Rochester can clinch a Calder Cup Playoff berth on home ice
Apr 2, 2025
By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48
The Rochester Americans (39-18-4-3) begin the month of April with the opportunity to officially become playoff bound as they welcome the Springfield Thunderbirds (33-26-2-4) to Blue Cross Arena Wednesday night.
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Wednesday will be the first of eight games in April that the Amerks will play in to round out their 72-game regular season campaign. The game with Springfield also marks the final time Rochester will play outside the North Division. The next opportunity to face a team from the Atlantic would come in May during the conference finals, should the Amerks return there as they did in 2023.
This is the second and final meeting of the season between the Thunderbirds and Amerks, marking the lone visit for Springfield this season. The Amerks visited Massachusetts to start 2025, where Zachary Metsa’s three-assist night helped guide Rochester to a 5-2 win over the T-Birds to kick-off the new year.
After fending off a Syracuse rally on Saturday, the Amerks were unable to repeat the feat the next afternoon, as a 2-0 lead vanished late in what ended in a 3-2 overtime win for the Crunch to wrap up the season series. Despite the sour note to end on, the Amerks posted a winning record against the Crunch, going 7-3-1-1 over their 12-game slate.
Noah Östlund and Brett Murray each found the back of the net for the Amerks. Östlund’s goal was his 18th of the season, while Murray recorded his 100th professional goal and 98th all-time with Rochester, surpassing Steve Langdon for 20th all-time in Amerks franchise history. Devon Levi suffered the loss with a 21-save performance in his 36th game of the season. The red, white, and blue finished their final three-in-three of the season picking up five of a possible six points as they went 2-0-1-0 on the weekend.
Springfield was one point better, as the St. Louis Blues’ affiliate had a perfect weekend, going 3-0-0-0 with a pair of wins over the Iowa Wild, followed by a 3-2 win Sunday afternoon in Providence. Veteran Matthew Peca was a driving force in the wins over Iowa with a goal and assist in each of the two contests, while Nikita Alexandrov was the story in Sunday’s win.
Down 2-1 with 1:24 to play against the Bruins, Alexandrov scored the…
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