Rochester Americans Finding Some Puck Luck

Amerks have won four of their last five games; tough road ahead.

It seems the Rochester Americans have found a little bit of luck lately.

After a little bit of struggle, including a recent three-game losing streak, and some of their supposedly-top players not quite performing to expectations, things have been getting better.

The Rochester Americans have won four of their last five games, and six of their last ten overall.

Heading into this week’s holiday break – which ends on Saturday – the Amerks are on a two-game winning streak.

The team is coming off a 7-1 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack on Friday, followed by a 4-1 win over Albany on Saturday, both at home.

Through 28 games, the Rochester Americans sit at fifth in the AHL’s North Division with a record of 14-12-1-1 and 30 points overall. They’ve certainly struggled this season but seem to have been picking up the pieces a little more lately, going 6-3-0-1 in their last ten meetings.

Conference-wise, the Amerks are ninth. Portland sits ahead of them with 29 points and two games in hand, while Providence sits just below them, two points shy of the Amerks.

The Toronto Marlies lead the conference with a record of 23-5-2-0 and 48 points; they also lead the AHL.

As of December 21st, here are your Rochester Americans leaders:

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Center Jason Akeson leads the Rochester Americans with 19 points in 27 games (0.70 pts/game). He also leads the team with 71 shots on goal.
Center Philip Varone leads the team with nine goals on the season; he’s also put up four assists for a total of 13 points in 25 games. Four of his nine goals have come on special teams: three power-play tallies and one shorthanded marker.
Captain Cal O’Reilly, who was recently recalled by the Buffalo Sabres, leads the Rochester Americans with 14 assists this season. He also has three goals for 17 points total in 23 games, good for second on the team overall.
Colby Robak leads all Rochester Americans defensemen with 11 points (5-6) in 28 games this season.
Nick Baptiste leads all Rochester Americans rookies with 12 points (5-7) in 27 games this season. Jean Dupuy also has 12 points in 28 games, with three goals and nine assists.
Andrey Makarov has gone 6-5-2 this season with the Rochester Americans, with a 2.95 GAA and .911 save percentage. He’s allowed 40 goals on 448 shots faced. Nathan Lieuwen, meanwhile, has a 3.31 GAA and .902 save percentage and is 7-5-0 this season.

The Amerks won just four of nine games in the month of October and were outscored 39-25 by their opponents. November was busier and an improvement, as the Amerks won six of 11 games, including two overtime victories and a shootout win. They were still overall outscored by their opponents, but by a much smaller margin: 31-27.

So far in the month of December, the Amerks are 8-8 and have outscored their opponents 23-17.

Here’s how they’ve stacked up against their respective opponents this season:

vs. Albany Devils: 2 games played, 1-1. Outscored the Devils, 5-3.
vs. Binghamton Senators: 2 games played, 2-0. Outscored the Sens 9-6.
vs. Bridgeport Sound Tigers: 1 game played, 1-0. Outscored the Sound Tigers 3-2 (overtime).
vs. Hartford Wolf Pack: 2 games played, 2-0. Outscored the Pack 10-3.
vs. Hershey Bears: 1 game played, 0-1. Were outscored 3-1.
vs. Lake Erie Monsters: 1 game played, 1-0. Outscored the Monsters 6-3.
vs. Lehigh Valley Phantoms: 1 game played, 0-1. Were outscored 7-1.
vs. Portland Pirates: 1 game played, 1-0. Outscored the Pirates 4-3 (regulation).
vs. Springfield Falcons: 1 game played, 0-1. Were outscored 6-1.
vs. St. John’s IceCaps: 5 games played, 3-2 (including 1 OT win, 1 SO win). Were outscored 17-14.
vs. Syracuse Crunch: 2 games played, 2-0. Outscored the Crunch 8-6 – 1 OT win, 1 SO win.
vs. Toronto Marlies: 3 games played, 0-3. Were outscored 10-1, shutout twice.
vs. Utica Comets: 4 games played, 1-3. Were outscored 14-9.
vs. Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins: 1 game played, 0-1. Were outscored 3-1.

As it seems to be every season recently, the Rochester Americans are having a boatload of trouble dealing with the Toronto Marlies. The teams have faced three times this season, and the Amerks have lost all three – including being shut out twice!

Last season, the Amerks won just two of 10 meetings with the Marlies. They were outscored 31-22 and lost seven in a row against Toronto entering this season.

The Rochester Americans return to action on December 26 as they continue their five-game homestand with a 7:05 puck drop against the Utica Comets. They then return to action the following evening with a 5:05 p.m. gmae against the Hartford Wolf Pack.

Overall, the Rochester Americans face eight meetings with the Binghamton Senators ahead this season. They also meet with Toronto, Utica and Albany four more times each, along with facing Providence, Springfield, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Lehigh Valley, among others.

Next: Borgen Could Make Team USA

For fans interested in checking out the Rochester Americans live in action, why not give the “Holiday Hat Trick Pack” a look? For $59, you get two tickets for the January 8th game against the Hershey Bears (the 60th anniversary celebration game), plus four ticket vouchers good for any Amerks home game the rest of the season and a New Era knit hat.

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