Rochester Americans Season In Review: 2015-2016

The Rochester Americans season officially ended with the final whistle on Sunday, April 17, as the team dropped its third straight game in a 4-2 loss to the Toronto Marlies.

The Amerks failed to make the American Hockey League playoffs, so with their season now done and other teams continuing on in hopes of getting the Calder Cup, it’s time to review how this season went.

Throughout the season, many players were recalled by the Buffalo Sabres from the Rochester Americans, including Justin Bailey, Dan Catenacci and Cole Schneider, all of whom made their NHL debuts.

Others recalled: Nathan Lieuwen, Jake McCabe, Linus Ullmark, Tim Schaller. Cal O’Reilly, Mark Pysyk, Phil Varone, Chad Ruhwedel and Evan Rodrigues.

As a result of these various recalls from the NHL club, the Rochester Americans had to make several of their own recalls from the ECHL’s Elmira Jackals. Players included Matt Prapavessis, Spiro Goulakos, Cason Hohmann, Allan McPherson and Matt Garbowsky.

The Rochester Americans also saw a huge roster shakeup thanks to Tim Murray’s blockbuster trade on February 27.

That deal saw Varone and Jason Akeson, two of the team’s leading goal-scorers, shipped out to Binghamton along with defenseman Jerome Leduc.

In exchange, the Rochester Americans picked up forwards Alex Guptill, Eric O’Dell and Cole Schneider, along with defenseman Michael Sdao.

There’s no denying that this was a huge move for the Rochester Americans, and if nothing else, a way to shake up the team in a big way.

The team’s longest losing streak lasted four games, from March 25 through April 1.

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In that stretch, the Amerks dropped a 5-3 decision to St. John’s, a 3-1 loss to Syracuse, a 3-2 loss to Utica and a 6-1 decision to Grand Rapids.

On the other side of things, the team’s longest winning streak also lasted four games, from March 4 through March 12. Those days saw the Rochester Americans top Springfield (7-3), Toronto (4-2), Utica (3-1) and Syracuse (7-4).

The Rochester Americans won five consecutive games at home between February 19 and March 11, defeating Portland, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Springfield, Toronto and Utica.

They’d later drop five straight home games between March 25 and April 9, falling to St. John’s, Grand Rapids (twice), Binghamton and Lake Erie.

The Rochester Americans were outshot in 22 of 38 games at home, and overall outshot at home by a margin of 2477 – 2217.

On the road, the Rochester Americans lost four straight between November 13 and November 21 to Lehigh Valley, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Hershey and Toronto.

Their longest winning streak on the road this season lasted three games, from January 16 to January 23, and included victories over Binghamton and Grand Rapids (twice).

Overall, the Rochester Americans were outshot in 23 of 38 games on the road, and overall were outshot on the road 1318 – 1133.

The Rochester Americans only once were outshot by a margin of 30 or more, but twice were outshot by 20 or greater.

Here’s how the Rochester Americans stacked up against each team they faced this season:

vs. Albany Devils: 1 win, 5 losses – were outscored 16-5
vs. Binghamton Senators: 5 wins, 5 losses – were outscored 31-24
vs. Bridgeport Sound Tigers: 1 win, 1 loss – both teams scored 6
vs. Grand Rapids Griffins: 2 wins, 2 losses – were outscored 14-10
vs. Hershey Bears: 1 win, 1 loss – were outscored 7-6
vs. Hartford Wolf Pack: 2 wins, 2 losses – outscored them 12-8
vs. Lake Erie Monsters: 2 wins, 1 loss, 1 OT loss – outscored them 13-12
vs. Lehigh Valley Phantoms: 1 win, 1 loss – were outscored 8-4
vs. Portland Pirates: 2 wins – outscored them 6-4
vs. Providence Bruins: 2 losses – were outscored 9-3
vs. Springfield Falcons: 1 win, 1 loss – were outscored 9-8
vs. St. John’s IceCaps: 5 wins, 3 losses – were outscored 29-26
vs. Syracuse Crunch: 7 wins, 3 losses – outscored them 40-29
vs. Toronto Marlies 1 win, 6 losses, 1 OT loss – were outscored 37-15
vs. Utica Comets: 2 wins, 6 losses – were outscored 25-17
vs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins: 1 win, 1 loss – were outscored 5-4

At the end of the season, Schneider led the Rochester Americans with 56 points in 73 games throughout the AHL season, including 14 points (4-10) in 19 games with the Amerks.

Eric O’Dell registered 48 points (25-23) in 67 AHL games, including 11 in 17 with Rochester.

Rookie Justin Bailey notched 45 points (20-25) in 70 games in his first AHL season.

The goaltending situation was an interesting one for the Rochester Americans.

Rookie Linus Ullmark and veteran Nathan Lieuwen each appeared in 28 games. Ullmark went 10-16-0 with a 3.41 GAA and .902 save percentage, while Lieuwen went 14-11-2 with a 2.91 GAA and .909 save percentage.

Andrey Makarov also appeared in 22 games with the team, though all but six of those appearances came prior to January 4. He went a solid two months and 20 days without playing a game, and it wasn’t due to injury.

In the end, Makarov went 9-9-2 with a 2.83 GAA and .916 save percentage.

Robin Lehner also played three games for the Amerks during his conditioning stint there.

The Rochester Americans finished the season 34-38-3-1 with 72 points. That put them sixth in the North Division and 13th in the Eastern Conference, 15 points out of a playoff spot.

The team’s 199 goals-for was the second-least in the conference, behind only Springfield (194), while their 249 goals-against were second-most in the conference, also behind Springfield (265).

Next: Sabres Should Re-Sign These Players

So the question now is: what’s next for the Rochester Americans? The team has lots of players to be dealt with in free agency, so we could see a lot more shakeup over the offseason. Only time will tell, but stay tuned for more Rochester Americans coverage here at Sabre Noise!

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