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AHL Rochester Americans

Rochester Americans Game Preview: Tuesday, April 19 vs. Springfield

April 19, 2022 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release


Rochester's power-play has gone 63-for-260 with a 24.2% conversion rate that is currently second-best in the AHL. The Amerks' 63 goals on the man- advantage are most among all North Division teams and are three shy of the AHL lead behind Ontario.

The Amerks have scored at least one power-play goal in 39 of their first 71 games this season and have registered multiple power-play tallies in 16 overall, including a season-high four goals in the 7-3 win over Hershey back on Nov. 26 and in the 6-2 victory against Belleville on April 9.

Rookie forwards JJ Peterka and Jack Quinn continue to find the scoresheet on almost a nightly basis as the duo rank first and second on the team in scoring with 63 and 56 points, respectively.

With 11 points to start the final month of the regular season, which includes three multi-goal efforts, Peterka became the first Amerk this season and the lone AHL rookie to reach the 60-point mark.

Quinn, meanwhile, who has recorded 12 points (4+8) in his last 10 games, became just the second Rochester skater and only the fourth AHL rookie to reach the 50-point plateau.

This season marks the first time in nearly 30 years the Amerks have had multiple rookies record more than 50 points in the same season since 1992-93 when the club had five: Todd Simon (93), Scott Thomas (59), Doug MacDonald (58), Jozef Cierny (54) and Mike McLaughin (54).

Rochester is a perfect 7-0-0-0 this season when both players record multi- point outings in the same contest. The Amerks are 15-1-1-0 when Quinn produces at least two points and show a 13-3-0-0 record when Peterka has more than one point.

Tonight is just the 12th meeting between the Amerks and Thunderbirds over the last five seasons. Rochester has seven wins since the start of the 2016- 17 campaign. The two clubs split the season-series in 2019-20 with each earning a 2-1 victory. The Amerks are 2-0-0-0 in their last two meetings in the Flower City over the last five seasons.

Springfield earned a 5-3 victory back on January 1 in the previous meeting between the two teams. Rochester took a 3-2 lead after the first period but the Thunderbirds responded with three, third-period goals.

Dating back to the start of the 2016-17 slate, there have been five one-goal games, four two-goal games and a pair of seven-plus goal outings over the previous 11 contests between Springfield and Rochester.

HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES SNAPSHOT

The Rochester Americans (35-27-6-3) continue their push to the playoffs tonight as they welcome the Springfield Thunderbirds (39-23-6-2) for the only time this season at The Blue Cross Arena. Game time is slated for a 7:05 p.m. start and will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.

With five wins in their last nine games, the Amerks have earned points in 12 of their last 16 games. The Thunderbirds make their only trip to Rochester this season winners in their last two games and have points in three of four.

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 each of their remaining five 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 46-42-12 in 100 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 to kick-off the month of April, 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 43 points (20+23) in 42 games to begin 2022, including goals in back-to-back games on five 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 205 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 16 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 13-3-0-0 this season when Peterka registers a multi-point game, including 6-0-0-0 on home ice.

With a team-high 63 points (24+39) through 65 games, Peterka is the first Amerks rookie to reach the 60-point mark since Thomas Vanek had 68 points (42+26) in 74 games during the 2004-05 season. Peterka also leads the team and is ninth in the AHL with 39 assists.

Coming into the week, 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 11 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 April 1 against Cleveland while Arttu Ruotsalainen (18), Sean Malone (17), Brett Murray (15) are all closing in on the milestone as well.

Last home game on a Tuesday: Tonight's game is the first at home on a Tuesday for Rochester in over a decade since Oct. 23, 2012 when the Amerks claimed a 3-1 win over the Hamilton Bulldogs.

Last home win on a Tuesday: The same 3-1 victory over Hamilton was also the team's last Tuesday night win on home ice.

