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Amerks Weekly – Jan 22 – Jan 28

Posted on by Steve Lopez

Amerks Games This Week

  • Friday – 1/22 – 7:00pm – at Cleveland (18-20-1-2)
  • Saturday – 1/24 – 7:05pm – vs Laval (21-17-3-1)
  • Sunday – 1/25 – 7:00pm – at Syracuse (20-18-2-2)/

AHL North Division Standings as of January 22nd

The Amerks barely hold on to third place in the North division after another winless week. They’ve been by far the worst performing team in the division over the past 10 games and if it wasn’t for their red-hot record in November 2019, they would already be on the outside looking in at playoff positioning.

What Happened Last Week?

Record Jan 15-Jan 21: 0-2-0-1

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

Notable: While the stats didn’t live up to expectations for Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in his first two AHL outings of the season (0-1-0-1, .887/3.38), his actual performance was much better. He made a large number of key saves on Friday night to keep the Amerks in the game, particularly in OT. There is absolutely no reason to feel anything but optimistic about UPL’s future.

Also Notable:

Three Stars

.1. Casey Nelson – Despite not having collected any points in the past 13 games*, Casey has consistently been the team’s most effective defender this season, and he was especially noticeable last weekend, leading the team in shots in Saturday’s 4-0 loss while maintaining a 0 +/- rating.

*Coincidence or not, Nelson’s drought lines up perfectly with the Amerks recent struggles, as the team has gone 3-8-0-2 in their last 13 games.

.2. – Nope. Not this week.

.3. – Sorry. There are no “participation trophies” in Amerks Weekly.

Stats Leaders

Look Ahead

No rest for the weary. The team is right back in action on Wednesday night with a trip to Cleveland where they’ll try to get revenge for last Friday’s shootout loss. They’ll follow that up on Friday night at home vs Laval and Saturday down the road in Syracuse.

The good news is that they’ve received some reinforcements from Buffalo. The Sabres sent Scott Wilson, Rasmus Asplund, and Lawrence Pilut back to Rochester while the big club is on their bye week. Asplund has been in Buffalo since November 15th. He was a major part of this team for the first month of the season and we can only hope that his return (perhaps only temporary) provides a spark to the team. It’s unsure if Pilut will get any game action or if the Sabres only made that move so that he could play in the AHL All-Star game; we’ll find out on Wednesday night.

Transactions

Video Room

Game 38 – 1/17/2020 – Home Loss (SO) vs Cleveland

Game 39 – 1/18/2020 – Away Loss at Lehigh Valley

Game 40 – 1/19/2020 – Away Loss at Hershey

Injury Report

  • Taylor Leier – Neck – Week-to-Week/

Farmville

The Cincinnati Cyclones are 25-9-6-0 in their quest to return to 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.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (G) is performing great in his return from offseason surgery, with a 12-5-3-0 record, 3 shutouts, 2.12 GAA, and a .917% save percentage. His impressive performance has earned him a trip to the ECHL All Star game.

Old Friends

For those keeping track… Bailey has scored a hat trick in 3 of his last 4 games…

Talking Points