By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
If you simply look at wins and losses since the Christmas break ended, the Rochester Americans have been consistently inconsistent.
Win one, lose one. Win one, lose one, Win one, lose one.
Since Dec. 29, they’re 7-6-2-1. They haven’t won back-to-back games since Dec. 18-19. They had a chance to do so on Friday night but lost 5-2 on home ice to the Charlotte Checkers, a team they defeated 5-1 on Wednesday.
But coach Seth Appert isn’t lamenting the inability to string together wins right now. Not with so many key players out of the lineup for a month and a half due to injury and callup.
“I think our consistency has been really good,” Appert said. “Consistency of winning is only a product of consistency of habits. I knew we were going to be in a six-week – maybe longer – stretch that it was going to be about grinding out points, and I think we’ve done an unreal job of grinding out points with depleted lineups, short rosters, with half of a team that probably wasn’t with us at the start of the year.”
“So I think it’s more important at times like this, when you’re in a six-, seven-week stretch time where you’re this thin and so many of your best players are out, that you consistently find ways to points.”
They have certainly done that, earning better than half of the possible (17 of 32) since Christmas.
On Friday their demise was due to former Amerk Zac Dalpe. The 12th-year veteran forward scored three goals and assisted on the clinching empty-net by another former Amerk, Scott Wilson. In 37 games, Dalpe has 17 goals and 6 assists.
For the Amerks, rookie winger Linus Weissbach scored the first goal and helped set up the other, by JJ Peterka.
Weissbach continues to show significant growth. He has produced 5-5-10 in his past 13 games, and 9-10-19 in his 30 games this season.
But it’s not just about points. He has used his speed to do a whole lot more than just seek points. Just before Peterka’s goal, he pursed a rebound, barreling into defenseman Matt Kiersted on the end boards. The hit caused a turnover, which Brandon Biro quickly passed to Peterka for the goal.
“His growth has been immense, and he’s made a massive step in the past month,” Appert said. “That assist he made tonight never would have happened a month ago. He’s just decided that he wants to be a great player, not just a talented player.
“He went and ran that defenseman, which led to the turnover, which led to us getting the puck.”
While Weissbach knows his game continues to improve, he said he still expects more.
“I’m never really happy,” said the 23-year-old native of Gothenburg, Sweden. “You see plays now that I didn’t make earlier in the year, but at the same time, I like to see more and more every day.”
Peterka has similar thoughts. He has produced 4-4-8 in his past six games and has 10-24-34 in 33 games this season. But he also has had a Grade-A chances that missed the net or were stopped by the goalie.
“Chances are always a good thing,” he said, “but I still have to finish on way more than I do.”
The best finisher on the ice Friday was Dalpe. He scored the game’s first goal at 4:20 of the first period, then gave the Checkers 3-1 and 4-2 leads with goals at 6:56 and 11:01 of the third period.
“Coming into this set of games, we believed they were one of the best teams in the American League and I thought they played like that tonight,” Appert said.
“It was just a really competitive, physical game. Realistically it was probably a dead-even game tonight. I think when we go back and look at it, the scoring chances are probably going to be about even, the quality of chances are probably going to be about even. Their special teams were better than ours (1-for-4 on the power play while the Amerks went 0-for-3) and we made a couple dumb plays that they took advantage of.”
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