Last overall win on a Tuesday: The Amerks have not won on a Tuesday since picking up a 5-1 victory in Quicken Loans Arena back on Feb. 24, 2015. In the five previous Tuesday games since then, Rochester has gone 0-5-0-0.

TUESDAY TID-BITS

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 194 points (74+120) through Rochester's first 71 games this season.

Peterka's torrid start to the second half of the year has him leading all rookies in points (63), second in assists (39) and third in goals (24) in 65 games this season.

Quinn, the Buffalo Sabres' eighth overall pick in 2020, is second among all first-year players with 25 goals and ranks third in points (56) despite only appearing in 40 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 three points (1+2) in three games since in his return to the lineup last Wednesday, Biro is tied for 14th in scoring amongst all rookies with 39 points (10+29) in 43 games.

Weissbach has notched 16 points (6+10) in his last 28 games. He finished 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 and Quinn are the first pair of Amerks rookies taken from the same Draft class (2020) to record 50 or more points in the same season since Scott Thomas and Doug MacDonald (1989) did so in 1992-93.

FANTASTIC FOUR

Rochester has two of the league's top point-producing defensemen in Ethan Prow (10+34) and Oskari Laaksonen (5+28), who enter the week third and tied for 20th in scoring amongst all blueliners, respectively.

Prow, who reached the 40-point mark for the second time in his AHL career, is also fourth with 34 assists, which are six more than Laaksonen. His 10 goals are tied for sixth-most by a defenseman this season and only two off the league lead. With his second-period assist Saturday versus Hartford, Prow has recorded 26 points (6+20) over his last 35 games. Additionally, he has totaled 125 points (37+88) over his last 180 AHL contests dating back to the 2018-19 campaign.

Laaksonen, who shows seven points (1+6) over his last 15 games coming into tonight, ranks fourth among defensemen with 22 power-play assists, as all but six of his 28 assists this season have come on the man-advantage.

Equally as impressive, 26 of his 33 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 46 games since the turn of the New Year, Amerks forward Arttu Ruotsalainen has tallied 48 points on 18 goals and 30 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 13 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 18 of his last 22 outings since Feb. 27.

He was named the AHL's Player of the Month for March has scored 10 goals and added 16 assists for 26 points in 21 games since the start of March.

Rochester is only team AHL this season with four players who have 50 or more points. Additionally, the Amerks are the only team to have four different rookies with at least 10 goals, 20 assists and 30 points in Biro, Peterka, Quinn and Weissbach.

OTHER AMERKS NOTABLES

The 4-3 overtime win last Wednesday against Laval was Rochester's 18th game this season -- and 11th since Feb. 11 -- that went beyond regulation for the Amerks.

The Amerks are 7-6 in overtime but show just a 2-3 mark in shootouts.

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

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

WORKING OVERTIME

After an injury-riddled season has limited him to just 34 games, Sean Malone has certainly made up for lost time in the back half of the season with the Amerks.

In just the short amount of time he's been in the lineup, Malone has already shattered his offensive total from the 2019-20 season with Rochester. The fifth-year forward has recorded 17 goals and 34 points, both career-highs, while his 17 assists are just one away from equaling his best.

More impressively, he surpassed the 30-point mark in 30 fewer games from 2019-20 and remains on pace to score 20 goals for the first time in his pro career.

He entered last Friday riding a career-long 11-game point streak dating back to Dec. 18 -- the longest of any Amerk this season -- totaling nine goals and five assists for 14 points over that span. Malone is the first Amerk to produce a point in 11 straight games since Milan Bartovic tallied an 11-game point streak (10+5) from Dec. 27 to Feb. 6 during the 2003-04 campaign.

Back on April 9 versus Belleville, Malone appeared in his 200th game as an Amerk and needs just one more point to reach the century mark in the red, white and blue. He is the 59th forward in team history to skate in 200 or more games in his career. In 203 games, the Malone has registered 45 goals and 54 assists for 99 points since the start of the 2017-18 season.

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