ROCHESTER (Interstat) — The Rochester Americans will host the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in a minor league hockey game Friday. Rochester is the home team, and Lehigh Valley is the visitor. Rochester enters with a 4-5 record. Lehigh Valley enters at 4-4.

Lehigh Valley is coming off a 2-0 home win against Belleville. Jack Studnicka scored once and recorded five shots on goal in that game, while Zach Aston-Reese added a goal and Ilya Pautov had two assists. Studnicka is the Phantoms player to watch. In his recent appearances, he also had a goal and an assist against Cleveland, an assist to go with one shot on goal and two penalty minutes against Hartford, and 17 penalty minutes against Syracuse. He recorded five shots on goal in a loss to Syracuse and one shot on goal in a loss to Cleveland. Lehigh Valley’s other recent results include a 3-2 overtime win at Springfield, a 6-3 win at Springfield, a 4-1 win at Hartford, a 5-2 loss to Cleveland, a 5-4 overtime loss to Cleveland and a 5-2 loss to Hartford.

Aidan McDonough is the player to watch for Rochester. McDonough scored in the Americans’ most recent game, a 3-2 loss to Hershey, and has three goals and an assist over his recent seven-game stretch. He also recorded two shots on goal against Syracuse, three shots on goal at Hamilton, two shots on goal at Utica and four shots on goal at Belleville during that span. McDonough also recorded two penalty minutes against Syracuse. Carson Meyer also scored in the most recent game, and Matthew Peca recorded an assist. Rochester’s other recent results include a 3-2 overtime win at Syracuse, a 5-3 loss to Utica, a 4-2 loss at Syracuse, a 4-1 win at Hamilton, a 2-1 loss at Utica, a 7-1 win against Syracuse, a 3-2 shootout loss at Belleville and a 3-1 win against Toronto.

Both teams are scheduled to continue their schedules after this matchup. Lehigh Valley’s upcoming schedule includes home games against Providence, Hamilton, Charlotte, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Hershey and Providence, along with road games at Laval, Belleville, Hamilton and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Rochester’s upcoming schedule includes home games against Cleveland, Hartford, Laval, Laval and Syracuse, along with road games at Utica, Syracuse, Hershey, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Toronto.

Interstat’s game simulator projects a final score of Rochester 3, Lehigh Valley 2. Interstat’s ELO system gives Rochester a 54.7 percent probability to win. Lehigh Valley has been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of -0.5, and the over/under is 5.5.