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AHL Rochester Americans

Rochester Americans Game Preview: Wednesday, February 5, 2020 at Cleveland Monsters

February 5, 2020 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release


TONIGHT'S GAME OVERVIEW

- The Rochester Americans (26-13-2-4) look to push their win streak to a season-long six straight games tonight as they make their way to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse for a North Division showdown against the Cleveland Monsters (21-21-2-2) at 7:00 p.m. The matchup will be the third between the two clubs since the turn of the New Year with each team earning a win. Tonight's game will be carried live on The Sports Leader AM 950/95.7 FM ESPN Rochester as well as AHLTV.

LAST TIME OUT

- The Amerks won their fifth straight contest to remain within six points of first place in the North Division after a hard-fought 3-2 victory over the Binghamton Devils Saturday at Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena.

- Brett Murray (2+0) notched the first multi-goal game of his pro career with two markers in the second period. Sean Malone (1+1) netted the go-ahead goal for the Amerks in the final stanza with both Eric Cornel and Zach Redmond getting the assists on the eventual game-winner. Malone would also add an assist for a two-point night while veteran goaltender Andrew Hammond (12-9-2) made 30 saves on the 32 shots he faced in net to pick up his 12th win of the season.

ROAD AHEAD FOR ROCHESTER

- Following tonight's contest, Rochester returns home to The Blue Cross Arena on Friday, Feb. 7 as they face-off again with the Syracuse Crunch at 7:05 p.m. before concluding the weekend north of the border with a 4:00 p.m. matchup against the Toronto Marlies at the Coca-Cola Coliseum. Both games will be carried live on The Sports Leader AM 950/95.7 FM ESPN Rochester as well as AHLTV.

A FULL FEBRUARY

- The month of February is by far the busiest for the Amerks, who in all, will play a total of 14 games. The highlight of the month is a season-long six-game homestand over a 13-day span that follows a four-game road swing. Of Rochester's 14 games this month, 11 will be played against North Division opponents with the only exceptions being a two-game road set in Charlotte against the defending Calder Cup champion Checkers and one final meeting against Lehigh Valley.

AMERKS STREAKING INTO FEBRUARY

- Beginning with their 3-2 overtime win against Cleveland back on Jan. 22, the Amerks are currently riding a five-game win streak, their longest since winning five straight between Nov. 13 and Nov. 23. In each of the five contests, the Amerks have held the opponent to two goals while outscoring them by a combined score of 18-10. In addition to relying on the goaltending trio of Andrew Hammond, Jonas Johansson and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, the Amerks have had five different game-winning goal-scorers during the same stretch.

TEAM AND LEAGUE LEADERS

- Prior to earning his second recall of the season to the Sabres last Friday, Jean-Sebastien Dea became the first Amerk to reach the 30-point plateau in 41 games and is tied with Andrew Oglevie for the team lead in goals (13). Coming into week, Dea, who is also second among all Amerks forwards with 84 shots on goal, has 12 points (3+9) in his last 16 games dating back to Dec. 20.

SHARING THE CREASE

- Anchored by the goaltending tandem of veteran Andrew Hammond and third-year pro Jonas Johansson, who's currently on recall with the parent Buffalo Sabres, the Amerks own one of the top defenses in AHL having allowed only 118 goals through the first 45 games of the season, the third-fewest in the AHL coming into this week. The duo has also combined for six shutouts and continue to rank among the AHL's goaltending leaders with 12 and 13 wins on the season, respectively.

- Hammond, who is 12-9-2 on the season, continues to rank second among all netminders after notching his fourth shutout of the year back on Dec. 14 in a 5-0 win over Laval, a new career-high. With four shutouts through 25 games this season, he's on pace to tie the franchise record for most shutouts in a season (8) set by Ryan Miller during the 2004-05 campaign.

- Johansson, who made his NHL debut last night just a week after representing Rochester at the 2020 AHL All-Star Classic in Ontario, Calif., owns a career-best 13-3-3 record with two shutouts this season. He had the third-best goal-against average in the league (2.19) and ranked fourth among all netminders with a .925 save percentage in 20 games leading up his NHL promotion. Dating back to Nov. 13, the third-year netminder boasts an impressive 11-1-1 record with two shutouts, a 2.11 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage while allowing just two goals or less in eight starts over that span.

THE BEST OFFENSE IS A GOOD DEFENSE

- Rochester owns three of the AHL's top point-producing defensemen in Zach Redmond, Casey Nelson and Lawrence Pilut, all of whom have been mainstays on Rochester's blueline this season.

- The 2019-20 season is just a different chapter in the same story for the 31-year-old Redmond, who hasn't gone more than five games without a point all season. The two-time AHL All-Star and reigning Eddie Shore Award winner is presently 13th in scoring amongst all defensemen with 27 points and ranks 10th with a team-high 22 assists, nine of which have come on the power-play.

- Pilut has 17 points (5+12) over his last 22 games dating back to Nov. 15, including goals in four of his last eight outings. Having already established a new AHL career-high in goals (6), the former SHL Defenseman of the Year is also on pace to set a new mark in points.

- Nelson is tied for ninth among all blueliners with a team-best plus-18 on-ice rating through 41 games.

SERIES NOTABLES

- Rookie Jacob Bryson is tied for 13th among all first-year players with a plus-9 on-ice rating while being tied for ninth with 15 assists in 44 games.

- Rochester holds a record of 29-7-3-4 over Cleveland since the start of the 2011-12 campaign and has earned a point in all five games so far this season.

- Forward Andrew Oglevie scored his first career hat trick back on Nov. 30 against Cleveland when he single-handedly outscored the Monsters to lead the Amerks to a 3-2 win.

- Amerks assistant coach Toby Petersen spent the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons behind the bench with the Monsters. Petersen helped the team earn its first Calder Cup in 2016.

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