching a career-high. Forwards Lukas Rousek and Anders Bjork, who entered the matchup riding a five-game point streak, both had four shots each.

Subban made his fifth straight start and 10th appearance over the last 13 games. The netminder, who is 9-3-1 over his last 13 games, made 26 saves.

WELL-BALANCED OFFENSE

With six goals in his last 14 games, Lukas Rousek enters the weekend third on the team with 25 points (10+15) while being one of three Amerks to appear in all 35 games. He accounted for half of his nine goals in December and recently saw a career-best six-game point streak (3+4) come to an end on Jan. 7.

With 15 points (7+8) over his last 20 games, including seven in the last nine games (3+4), Linus Weissbach is three points back from the team-lead with 26 points (13+13) through 34 games. He remains on pace to match his career-high of 16 goals from last season and has already established a new personal-best of four game-winning goals.

Brett Murray, one of four Amerks with at least 24 points on the season, is also on pace to surpass the career-high 15 goals he scored in 2021-22 after recording his then team-leading 13th of the season on Jan. 7 against Syracuse, which also served as his 100th career point as an Amerk. The fourth-year pro comes into tonight with 10 points (5+5) in his last 14 games and eight goals over his last 19 dating back to a two-goal effort against Providence on Nov. 23.

Michael Mersch has been the team's most consistent point-getter as of late with 12 points (6+6) over his last 10 games, vaulting the Amerks captain to fifth on the team in scoring. With the exception of the abbreviated 2020- 21 season, Mersch has reached the 20-point mark in all eight full seasons of his professional career. Last Saturday's three-assist game versus Toronto marked his second of his career and first since March 8, 2015.

PROWESS ON THE BLUELINE

Entering Wednesday's game with Laval, Ethan Prow was the only Amerks defenseman to appear in all 33 games this season. Overall, he has skated in 104 of the 111 games dating back to the start of the 2021-22 campaign.

By being held without a point for just the second time since Christmas, Prow saw his four-game point streak (2+3) halted. The seventh-year veteran has posted seven points (2+5) in his last nine outings dating back to Dec. 28.

Through 34 games this season, Prow is tied for 23rd in scoring amongst all AHL defensemen. His 15 assists are 24th in the league. He is five assists away from notching his fourth consecutive season with 20 or more assists and needs one more point to reach the 20-point mark for the fifth straight year dating back to the 2018-19 campaign.

SERIES NOTABLES

So far this season, the Amerks have used 13 different defensemen, which is third-most in the AHL. Twelve of the 13 have recorded at least one point while seven have scored.

Hartford forward C.J. Smith began his AHL career with Rochester as he appeared in 184 games from 2017-21. Smith produced 61 goals and 81 assists for 142 points while also appearing in 14 games with Buffalo. He recorded his first NHL goal on Feb 5, 2019, becoming the first Iowan to score in the NHL. Smith, who was an AHL All-Star in 2017-18, won the Calder Cup last spring with the Chicago Wolves.

Entering tonight's contest, two of Hartford's top four scorers are rookies Will Cuylle and Bobby Trivigno as they have appeared in 37 and 32 games, respectively. Cuylle, a New York Ranger's second-round selection (60th overall) in 2020, leads all Wolf Pack skaters with 12 goals while Trivigno is tied for fourth in assists (9).

Both teams enter tonight having scored 40 or more goals in the third period this season (Rochester-40) (Hartford-41).

BIRO PILING UP THE POINTS

Despite missing six games due to injury, Biro has blazed his way atop the team's scoring lead following a productive December in which he led the team with 16 points (6+10) in 10 games. He recorded multi-point efforts in seven of his 10 appearances, including six straight between Dec. 9 and Dec. 30 before closing out the month with an assist in the 3-2 win in Toronto.

Named to the roster for the 2023 AHL All-Star Classic, Biro currently paces the Amerks in assists (20) and points (29) through 29 games and his recent seven-game point streak to close out the 2022 calendar year was the longest of his career.

Dating back to last season, Biro has totaled 70 points on 21 goals and 49 assists over his last 77 games and hasn't gone more than four games without a point since Nov. 27, 2021. Since the start of the 2022 calendar year, Biro has posted 19 multi-point outings in 57 games, totaling 58 points.

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