Amerks gain ground in Division race with pair of wins over Belleville
Johansson earns win in first game back with Rochester
by Rochester Americans @AmerksHockey / Amerks.com
Rochester begins another stretch of three games in four nights on Wednesday with the intrastate rival Binghamton Devils making their final trip of the regular season to Blue Cross Arena at 7:05 p.m.
Following Wednesday's matchup, the Amerks welcome back the Syracuse Crunch to the Flower City on Friday at 7:05 p.m. before closing out the weekend on Sunday against the Cleveland Monsters at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
The Amerks enter the matchup with points in 22 of the last 28 games against the Devils dating back to the start of the 2017-18 season while holding a 16-6-3-3 record during that span, which included a 10-game point streak.
After going 4-5-1-0 against the Crunch during the 2017-18 campaign, the Amerks are 12-7-1-1 in their last 21 contests against Syracuse.
Rochester holds a record of 29-7-4-4 over Cleveland since the start of the 2011-12 campaign and has earned a point in all seven games so far this season.
Scoring leaders
| Player | GP | G | A | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Jean-Sebastian Dea | 56 | 15 | 24 | 39 |
| T-2. Sean Malone | 57 | 12 | 18 | 30 |
| T-2. Zach Redmond | 57 | 5 | 25 | 30 |
| 4. Andrew Oglevie | 54 | 15 | 14 | 29 |
| 5. C.J. Smith | 49 | 12 | 15 | 27 |
Goaltending leaders
| Player | GP | W | L | OTL | GAA | SV% | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew Hammond | 33 | 16 | 12 | 3 | 2.53 | .908 | 4 |
| Jonas Johansson | 21 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 2.18 | .924 | 2 |
News and Notes
On the strength of back-to-back wins over the first-place Belleville Senators this past weekend, Rochester moved to within six points of the Senators for the top spot in the AHL's North Division standings with a game in hand.
The Amerks, who have earned 15 out of a possible 22 points in their last 11 games, also hold a two-point lead over the Comets for second place in the Division, but the Comets do have a game in hand on Rochester coming into this week.
With a 16-6-3-5 home record, Rochester has the third-fewest regulation losses in the AHL and have the sixth-most points on home ice (40). Only the Hartford Wolf Pack and Milwaukee Admirals have fewer regulation losses (5) at home this season.