AHL Rochester Americans

Rochester Americans Game Preview: Wednesday, March 30 vs. Utica

March 30, 2022 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release


Rochester's power-play has gone 52-for-222 with a 23.4% conversion rate that is currently fourth-best in the AHL. The Amerks' 52 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 34 of their first 62 games this season and have registered multiple power-play tallies in 12 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.

Alt, 30, appeared in 46 games with the Barracuda this season, recording eight points on three goals and five assists.

A native of St. Paul, Minn., Alt is a veteran of 451 American Hockey League games with San Jose, Ontario, Colorado, Lehigh Valley/Adirondack, totaling 125 points (33+92) 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.

The intrastate rivals have alternated wins through the first nine games of the season series, but Utica has a slight advantage with a 5-3-1-0 record coming into tonight. After Utica claimed the first three, Rochester responded with four wins over the last six games since, including a 3-2 win on Mar. 12.

The Amerks were the first team to hand the Comets their first regulation loss of the season after starting with an AHL-best and franchise record 13- game win streak to begin the campaign.

Dating back to the start of the 2016-17 campaign, Rochester has collected at least one point in 34 of the last 54 games against Utica, going 27-20-3-4 over that span. The Amerks also boast an 11-10-1-2 record in their last 24 matchups against the Comets in Rochester over the last five years.

HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES SNAPSHOT

The Rochester Americans (30-24-5-3) bring the month of March to a close tonight when they host the league-leading Utica Comets (38-14-6-1) for an intrastate showdown at The Blue Cross Arena. The North Division matchup gets underway at 7:05 p.m. and will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.

Despite having gone winless in their last three games, the Amerks have earned points in six of their last seven, going 3-1-2-1 over that span. The Comets are 7-3-0-0 in their last 10 road contests entering tonight.

By way of a 6-5 overtime victory over the Cleveland Monsters on March 19, which pushed the team's point streak to four games, 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 10 of their remaining 14 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 boasts a 41-39-11 coaching record in 91 career games with Rochester.

PETERKA FLOURISHING IN SECOND HALF

Coming off his two-goal outing against Cleveland on March 18, 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 32 points (13+19) in 33 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 tied for sixth in the AHL with 174 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 11 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 52 points (17+36) through 56 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 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 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 and Arttu Ruotsalainen remain on pace with 17 and 16 goals, respectively, while Brett Murray (15) 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 167 points (61+106) through Rochester's first 62 games this season.

Peterka's torrid start to the second half of the year has him third among all rookies in points (52), third in assists (35) and tied for 10th in goals (17).

Quinn, the Buffalo Sabres' eighth overall pick in 2020, is tied for second among all first-year players with a team-high 22 goals and ranks fifth in points (45) despite only appearing in 31 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 13 games due to injury, Biro is still tied for 12th in scoring amongst all rookies with 36 points (9+27) in 40 games.

With a third-period goal this past Sunday versus Bridgeport, Weissbach has notched 14 points (4+10) in his last 19 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 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+30) and Oskari Laaksonen (5+25), who enter the week 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 fifth with 30 assists, which are just five more than Laaksonen. His nine goals are tied for sixth-most by a defenseman this season and only three off the league lead. With an assist this past Sunday against Bridgeport, Prow has recorded 21 points (5+16) over his last 26 games. Additionally, he has totaled 120 points (36+84) over his last 172 AHL contests dating back to the 2018-19 campaign.

Laaksonen, who shows four points (1+3) over his last six games coming into tonight, also ranks second 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, 14 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 37 games since the turn of the New Year, Amerks forward Arttu Ruotsalainen has tallied 40 points on 16 goals and 24 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 12 of his last 13 outings since Feb. 27.

Sunday afternoon, Ruotsalainen became the fourth different Amerk to reach the 40-point mark, joining Peterka, Quinn and Mersch. It is the first time in his North American career he has reached the mark and third time as a pro.

Rochester is only team in the AHL this season to have three different rookies with at least 10 goals, 20 assists and 30 points in Peterka (17+35=52), Quinn (22+23=45) and Weissbach (13+21=34).

OTHER AMERKS NOTABLES

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.

WORKING OVERTIME

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.

Check out the Rochester Americans Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from March 30, 2022


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