**This Week’s Storylines**
OVERVIEW
With Saturday’s 3-2 win over Cleveland, the Amerks closed out the month of November on a 10-game point streak (8-0-1-1) while also earning 30 out of a possible 40 points through their first 20 contests of the campaign. Additionally, Rochester has picked up points in 15 of the last 17 contests overall, going 11-2-2-2 over that span. Rochester enters the week three points behind the Toronto Marlies for the top spot in the AHL’s North Division going into Wednesday’s rematch at The Blue Cross Arena. The Amerks open a season-long four-game homestand this week, beginning with a rematch against the Toronto Marlies on Wednesday before a hosting the defending Calder Cup champion Charlotte Checkers on back-to-back nights this weekend.
OGLEVIE MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME
After an injury-riddled rookie season limited him to just 28 games, Andrew Oglevie has certainly made up for lost time in his second season with the Amerks. In just two months’ time, Oglevie has already surpassed his goal (5), assist (5) and point (10) total from last season and now paces the Amerks with nine goals and 16 points while tied for third in assists. Oglevie, who’s one of just three skaters to appear in all 20 games this season, enters the week riding a career-long seven-game point streak, including goals in five of six games over that span. His best performance came this past Saturday when he recorded his first pro hat trick by scoring all three goals in Rochester’s 3-2 road win at Cleveland. The second-year pro scored once in each period while single-handedly outscoring the Monsters to push the Amerks’ point streak to 10 straight games. He’s also netted the game-winning goal in three of his last six appearances.
NOVEMBER TO REMEMBER
The month of November was a productive one for the Amerks, who collected at least one point in all 10 games while posting an 8-0-1-1 record, the second-best mark in the league over that span behind only the Milwaukee Admirals. Rochester began the month with back-to-back wins before reeling off five straight victories between Nov. 13 and Nov. 23, marking the team’s longest stretch since a five-game win streak from Oct. 10 to Oct. 19 of last season. Second-year forward Andrew Oglevie led all Amerks skaters with a team-high 12 points (7+5), including his first career hat trick in Rochester’s 3-2 win at Cleveland to close out the month. Goaltender Andrew Hammond also posted his best month of the season thus far, going 4-0-1 with four straight wins to open the month, including a pair of shutouts. The veteran netminder finished the month with a 1.59 goals-against average and a .943 save percentage.
STREAKING INTO DECEMBER
With a point on Wednesday, the Amerks will push the point streak to 11 games, their first since Oct. 12 to Nov. 10 during the 2009-10 season. In each of the last three seasons, Rochester has posted three different 10-game point streaks, with two of the three coming prior to the Christmas break. With three points on Saturday, both Oglevie (7+3) and Kevin Porter (2+7) extended their point streaks to a career-long seven games, while rookie forward Brett Murray pushed his to five games as he has one goal, six assists and a pair of multi-point efforts during that span. Porter, who appeared in his 500thAHL game this past Friday, produced his first three-assist effort on Saturday since Feb. 10, 2017 with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Murray, meanwhile, begins the week tied for sixth in scoring among all AHL rookies with 14 points (3+11) in 14 games while being held off the scoresheet only four times this season. Saturday night, goaltender Jonas Johansson improved his record to an AHL-best 6-2-2 while also upping his win streak to four games as he made 24 saves. Hammond, the other half of Rochester’s goaltending tandem, boasts a 7-1-2 record on the season while his seven wins are tied for 10th among all netminders. In his last six starts, Hammond has posted four wins, two shutouts, a 1.59 goals-against average and a .943 save percentage.
THE BEST OFFENSE IS A GOOD DEFENSE
The Amerks come into the week owning three of the AHL’s top point-producing defensemen in Zach Redmond, Casey Nelson and Lawrence Pilut, all of whom have been mainstays on Rochester’s blueline this season. The start of the 2019-20 season is just a different chapter in the same story for the 31-year-old Redmond, who’s averaged nearly a point-per-game through his first 17 games of the season. The reigning Eddie Shore Award winner and two-time AHL All-Star is currently tied for 12th in scoring among all defensemen with 13 points and is tied for 10th with a team-high 11 assists. Nelson’s three goals this season are tied for 19th-most by a defenseman while his team-best plus-14 on-ice rating is tied for fourth in the league among all active blueliners. Since returning from the Buffalo Sabres on Nov. 3, Pilut has registered seven points (1+6) over his last seven games.
WORKING OVERTIME
Rochester’s 3-2 overtime loss last Friday to Toronto was the eighth game so far this season that went beyond regulation for the Amerks, the most behind only Hartford. The Amerks, who tied an AHL record during the 2017-18 season with 29 overtime games, are 3-2 in the bonus period this season and show a 1-2 record in the shootout.
SHOOTING GALLERY
One of the biggest factors attributed to Rochester’s early season success is the fact that the Amerks have outshot their opponents in all but four games so far this season, including a season-high 50 shots in Springfield back on Oct. 27. The Amerks come into the week ranked ninth in the AHL in total shots (675) and are averaging 33.35 shots per game, the most behind only the Iowa Wild and San Antonio Rampage. Going into the Nov. 15 matchup against Binghamton, the Amerks were the only team in the league to have outshoot their opponent through the first 14 games of the 2019-20 campaign.
MALONE ON THE MOVE
Third-year forward Sean Malone posted a career-long seven-game point streak earlier this season, which was the third-longest in the AHL this season. After being held without a point in his first four games of the 2019-20 campaign, the West Seneca native has responded by recording four goals and six assists dating back to Oct. 19, a span of 13 games. Malone has already equaled last season’s four-goal output in less than half the games and is on pace to match his career-high 22 points he set during his rookie season in 2017-18.
