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AHL Rochester Americans

Rochester Americans Game Preview: Saturday, March 26 at Syracuse

March 26, 2022 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release


Rochester's power-play has gone 50-for-216 with a 23.1% conversion rate that is currently fourth-best in the AHL. The Amerks' 50 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 33 of their first 60 games this season and have registered multiple power-play tallies in 11 overall, including a season-high four goals in the 7-3 win over Hershey back on Nov. 26.

Rochester remains in the thick of what is shaping up to be a very tight race to the finish among its fellow North Division opponents. Only 16 games remain for both teams. Rochester has one more win than Syracuse and rank just ahead of the Crunch as they have a .558 points percentage through 60 games this season.

The Amerks presently sit in fourth place in the Division. The top five teams in the North Division are guaranteed to clinch a playoff spot.

Of Rochester's final 16 games this season, 14 will be played against North Division opponents, which includes four more games against the Cleveland Monsters and three opposite the league-leading Utica Comets.

With nine points (3+6) on the strength of three straight three-point efforts in his last four games, Jack Quinn is second among all AHL rookies in goals (21) and tied for fifth in points (44) while his team-high seven power-play goals are also fourth-most among all rookies.

Rochester has the AHL's fifth-best offense. Averaging under four goals per game, the club have scored the third-most goals in the AHL with 201 and rank first in the North Division.

Tonight's matchup is the 10th between the cross-town foes since Jan. 5 and the 12th and final of this season. The Amerks claimed the first two meetings, but the Crunch have responded with points in eight of the next nine (7-1-1- 0), including coming away with a 4-3 overtime win on March 13.

Syracuse's Alex Barre-Boulet leads all players with 13 points (4+9) through the first 11 games of the season series, half of which have come in the last three meetings, including a four-point (3+1) effort earlier this month.

The Amerks have scored a power-play goal in 18 of their last 32 games against Syracuse, going 30-for-110 (27.3%) with the man-advantage over that span. Additionally, Rochester has collected at least one point in 25 of the last 43 games against the Crunch dating back to the 2018-19 campaign.

HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES SNAPSHOT

The Rochester Americans (30-23-4-3) continue their three-in-three weekend as they face-off against the Syracuse Crunch (29-23-6-2) for the final time this season tonight at Upstate Medical University Arena. The intrastate showdown gets underway at 7:00 p.m. and will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.

The Amerks have earned nine out of a possible 10 points in their last five games while matching a season-long point streak in the process. The Crunch have a 7-2-0-1 record in their last 10 games.

After being held scoreless in four games in January, Brett Murray responded with his best offensive showing of the season in February, leading the Amerks with 12 points on seven goals and five assists while appearing in all 13 games during the month.

Murray has scored more than half of his 15 goals since the start of February.

He opened the month with four goals in his first five games, including a season-best three straight games from Feb. 5 to Feb. 9.

He saw his career-long six-game point streak halted on March 12 when he posted nine points (3+6), including a four-point effort at Toronto Feb. 27.

PETERKA FLOURISHING IN SECOND HALF

With a two-goal outing last Friday against Cleveland, forward JJ Peterka became the first Amerk this season and just the third AHL rookie to reach the 50-point mark.

After scoring just four times through the first three months of the season, Peterka has notched 31 points (12+19) in 31 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 the Amerks and is seventh in the AHL with 168 shots on goal. He's only gone two games all season without registering 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 10 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 11-2-0-0 this season when Peterka registers a multi-point game, including 6-0-0-0 on home ice.

With a team-high 51 points (16+36) through 54 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 last Friday from injury, both reached the mark in their first game back, despite Quinn appearing in 20 fewer games than Mersch. Peterka and Murray remain on pace with 16 and 15 goals, respectively, while Arttu Ruotsalainen (14) and Linus Weissbach (12) are right on their heels coming into the weekend.

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 164 points (58+106) through Rochester's first 60 games this season.

Quinn, the Buffalo Sabres' eighth overall pick in 2020, ranks second among all first-year players in goals (21) and is fifth in points (44) despite only appearing in 29 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.

With his assist last Friday in the second period versus Cleveland, Weissbach has notched 13 points (3+10) in his last 17 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.

Peterka's torrid start to the second half of the year has him third among all rookies in points (51), third in assists (35) and tied for 10th in goals (16).

In Rochester's two wins over the Cleveland Monsters last weekend, the line trio of Peterka, Quinn, and Mark Jankowski combined for 13 points on five goals and eight assists. The trio also recorded 14 shots in 124 minutes.

With Peterka already at 51 points and Quinn at 44 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+28) and Oskari Laaksonen (5+25), who enter the weekend fifth and tied for 15th in scoring amongst all blueliners, respectively.

Prow, who reached the 30-point mark for the third straight year in the AHL, is also seventh with 28 assists, which are just three more than Laaksonen.

His nine goals are tied for fifth-most by a defenseman this season and only three of the league lead. With an assist last night against Toronto, Prow has recorded 19 points (5+14) over his last 24 games. Additionally, he has totaled 118 points (36+82) over his last 170 AHL contests dating back to the 2018-19 campaign.

Laaksonen, who boasts 15 points (3+12) in his last 32 games since the turn of the New Year, also ranks third 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 15 different defensemen the Amerks have used this season, 13 have notched at least one point while 10 have recorded at least one goal. Additionally, of the 25 different forwards to appear in one game for Rochester, 19 have scored a goal and 22 have produced a point.

Over his last 35 games since the turn of the New Year, Amerks forward Arttu Ruotsalainen has tallied 36 points on 14 goals and 22 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 10 games over that same span, including four over his recent season-long five-game point streak which was highlighted by three consecutive two-goal games for the first time in his AHL career.

Rochester is one of just four teams to have three different rookies (Quinn, Peterka, Weissbach) reach the 10-goal mark, joining the Charlotte Checkers Springfield Thunderbirds and Toronto Marlies.

The Amerks are one of 11 teams in the AHL to have at least eight different players in double digits in goals, and fourth in the North Division which includes Belleville, Syracuse and Utica.

OTHER AMERKS NOTABLES

MOVIN' ON UP

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 enters tonight as one of only three AHL teams to have scored at least 60 goals in all three periods this season. Additionally, the Amerks have scored the fifth-most first and third-period goals among any other team and have outscored the opposition 60-56 through the opening 20 minutes.

The Amerks have scored four or more goals in all but six of their 30 wins this season, two of which have come on home ice. Additionally, 13 of

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