Matt Savoie in the limelight

After an outstanding season with the WHL's Winnipeg Ice, the Buffalo Sabres first of three first-round picks in 2022 is into the mix with Rochester in the AHL Playoffs

Matthew Savoie lines up against Hershey’s Henrik Borgstrom in Game 3 Saturday night. (Photo: Rochester Americans)

ROCHESTER — Full admission up front: Today’s piece was to be a shift-by-shift analysis of Matthew Savoie’s first game in Rochester and second as a Rochester Americans forward. After the Americans were shutout in Savoie’s AHL debut in Game 2 in Hershey, getting a full look at him live and in person seemed like a great idea.

And did it ever seem like the perfect time to do so given he skated on the right wing with Jiri Kulich on the left and Lukas Rousek up the middle. What could be better!

Alas…the game did not allow for such fun.

The pace was choppy, there were haphazard penalties called which broke up how lines were used early on, and for 30 minutes of action the Bears had their way hammering the Americans physically and stymieing all of their efforts to gain the zone with the puck on their stick.

It’s playoff hockey in the most obvious of ways and then some.

But Savoie’s arrival into Rochester after a great season with the Winnipeg Ice in the Western Hockey League is exciting. He was the Buffalo Sabres’ first of three first-round picks in the 2022 NHL Draft (ninth overall) after he posted 35 goals and 90 points for the Ice in 65 games last season. He followed that up with 38 goals and 95 points in 62 games this season before joining the Americans. Never mind that he’s listed at 5-foot-9, 179-pounds, he can play.

Having Savoie joining the other supremely talented prospects on the Americans’ roster like Kulich, Rousek, and Isak Rosén as well as a team that’s played superb hockey the past couple months gives fans in Rochester and Buffalo reason to tune in or show up at Blue Cross Arena to get an idea of what the future may have in store for the organization.