The Rochester Americans are back in action this weekend with home games on Friday against the Toronto Marlies and Sunday against the Hamilton Bulldogs. On Saturday they travel to Syracuse to take on the Crunch. Following this weekend the Amerks will only have 12 games remaining.
One bright spot looking towards this weekend is the expected return of Drew Larman and Kenndal McArdle. It’s been six weeks since we last saw McArdle in the lineup when he went out with a shoulder injury. Larman has been out a month with a rib injury.
Michal Repik played with the Florida Panthers on Thursday night in Buffalo scoring the only goal of the game for the Panthers. Not bad considering he only had 3:50 of ice time. The Panthers next game is on Saturday home against Tampa, it’ll be interesting to see if he’s sent back or if the Cats keep him around.
Tanner Glass is recovering from shoulder surgery but does expect to return to action before the season is over. Shawn Matthias has been out with a wrist injury and is not expected to play. He was slashed on the stick last weekend which apparently sent some sort of vibration up his wrist that messed with his tendons. An odd injury, but it’s kept him from being able to grip his stick. Jacob Mcflickier (ankle) and Kyle Hagel (shoulder) are the other two players out with injuries but not expected back in the lineup.
Friday Night vs Marlies
The Amerks have not faired very well against the Marlies this season. This will be the seventh of eight games against Toronto this season. The marlies have won five of six games played so far and outscored the Amerks with a 24-13 advantage.
Saturday at Crunch
After what seemed like an Amerks vs Crunch game every other day at the start of the season, these two teams have not played each other since January 22nd when the Crunch won 4-0 at Blue Cross Arena. In another great stat, the Amerks have been outscored 21-9 in six games against Syracuse this season. The Crunch have four of six games played.
Sunday vs Bulldogs
The Amerks and Bulldogs are a little more even compared to contests with the above two teams. This will be the eighth and final game of the season between these two teams, the season record for the Amerks is 3-3-0-1. In terms of scoring the Bulldogs only have a two goal advantage as they’ve outscored the Amerks 25-23.
The key to the Amerks winning any of these games is playing smart and intense hockey that we know they are capable of. If that happens it’s not too far fetched for this team to be capable of winning all three games. After last Sundays game head coach Benoit Groulx said at this point in the season everyone is playing for something. They’re not playing for the playoffs, but they can still put a damper on playoff bound teams looking for two easy points.
Did you know that the Amerks have not lost a game in over time this season? At least we can say the Amerks are undefeated at something!
