By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
Tyler Randell will never get top-line minutes, nor will he ever be the go-to trigger man on the power play.
Heck, the tough-guy winger couldn’t even crack the Amerks lineup when the season began, appearing in just one game in October and in just two through the first six weeks.
But the ninth-year veteran showed on Friday night that he’s much more than a one-dimensional enforcer/on-ice policeman.
Randell scored the game-breaking second goal and was in on six scoring chances as the Rochester Americans won their fourth straight, blitzing the Hartford Wolf Pack 4-0 in front of 5,595 fans at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial.
Known far more for his fighting and rugged play than anything he does with the puck, Randell proved there’s much more to his game — something his teammates already knew.
“He’s got some sneaky skill,” said center Scott Wilson, who scored the third and fourth goals as Rochester (11-3-1-2) handed the Wolf Pack just their third regulation loss all season (11-3-0-5).
Last season, his first with the Amerks, the 28-year-old from Scarborough, Ontario, played in just 36 games and scored 3 goals and assisted on 4 while piling up 45 penalty minutes.
His best AHL season was 2014-15, when he produced 11-9-20 and amassed 120 penalty minutes in 74 games for the Providence Bruins.
That earned him his only NHL playing time the next year. In 27 games with the Boston Bruins, he scored 6 goals and had 47 penalty minutes.
On Friday, he may have played the most he has as an Amerk. Then again, with four forwards on the injured list and three others on recall to the Buffalo Sabres, interim coach Gord Dineen didn’t have much choice.
“He’s making a strong statement for himself; he wants to stay in the lineup,” Dineen said.
Randell finished with four shots on goal, the most he’s had in a game since March of 2018. And his total package of his work — the goal, the scoring opportunities, drawing a penalty that led to a power-play goal — earned him first-star honors.
His teammates may have been more happy than Randell.
“Ecstatic,” said goalie Andrew Hammond, who stopped 25 shots to post his second shutout of the season. “He got the game puck tonight and he more than deserved it.”
Randell is well aware that what got him into pro hockey is being phased out at the pro level. If you can’t skate and can’t make a play with the puck under pressure, you have no purpose anymore. So he’s concentrated on improving his skill set.
“I’ve been tagged as a tough-guy and obviously the game has changed,” Randell said. “I’ve worked hard to keep improving my game.”
He not pretending to be Alex Ovechkin, however, even if he did play sniper from the corner to score his goal at 8:47 of the second period.
“It’s always nice to have the other club in the bag,” he said. “It deters guys from taking shots at our skilled guys.”
This certainly was no one-man show, though. The performance may have been the Amerks most complete team game of the season.
“I thought the best art of our game was breaking the puck out,” said defenseman Zach Redmond, who assisted on the first three goals. “It’s hard to look at the D-zone as part of the offense but it really is.
“We knew what their record was and this was kind of a measuring stick for us. We kind of started and finished the same way. There weren’t a lot of holes in our game.”
Notes: The Amerks have earned points in seven straight, going 6-0-0-1 over that stretch. They head to Binghamton for Saturday’s game in a three-way tie with Toronto and Laval for the North Division lead.
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