Peterka and Quinn shine as Amerks revive a little old-time hockey in home-opening win

By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA

After one season was abruptly halted and the next was played with an abbreviated schedule and without fans, the Rochester Americans welcomed normalcy back to Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial on Friday night.

They also welcomed back excitement. And big hits. And slick plays. And winning. And even a little old-time hockey.

Rookies JJ Peterka and Jack Quinn took turns dazzling with the puck, goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made terrific saves early and Casey Fitzgerald and Ryan Scarfo delivered punishing open-ice checks as the Amerks defeated the Syracuse Crunch 5-3 in front of 5,014 fans.

“That was a heck of a home crowd, they cheered us on the whole time,” said Peterka, the 19-year-old native of Munich who scored one goal and set up two.

Veteran defenseman Ethan Prow tied the score 1-1 in the first period, Josh Teves and Quinn scored in the second period to give the Amerks a 3-1 lead, and Malone and Peterka found the net in the third, which is when tempers flared often and gloves dropped late.

“I love those types of games, they’re a lot of fun,” said Sean Malone, who was at center between Peterka and Quinn as each member of the line produced a goal and two assists.

Amerks coach Seth Appert also liked the team grit and cohesiveness displayed in what was just game two of a 76-game season.

“Those are important moments,” Appert said of a 17^th-minute scrum and two fights in the closing seconds. “We’re a new team. We have some guys back from last year, but we have a lot of new faces. Just because we had an identity that we fought for each other and played hard for each other last year doesn’t mean we automatically have that again.

“You have to re-earn that feeling, you have to earn that trust from one another that you’re going to be there in hard times.”

Just as impressive was the work done by Peterka and Quinn, highly touted prospects for the Buffalo Sabres. Quinn was selected eighth overall in the 2020 draft. Peterka went on the second round, 26 picks later.

They’re here to learn the pro game, to be able to make mistakes and correct them without costing the NHL team critical points or losing confidence on the big stage.

Peterka is already experiencing that learning curve. He wasn’t good on Sunday in a 6-2 loss at Utica.

“JJ’s a competitor and he knows he didn’t have his best performance on Sunday,” Appert said. “We talked to him this week and I think he processed that and I expected an outstanding effort from him tonight and he delivered on it.

“He wasn’t working with legs. He has a really good mind, he has a really good stick but his legs are special, they’re world class. His skating ability, both for offense but also for checking, for hunting pucks, for pressuring opponents, he just didn’t have that (Sunday) night.”

The underwhelming performance may have been due to a little overconfidence. The game was Peterka’s first in the American Hockey League, and he had turned some heads during his five NHL preseason games with the Sabres.

“You can be fooled as a young player your first time over here in having success in exhibition games in the NHL. Exhibition game are exhibition games. Most of the NHL guys playing in those games are playing at 75-percent competitiveness and the rest of the guys are American Leaguers. So you can be lulled into thinking that’s what it feels like over here.”

Peterka knew better on Friday night. He pursued the puck with ferocity, and he was aware of where linemates were.

Like on his pass from behind the net to Quinn in the left of the slot that led to a goal and a 3-1 lead at 13:47 of the second period.

Or at 13:55 of the third period, when he chased down the puck in the corner, lifted the stick of defenseman Alex Green to steal it, and then made a seeing-eye pass past defenseman Ryan Jones in the slot to the stick of Malone to set up the goal for a 4-2 lead.

“I wasn’t sure if the pass would get through but it went through the D-man’s skates and right on my stick,” Malone said.

Of course, not long before, Peterka had turned the puck over, which Appert pointed out. All part of the learning process.

“As I said to him on the bench, that was a great assist but the turnover 15, 20 seconds ago wasn’t as nice,” Appert said.

“But that’s the beauty of being out there in big moments. We’re trying to finish a game with a lead. Jack Quinn and JJ Peterka and Linas Weissbach need to be out there in those moments and learn from mistakes in those moments and gain confidence from success in those moments.”