AMERKS ON CUSP OF PLAYOFFS AFTER NAVIGATING THROUGH MARCH

Amerks get battle testing, surviving 5-4-1-1 month as Calder Cup Playoffs loom

Apr 1, 2025

By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48

The Rochester Americans (39-18-4-3) finished the final full month of the team’s 69^th AHL regular season and enter April with a magic number of three as they look to secure a playoff berth for a sixth straight postseason.

March was a foreign month for this season’s Amerks, as the team at one point hit its longest winless streak of the season. A lot of one-goal outcomes went against the red, white, and blue, but the back half of the month saw them bounce back as they emerge from March playing winning hockey yet again.

One of the reasons for Rochester’s struggles during the month is also one of the team’s greatest success stories from March, and that is watching its players graduate from the AHL to playing for the Buffalo Sabres in the National Hockey League.

Five skaters from Rochester were recalled to the Sabres during the month of March, with four seeing ice time. Isak Rosén and Tyson Kozak both remain in Buffalo entering April. From March 23-27, Kozak posted a three-game point streak for the blue and gold, including a goal in Winnipeg against his hometown team in front of family and friends. The third-year pro scored again March 27 against Pittsburgh on a night where Rosén registered his first NHL point.

Earlier in the month, Josh Dunne was recalled and took on his first NHL fighting major against Florida’s A.J. Greer. Dunne would receive multiple callups during the month.

Later in March, Brett Murray would appear in three games for Buffalo, and last weekend, while he did not play, Jack Rathbone traveled to meet the team in Washington as he earned his first recall with the Sabres.

Devon Levi and Felix Sandström have been one of the top performing tandems in the league this season. The pairing continued to manage the workload in the crease during March.

While the veteran Sandström only appeared in two games, the 28-year-old won both of them, topping Syracuse on back-to-back Saturdays as Sandström continues his career best nine-game win streak. The Gavle, Sweden, native shows a 12-4-1 record on the season and hasn’t lost since Dec. 6, 2024. Sandström’s nine consecutive victories have all been road wins.

While Levi faced some adversity early in the month by losing his first four starts, the…