Biro continues hot play as Amerks defeat Utica

By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA

For Brandon Biro, it’s not a matter of if he will play in the National Hockey League, but when.

His coach with the Rochester Americans, Seth Appert, is sure of it.

And why wouldn’t Appert believe that? The third-year center is piling up points with crazy regularity, including a goal and an assist in Wednesday night’s 5-4 overtime victory over the Utica Comets at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial.

Biro started the scoring 5:19 into the game, then assisted on Brett Murray’s team-leading 11^th goal 4:35 later as the Amerks vaulted to a 4-0 lead in the first 30 minutes, yet needed Chase Priskie’s goal 2:34 into overtime to finish off the Comets.

For Biro, it was his fifth consecutive multi-point game, and 10^th of the season (all two points), and he leads the team in scoring with 8-17-25 in his 20 games.

“And the crazy thing is, I wouldn’t say that he’s hot, I think he’s just playing his game consistently over and over,” Appert said.

While the offensive production is easy to see, Biro’s continued growth as a complete player is what is setting him apart.

In the mid-December weekend sweep at Charlotte, Appert praised Biro’s D-zone play, especially the second night when he made four shot-blocks.

“And not little wrist shot blocks that you block with your stick, we’re talking selling-out blocked shots,” Appert said. “His level of care to be a great player and help his team win is just extremely high right now.”

That was abundantly evident the instant Nolan Foote scored the tying goal with 53.9 seconds remaining off a perfectly executed play by the Comets. Reilly Walsh had the puck at the center point and passed to Graeme Clarke in the left circle. Clarke then found Foote posting up on the left hash marks and in an instant the puck went from stick to net.

Biro wasn’t pleased with his own play. He thought he was lured too far out toward Walsh, which prevented him from blocking the subsequent pass.

“If I wasn’t so far out, I think I could have gotten a stick on it,” he said. “It’s frustrating when you have those mental lapses.”

It’s also perhaps more telling that he was owning up what he believe he could have done better. Yes, he’s piling up points offensively, but team success is just as important as he builds his own game.

“His daily habits are incredible,” Appert said. “He’s in the shooting room at 8:15 in the morning, he studies film, he puts extra time on the ice. His daily habits are impeccable and when your daily habits are that strong, it gives you a lot of freedom as a player during the games to play on instinct because you’ve created the habits. He’s going to be in the National Hockey League before long.”

Murray continues to excel

Murray, the fourth-year winger, had a goal, assist and a fight.

“The Gordie Howe (hat trick),” Appert said. “In today’s hockey, you don’t see that very often.

He’s playing his best hockey of his career right now, both offensively, defensively and physically.”

Not-so-smart plays are costly

Poor decisions with the puck by the Amerks led to a pair of second-period goals, which enabled the Comets to slice the deficit to 4-2.

“As the second period worn on especially, we had some real poor puck decisions that kind of gave them momentum,” Appert said. “I thought in the third period they earned their goals; I thought in the second period we kind of gave them those things.”

They call him Moose

Rookie winger Filip Cederqvist set up Priskie’s winning goal by using his 6-foot-3, 196-pound frame to shield the puck and power through Jack Dugan (the former McQuaid standout) on left wing on his way toward the slot.

Cederqvist then dropped for Priskie in the slot, and the veteran defenseman fired the puck past goalie Akira Schmid.

“He had two guys draped on him and was able to use his body to make the play,” Priskie said. “He’s a really, really solid player. He does everything exceptionally well. When he plays heavy and hard, he’s really hard to play against.”

In 16 games, Cederqvist has 3 goals and 6 assists.

“He’s skating so well and is so competitive on the puck,” Appert said, “and a lot of times overtime comes down to possession and winning a puck battle and keeping possession for your teammates to try to take advantage of something, and that was a classic example of it.”

Malone injured

Sean Malone fought Jarrod Gourley at 5:19 of the second period after Utica defenseman stepped up and delivered a crunching open ice hit in the neutral zone on Cederqvist.

Malone did not return after his 17 minutes in penalties expired (two for instigating, five for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct). Appert said he apparently has an upper body injury but didn’t have details.