The Rochester Amerks picked up another win in a shootout last night. It wasn’t their best game at 5 on 5, but they were able to pull off a 4-3 win. The highlight of this game was the Sabres 2020 first-round pick, Jack Quinn, making his pro debut.

5v5 Shot Share and Quality

The Comets controlled the shot share battle throughout the evening. You’ll see below only six players end up at a net positive in share.

The good news is that while they did give up a lot of shots, they didn’t give up a lot of quality looks overall.

Below are the final rates for shot share and quality at 5 on 5.

Takeaways

• After a strong opening game from Casey Fitzgerald, I have not liked his play in any game thereafter. He continues to struggle with exiting the zone, which you’ll get a look at shortly.
• Jack Quinn finished the night a positive in shot share and quality.
• Arttu Ruotsalainen another strong night at 5 on 5 overall.

5v5 Primary Shot Contributions

Let’s get a look at offensive impacts from the players.

Takeaways

• The line of Fogarty-Ruotsalainen-Murray continues to be a dangerous offensive line for the Amerks. It’s worth mentioning that Murray played half of the game away from the other two aforementioned players and was still solid last night.
• Jack Quinn ended the night with three shot attempts
• Mattias Samuelsson has done a good job getting involved offensively the last few games as he gets more comfortable in the AHL.

5v5 Transition Data

Next up, zone exits and entry data.

Takeaways

• The Amerks were much better this game with their exits.
• Laaksonen has probably been the most consistent defender on the team exiting the zone with control from his passing or carrying the puck.
• As I mentioned before, here’s where you can see Fitzgerald’s poor exit numbers. He had five exit opportunities in this game and none of them were done with control. One was an uncontrolled exit and the other four were failed exits.

Takeaways

• Ruotsalainen stays on brand as a transition forward that creates offense. All five of his controlled entries in this game resulted in a shooting or passing play. No empty-calorie entries for the Finnish forward.
• Samuelsson also had a good night in transition. Three of his four controlled entries resulted in a shooting or passing play as well. He uses his size well to drive down low and maintain possession if a play isn’t there to be had immediately on the rush.
• Quinn did a good job creating space on entries as well when he had the opportunity. He definitely got stronger as the game went along.

There are no goalie stats here, but I thought it was worth mentioning Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen probably had his best game in an Amerks sweater last night.

Photo Credit: Rochester Amerks/Facebook