By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
After flying across the country on Tuesday to join the Rochester Americans, veteran defenseman Mark Alt made an immediate impression on his new team on Wednesday.
“He was a rock back there,” rookie winger Jack Quinn said following a 4-3 victory over the Utica Comets at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial, when he scored one goal and helped set up two.
It was, however, a guy that has been here all season that ignited a second-period uprising and carried the Amerks to the victory.
Captain Michael Mersch scored two of the three goals in the middle period, including the tie-breaking goal at 13:57 off a Mark Jankowski setup, as the Amerks ended a three-game losing streak.
“That’s why he’s our captain,” Amerks coach Seth Appert said.
Indeed, Mersch pretty much said “Follow me” in sparking the comeback from a 2-0 deficit. The Comets led by a goal after the first period and made it 2-0 when A.J. Greer scored short-handed just 89 seconds into the second period.
But before that same power play had ended, Mersch bulled his way into the deep slot and flicked a rebound past goalie Akira Schmid.
“That could have been a bad turning point and Merschie kind of willed us back in it with a goal Merschie scores, a second or third rebound whack in the blue paint,” Appert said.
Defenseman Jimmy Schuldt tied the score just 2:21 later, at 5:09, and Mersch gave the Amerks their first lead with his second of the game and 23rd of the season.
“In games like this, everybody’s driving the bus, but he’s definitely the one steering,” Schuldt said.
Quinn then scored the critical insurance goal at 10:22 of the third, the Amerks second power-play goal in three opportunities.
His goal, also his 23rd, came in typical Quinn fashion: some flash-and-dash with the puck before unleashing his wicked wrist shot and picking a corner of the net.
His shot, from the right circle as he attacked from the point, zipped past the left shoulder of Schmid.
It was his play well before he ever shot that created open space, however. Sean Malone won a faceoff and drew it back toward the center point. Quinn was above the left circle and Ethan Prow was at the right point.
Quinn started across for the puck and appeared to hesitate, as though he would let Prow take the puck. That caused Greer, the defender, to also hesitate, and Quinn then pounced on the puck, curled in on right wing and fired home the shot.
“I don’t know if it was intentional,” Quinn said of that early stutter-step, “but it felt like my ice was to keep going.”
Greer did cut the Amerks lead to 4-3 with his hat trick goal with 39 seconds remaining, but the Amerks held on in front of goalie Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen, who was necessary was especially strong and, in Appert’s words, “calming.”
Alt also had the same effect in the defensive zone. A former captain of the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, Alt was acquired Monday in a trade that sent Mason Jobst to the San Jose Barracuda.
The Amerks haven’t been good in their own end and the loss of veteran Brandon Davidson to a season-ending lower body injury necessitated the trade.
Though he has yet to practice with the Amerks, the 30-year-old demonstrated a combination of poise, steady play and leadership in his Rochester debut, precisely what the team needed on the blue line.
“He was a stabilizing presence, a defender, smart and simple with the puck,” Appert said. “He’s a darn good hockey player.”
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