Amerks Update | Sabres loan Bjork to Rochester

Forward Anders Bjork has cleared waivers and has been loaned to the Rochester Americans, the Buffalo Sabres announced Tuesday.
Bjork recorded eight points (5+3) in 58 games with the Sabres last season. He was acquired from Boston in a trade in April 2021. Bjork was originally selected in the fifth round by the Bruins in 2014.
He has 22 points (6+16) in 29 career AHL games.
Rochester hosts Belleville on Wednesday. They'll then take on the Syracuse Crunch in a home-and-home set beginning Friday in Rochester and ending on Saturday in Syracuse.

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Pekar back in Rochester

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On Monday, the Sabres loaned forward Matej Pekar to Rochester. Pekar did not participate in the Prospects Challenge or training camp as he recovered from injury. He started the year on the Sabres' non-roster injured reserve.
Later that day, he was back with the Amerks.
From Amerks.com's practice report:
After taking the first question in the post-skate media availability following Monday's practice at Blue Cross Arena, Rochester Americans forward Matej Pekar knocked on wood. Not wanting to jinx anything after finally being cleared to practice in a full-contact jersey after seven months of recovery from double shoulder surgery.
"It's been a while and I obviously missed the game and the guys, so it's great to finally get out of the rehab skating and be out there with the team. It's obviously a little different, but it's great to be part of game situations and getting back at it," stated Pekar when asked how nice it was to be back and going full throttle at practice today.

In 2021-22 with Rochester, Pekar registered three goals and three assists for six points in 47 games. It wasn't until March 13 against the Syracuse Crunch that Pekar's second season with the Amerks would come to a screeching halt due to a season-ending injury that ended up requiring double shoulder surgery and a long recovery process for the forward.
Seven months later and now Pekar is finally back to practicing with his team and he said the most important part of the entire recovery process was to simply stay positive.
"I would say stay positive," said Pekar when asked what the most important part of his recovery was. "Just staying positive and doing the right thing, not rushing it, and doing exactly what the people tell you to do. I tried to follow the protocol as close as I could down to every word I got from the people here. I think that was the main thing; just stay positive and do the right thing."
Read more here.

A look back at last week

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Friday's season-opener with Toronto marked the first time since October 9, 2010 that Rochester opened the season versus the Toronto Marlies and the first at home since an 8-5 win over Toronto to begin the 2012-13 campaign.
Four unanswered goals, including three on the power play and one shorthanded, helped propel Rochester to a 4-2 season-opening victory over the Marlies at Blue Cross Arena.

Swedish forwards Linus Weissbach and Isak Rosen each scored a power-play goal to go with an assist for their first multi-point outings of the campaign.
With the win on Friday, Rochester improved a 34-26-7 all-time record in season-opening games and have outscored the opposition 248-230 dating back to when the puck first dropped on Amerks inaugural season in 1956.
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However, less than 24 hours after erasing a one-goal deficit and scoring four unanswered goals, the Amerks found themselves on the wrong end of things in Saturday's rematch against Toronto. The Marlies erupted for three third-period goals - including two with the man advantage - to come away with a 3-1 win at Coca-Cola Coliseum.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 37 saves in his second consecutive start. Dating back to last season, Luukkonen owns a 7-3-5 record in his last 15 starts.

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Scoring leaders

| Player | GP | G | A | PTS | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | T-1. Isak Rosen | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | | T-1. Lukas Rousek | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | | T-1. Linus Weissbach | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | | T-1. Sean Malone | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 |

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Goaltending leaders

| Player | GP | W | L | OTL | GAA | SV% | SO | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.04 | .937 | 0 |