By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
For one period on Wednesday night all seemed right with the world for the Rochester Americans.
They swarmed the Syracuse Crunch in waves. They created high-quality scoring chances. They forced rushed plays and icings with their attack.
But then they stopped doing all the things they had done so well for most of the first two minutes. And just like that, the momentum shifted and the Crunch left Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial with a 5-1 victory.
“They just outplayed us,” defenseman Chase Priskie said after the Amerks (11-8-1-1) lost their second straight and for the third time in four games.
Amerks winger Brett Murray scored the game’s first goal, at 12:33 of the first period, but the Crunch tied it on a deflection goal by Gabriel Dumont at 17:12 of the first, then took the lead on a goal by former Amerks defenseman Ryan Jones at 14:34 of the second period.
“We got away from our game and they have good structure and they’re able to capitalize on turnovers,” Amerks captain Michael Mersch said.
Deflection goals by Gabriel Fortier and Gage Goncalves in the first 10:30 of the third period enabled Syracuse (9-8-2-2) to take full control.
“They’re a heavy, older, veteran team and I thought that in the first period we were really good at playing to our speed and making them chase us a little bit,” Amerks coach Seth Appert said. “In the second and third our puck decisions were extremely poor and then we got chasing the game and they started to lean on us in the defensive zone.”
If only the power play had shown a little power in that first period. The Amerks had three opportunities with the man advantage – albeit one was abbreviated – but couldn’t produce.
“The power play was terrible; that was the big issue, let’s not kid ourselves,” Appert said. “We were great in the first period and we outplayed them and out-chanced and earned our power plays. And if the power play was executing, if it had a killer instinct, we’re maybe up 2 or 3-0 and then it’s different.”
Said Mersch, who is part of one of the power play units: “We have to score on those, we have to be better.”
Amerks goalie Malcolm Subban made his share of top-notch saves, with three of the four goals he allowed coming on deflections off either sticks or other body parts.
The fifth Crunch goal was scored into an empty net by Simon Ryfers with 31.8 seconds remaining. But that was after the Amerks had played 5 minutes and 8 seconds with Subban on the bench and a sixth attacker on the ice.
Down 4-1, Appert proved his statement from last month when he said he’s much more likely to pull his goalie earlier than later.
And he said that in the past he’s pulled a goalie even earlier than the 5:40 that remained on Wednesday.
“I’m an early puller,” he said.
Notes: Rookie Isak Rosen (3 goals, 11 assists, 14 points in 21 games) will likely finish the week with the Amerks and then head to the Canadian Maritimes to join Team Sweden for the World Junior Championships … Winger Andres Bjork missed the game with an upper body injury. He’s listed as day-to-day. Appert said the injury “is disappointing because he probably had his best week since he’s been with us.”
From this fan’s perch…it was an awful game. It was boring. Amerks had nothing going for them after their goal. Coach was right about the PP. It was a disorganized mess. Winning goal was scored when Davies got stripped of the puck along the boards, failing to clear it. Crunch kept it in and put it away. There were long periods where Amerks got zero offensive push. The 3rd period was a disaster. The home team failed to show up at all.
The organization this year has been overly protective of their goalies. Rarely is it ‘ever their fault’ whether they allow 2, 4, 6 or whatever. And sometimes it isn’t. But the team is not going to win many games when they allow 4 or more goals, no matter whose fault it is.
It was very disappointing watching the home team put in so little compete. The vets did not impress. Syracuse, to their credit, smothered the Amerks at every corner. They were the better team and they clearly wanted to win this one more.
Fortunately, Toronto also lost again, so Amerks remain only 3 behind, with a game in hand and a showdown Saturday. But these Amerks have lost a step or two lately. I can’t decide what kind of team we have. But more performances like the last 2 isn’t going to engender much confidence going forward. They need a game or two where they dominate. And like we complained most all last season before they snuck into post season….they have to be willing to play 60 minutes.
Ugly loss.