Please find below the Amerks weekly schedule for the week of Nov. 19.
**This Week’s Storylines**
PILING UP THE POINTS
The Amerks enter the week having earned 24 out of a possible 28 points in the last 14 contests and have won six of their last nine games overall to build a five-point lead over the Cleveland Monsters for the top spot in the AHL’s North Division. In the Eastern Conference, only the Charlotte Checkers have more wins (13) and a better points percentage (.794) than the Amerks.
OFFENSIVE MINDED
The Amerks have outscored the opposition 59-44 over their last 15 games and enter the week just two goals off the league lead with 63 goals scored, 15 of which have come on the power-play.
PILUT TAKES FLIGHT
Lawrence Pilut has continued his torrid start to his North American debut, picking up another multi-point effort Sunday in Hartford to extend his current point streak to eight games while surpassing Redmond as the league’s top scoring defenseman with 22 points (3+19) in 15 games. Pilut, last year’s SHL Defenseman of the Year, has recorded nearly half of his 22 points on the power-play this season, including two of his three goals, which are tied for sixth-most among all AHL blueliners. He enters the week with points in 12 of his last 13 games and has been held scoreless just twice all season. He currently leads the AHL with 19 assists while his team-best plus-16 on-ice rating is tied for second in the league in that category.
RED-HOT REDS
After enjoying a career-setting year in 2017-18, Zach Redmond has picked up where he left off this season as he shows a 21 points (12+9) through his first 17 games to rank second in the league in scoring amongst defensemen behind only Pilut. Redmond is tied for fourth in the league in power-play scoring with 10 points (6+4) as six of his 12 goals this season have come on the man-advantage. Redmond, who had an AHL-best nine-game point streak to end the month of October, is tied for second in the league in goals and is tied for third spot in points, while his six game-winning goals are tops in the AHL.
OLOFSSON OWNS OCTOBER
Named the CCM/AHL Player of the Month for October after leading the AHL in scoring through the first month of the season, forward Victor Olofsson is currently tied for 15th among the league’s top point-getters with 17 points (6+11) in 14 games. Olofsson has recorded points in nine of his last 12 games, including a seven-game point streak (5+9) to close out the month of October, and has been held scoreless in back-to-back games for the first time all season. Olofsson, who was also named the AHL’s Player of the Week for period ending Oct. 14, is tied for 17th among league leaders with 10 assists, including eight on the power-play, third-most in the AHL.
REDMOND CHASING HISTORY
By scoring the game-winner this past Sunday against Hartford, Redmond notched his team-leading 12th goal in just his 17th game of the season. The goal was also his sixth game-winner of the year, setting a new career-high. On Friday, Nov. 9, Redmond became the fastest Amerks defenseman to score 10 goals in the fewest amount of games to begin the season since Amerks Hall of Famer Don McSween reached the mark in his first 21 games during the 1989-90 campaign. McSween would later become the top scoring defenseman in franchise history. Redmond, who last season was the first Rochester blueliner in seven years to lead the team in scoring, is three goals away from matching his career-high of 15 from last season and needs just six more goals to tie the single-season franchise record for the most goals by a defenseman of 18, set by Amerks Hall of Famer Rick Pagnutti during the 1972-73 campaign.
BUSY BETWEEN THE PIPES
Scott Wedgewood has got the nod between the pipes in nine of the last 11 games. After dropping his first two games of the season, the sixth-year netminder won five straight to close out the month of October, matching the career-best mark he set while backstopping the Albany Devils during the 2015-16 season. He enters today’s game tied for third among goalies in wins (6) and fourth in shutouts (1)
IRON MAN SIMPSON
Rochester forward Wayne Simpson is the AHL’s current leader in consecutive games played with 204. Prior to joining the Amerks, the Boxborough, Mass., native appeared in all 76 regular-season games with the Hershey Bears and Providence Bruins over each of the last two seasons, in addition to 35 straight appearances for the Portland Pirates dating back to the 2015-16 campaign. Simpson has tallied seven points on four goals and three assists through 17 games with the Amerks this season.
POTENT POWER-PLAY
With 15 power-play goals through its first 17 games, Rochester boasts the 11th-best power-play unit in the AHL with a 21.4% conversion rate.
POST-THANSGIVING HOCKEY
Rochester returns from the Thanksgiving break with back-to-back games, beginning on Friday, Nov. 23 as the Utica Comets make their first trip of the season to The Blue Cross Arena. Following the 7:05 p.m. matchup with the Comets, the Amerks make their inaugural trip of the season to the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena for a 7:05 p.m. game with the Binghamton Devils on Saturday, Nov. 24.
