Amerks Games This Week

• Wednesday – 11/13 – 7:05pm – vs Syracuse (7-4-2-0)
• Friday – 11/15 – 7:05pm – vs Cleveland (8-6-0-1)
• Saturday – 11/16 – 7:00pm – at Utica (9-5-0-0)/

AHL North Division Standings as of November 13th

The Amerks went 0-0-0-1 last week as the North Division begins to tighten up with just six points separating first place from last place.

What Happened Last Week?

Record Nov 6-Nov 12: 0-0-0-1

Check out our latest Amerks Review post for details on last week’s performance.

Notable: The Amerks’ power play continues to sink to new (possibly record) lows. They currently rank 30th of 31 teams in the league, with just 6 goals in 65 attempts… that’s just 9.2%. It gets even more concerning when you look at their PP on home ice alone; I’ve never seen a number this low: 3.1%. The team ranks in the top third of the league with 65 PP opportunities. They’re getting plenty of chances, but have yet to find a way to capitalize.

Also Notable: The penalty kill hasn’t been much better. The team ranks in the bottom third of the league in PK situations, so they aren’t necessarily taking too many penalties. However, at just a 75% kill rate, they rank 29th in the league.

Three Stars

It was a quiet week and the lone game was a disappointing loss in which the team gave up a game-tying goal with under a minute remaining in regulation. Not much to celebrate there.

Stats Leaders

Look Ahead

With the Sabres back in North America, the Amerks can return to their regularly scheduled programming, including the standard Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday games. While we’re only 13 games into the season, it’s never too early to focus on gaining points – particularly within the division – and all three of this week’s games are against divisional foes.

The biggest storyline for the team in the next month+ will be to see how they respond to the adversity of losing several of their best players to injuries and long-term recalls. C.J. Smith and Jarrett Burton will both be out with major injuries until close to the new year. Curtis Lazar was just recalled to Buffalo to fill the hole left by the long-term injury to Vladimir Sobotka. Should Buffalo suffer any additional injuries to their forwards, Amerks leading scorer Tage Thompson would almost certainly be the next man up. The 19 games between now and the new year may well determine if the Amerks are genuine contenders come playoff time.

Wednesday night brings Syracuse back into town for their third of twelve matchups on the season. The Amerks have won the previous two meetings, both in overtime.

Friday night will be Cleveland’s second trip into Rochester as the teams will face each other for the second of eight matchups this season. Cleveland won the previous meeting via the shootout after the Amerks gave up a late third period lead.

Saturday night will be the third of ten games against Utica. The teams split the two previous meetings – both of them blowout 6-goal wins. Utica started the season red-hot but has since cooled off dramatically.

Transactions

• November 9, 2019 – Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (G) – ⬇️ from Rochester to Cincinnati
• November 10, 2019 – Pascal Aquin (F) – ⬆️ from Cincinnati to Rochester
• November 11, 2019 – Lawrence Pilut (D) – ⬇️ from Buffalo to Rochester
• November 13, 2019 – Curtis Lazar (F) – ⬆️ from Rochester to Buffalo/

Video Room

Game 13 – 11/8/2019 – Home Loss (SO) vs Binghamton

Injury Report

• C.J. Smith – Lower Body – Week-to-Week. CJ suffered what appears to be a lower-body injury early in the first period of the game vs Utica on November 2nd. He was helped off the ice and did not return to the game. Early reports are that he’ll be out for quite some time.
• Zach Redmond – Lower Body – Day-to-Day. Redmond was also injured in the game on November 2nd. He did not play after the first period. No official word from the team yet as to his status, but I’d guess he takes advantage of the Amerks’ light schedule in the next two weeks and they don’t rush him back.
• Taylor Leier – Shoulder – Week-to-Week. Leier had offseason shoulder surgery. He has returned to skating with the team in practices, but is still in no-contact mode.
• Remi Elie – Lower Body – Day-to-Day. Expected back soon. Has missed time as preventative maintenance.
• Jarrett Burton – Lower Body – Week-to-Week. Burton was hit awkwardly into the boards on 11/8 and crawled to the bench. He did not return and is currently on crutches./

Farmville

The Cincinnati Cyclones are 7-4-1-0 in their quest to return to the top of the ECHL and avenge last season’s premature ending. They finished 2018-2019 with the best record in the league but fell to rival Toledo in the second round of the playoffs.

Old Friends

• Justin Bailey: 3+4=7 in 14 games with AHL Utica
• Nicholas Baptiste: 0+2=2 in 7 games with AHL Toronto.
• Kyle Criscuolo: 4+3=7 in 12 games with AHL Lehigh Valley
• Jack Dougherty: 1+4=5 in 12 games with AHL Belleville
• Brendan Guhle: 1+3=4 in 4 games with AHL San Diego, 0+3=3 in 8 games with NHL Anaheim
• Alexander Nylander: 2+5=7 in 16 games with NHL Chicago
• Danny O’Regan: 2+8=10 in 15 games with AHL Hartford
• Matt Tennyson: 0+0=0 in 1 game with AHL Binghamton, 0+3=3 in 10 games with NHL New Jersey
• Scott Wedgewood: 3-1-1-0, 3.33 GAA, .881 SV% in 6 game with AHL Syracuse/