Rochester kicked off the 2020 portion of their schedule with a back-to-back road matchup against Belleville and Toronto.

A weekend split points to the Americans continued regression to the mean, as of late. Thankfully, Rochester continues to hang out atop the North Division.

Let’s take a look back at the weekend that was.

Results

January 3 - Rochester 4, Belleville 3 (OT)

ROC: S. Malone (7), J. Dea (11), C. Mittelstadt (1), R, Elie (3)
ROC: J. Johansson – 33 saves (W - 11-2-2)

January 4 - Toronto 5, Rochester 2

ROC: C. Mittelstadt (2), L. Pilut (5),
ROC: A. Hammond – 27 saves (L - 10-7-2)

Three Big Things

1: Here’s Casey!

For the first time in his young professional career, Casey Mittelstadt recently found himself demoted to the American Hockey League.

From there, people immediately turned their spotlights onto the forward.

In his first six games with the Americans, Mittelstadt found himself with no goals and two assists.

As more games passed by, pressure from fans ratcheted up.

Mittelstadt found himself breaking through these last two games.

Against the Senators, Mittelstadt scored his first career AHL goal - a shorthanded tally.

Casey Mittelstadt scores his first AHL goal and it's an unassisted shorty! Amerks up 3-2. pic.twitter.com/etctFTZL9v

— Let's Go Amerks (@LetsGoAmerks) January 4, 2020

Mittelstadt responded the next night against Toronto with his second goal of the season.

Better look at the Mittelstadt goal. Assists credited to MacWilliam and Dea. pic.twitter.com/sEiw2M0Y3Q

— Let's Go Amerks (@LetsGoAmerks) January 4, 2020

One can only hope that Mittelstadt builds off of this and finds his way with the Rochester Americans.

2: Dea’s Slump Buster

Jean-Sebastien Dea scored one of Rochester’s four goals on Friday night against Belleville, which went in the books as his 11th goal of the season.

Dea’s goal went in the books as his first in seven games.

This goal not only broke the aforementioned slump for Dea but it pushed him ahead of Andrew Oglevie for the team lead in goals scored.

With 24 points, Dea also leads the Rochester Americans in points scored.

The offseason acquisition of Dea on July 1 has certainly paid off for the Americans to this point.

3: Hey Now, You’re An All Star

The Rochester Americans will be well represented at the AHL All-Star Classic later this January in Ontario, California.

Defenseman Lawrence Pilut and goaltender Jonas Johansson will represent the Americans and the North Division.

This is Pilut’s second straight AHL All-Star selection. In 27 games this season, Pilut has recorded 20 points (four goals, 16 assists).

For Johansson, this is his first All-Star selection.

In 16 games played, Johansson has registered a 11-2-2 record with two shutouts, a .930 save percentage and a 2.07 goals-allowed-average.

Standings

Coming Up

Wednesday, January 8 - Rochester Americans vs Binghamton Devils
Friday, January 10 - Rochester Americans vs Belleville Senators
Saturday, January 11 - Rochester Americans at Syracuse Crunch