Rochester Americans Struggling to Find Wins
It only takes one word to describe the Rochester Americans as of late: struggling.
The Amerks are on a four-game losing streak entering Friday night’s matchup with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers; they sit 6th in the North Division with 13 points and a 6-8-1-0 record on the season.
In the Eastern Conference, the Rochester Americans are 13th, ahead of Providence and Binghamton — with having played one more game than both of those teams. Overall, the Amerks are 4-5-1-0 in their last ten games.
As has been true for the past few seasons, center Philip Varone leads the Rochester Americans in points (10). His six goals are also most on the team, doubling Jason Akeson and Jack Nevins’ individual tallies. Two of Varone’s six goals have come on the power play, and he’s averaged 0.67 points per game.
Right winger Jason Akeson has also been producing for the Amerks, with eight points (3-5) in 15 games. He leads the team with 40 shots on goal on the season to date.
Rookie left winger Jean Dupuy is third in scoring overall on the team and leads the Rochester Americans with six assists. He also leads the team wtih a plus-6 rating, a tally that left winger William Carrier has also matched.
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Rochester Americans captain Cal O’Reilly has six points in his first 15 games with the team.
Those are some of the positives.
But eighteen of the 26 skaters who have played for the Rochester Americans this season have a minus-rating, including Akeson and defenseman Colby Robak‘s minus-12 rating. Varone is minus-11, while O’Reilly is a minus-10.
Only five players – two of whom are no longer on the Rochester Americans roster, both sent to the ECHL’s Elmira Jackals – have a positive rating this season.
The Amerks are, of course, missing a few other players as well. Linus Ullmark remains up with the Buffalo Sabres, as does Tim Schaller. Jake McCabe played one AHL game this season but likely will be up in the NHL the rest of the year. Jerry D’Amigo just returned from injury; Brady Austin has missed the last three games with a lower-body injury.
While his 10 points are enough to lead the team this year, Varone is a bit behind where he was last year at this point. Through 15 games in the 2014-2015 season, Varone had registered 17 points (five goals, 12 assists).
Another factor that the Amerks are dealing with this season is a good amount of turnover from last year’s roster.
Nine of the 26 skaters who have played at least one game for the Rochester Americans this season weren’t with the team last season. Newcomers include Akeson, Dupuy, O’Reilly, Justin Bailey, Nick Baptiste, Colby Robak, Bobby Sanguinetti, Matt Donovan and Evan Rodrigues.
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The Rochester Americans prepare to face Bridgeport and Toronto this weekend in what could be two challenging matches for the team.
Bridgeport is third in the Eastern Conference, with a record of 12-4-0-0 and 24 ponts. They’re on a four-game winning streak and 7-3 in their last ten overall. The Marlies sit just ahead of them, with a record of 12-3-1 and 25 points. They’re on a streak of 7-0-1-0, going 8-1-1-0 in their last ten.
If the Rochester Americans can battle hard, they could pull out points against two fiercely competitive teams that have done extremely well as of late. If they fall flat, they could easily drop to a six-game winning streak.