Rochester currently ranks 5th overall in the AHL.
By Erica Whyte
One quarter of the way through the 2017-18 season, the Rochester Americans rank fifth overall in the AHL, and sit in second place in the North Division.
After concluding the weekend with back-to-back wins over the Binghamton Devils, the Amerks have claimed five out of a possible six points in the last week and have collected at least one point in 10 of their last 11 games, including seven straight to open the month of November.
“We’ve had our ups and downs, but that will happen all year. I think were still finding our way,” said head coach Chris Taylor about the Amerks stellar start. “We’ve had some good weeks, and we’ve had not-so-good weeks, but it’s trending in the right direction right now.”
News and Notes
After missing the first 14 games of the season due to injury, the Sabres’ 2016-17 Rookie of the Year has made up for lost time. Evan Rodrigues has tallied six points in his first five games of the season, all six of which have occurred in the last three games.
However, the Amerks offensive charge continues to be led by rookie forward C.J. Smith. Smith leads the Amerks with 19 points (6+13) in 19 games this season and is currently riding a three-game point streak.
This month, Nick Baptiste, Alexander Nylander, and Rodrigues all have returned to the lineup, and now the list of star Amerks forwards just got one name longer. After starting the season in Buffalo, Seth Griffith has been re-assigned to the Amerks. With 76 NHL games with four different NHL teams under his belt, the Wallaceburg, Ontario, native is expected to join Amerks practice this week.
“His creativity is unbelievable,” said Taylor on Griffith. “We just want to get him into our dressing room, and used to our guys, and used to our systems here. And I think he’s going to be beneficial to a lot of players here, especially on our power-play. I think he’s going to help that out a lot.”
Griffith’s arrival only provides a boost to an already well-balanced offense that ranks fourth in the AHL with 3.53 goals per game. The Amerks also are tied for second in North Division with 67 goals scored on the season, trailing only Laval.
Griffith comes to Rochester having produced 202 points (66+136) in 203 career AHL games with previous stops in Providence and Toronto. His best season as a pro came during the 2015-16 campaign with the Bruins when he set career-highs in goals (24), assists (53) and points (77) and was named an AHL First Team All Star.
Week Ahead
The Amerks conclude their November games with an intrastate matchup against the Utica Comets at the Adirondack Bank Center on Wednesday night. Rochester returns home on Friday, Dec. 1 to play host to the Hartford Wolf Pack before making its lone trip of year to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to faceoff against the Penguins on Saturday. All three games can be heard live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM ESPN Rochester.