By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
Just when it seemed the time was right to count out the Rochester Americans, the players in their depleted lineup dug deep on Sunday afternoon and made sure they avoided the play-in mini-round of the Calder Cup playoffs.
Four different players scored goals – including newcomer Josh Passolt in his American Hockey League debut – as the visiting Amerks defeated the Cleveland Monsters 4-1 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse to close the regular season.
The two points pushed the Amerks back into third place in the North Division at 81 points, meaning they’ll play the Syracuse Crunch in the best-of-five Calder Cup North Division semifinals starting Friday and Saturday (both 7 p.m.) at the Onondaga County War Memorial.
Had the Amerks lost, they would have finished fourth and had a date with the reinforced Laval Rocket in the best-of-three play-in round starting Wednesday. Instead, Utica will play Laval.
“I told the guys between the second and third period, ‘I’ll play anybody anywhere; if we have to play Laval, we will,” coach Seth Appert said. “But a few extra days rest and not getting on a bus on Tuesday morning is preferred, so let’s go get the job done.’ ”
Considering top goal-scorer Jiri Kulich, team MVP and second-leading scorer Brandon Biro, along with Brendan Warren and Tyson Kozak, are on the injured list, the Amerks were certainly underdogs, especially after losing 4-3 to Cleveland on home ice Saturday.
But behind goalie Malcolm Subban (24 saves), the Amerks held the Monsters off the board and then took a 1-0 lead when the suddenly-hot Filip Cederqvist scored 1:49 into the second period. It was his ninth goal, and fourth goal in two days.
Marcus Bjork tied the score 1-1 at 16:20 but defenseman Matt Bartkowski retaliated just 33 seconds later by scoring a short-handed goal, giving the Amerks a 2-1 lead through 40 minutes.
Passolt provided valuable insurance by scoring 3:10 into the third period. The rookie was called up from ECHL Cincinnati so the Amerks didn’t need to play a defenseman at forward.
“He played very well, that line with (Kohen) Oleschefski and (Matej) Pekar was excellent,” Appert said. “They played a lot of minutes, probably 15, which is impressive.”
The clinching goal finally came with 2:41 remaining when Lukas Rousek hit an empty net, and the Amerks finished the regular season with a 36-27-6-3 record and 81 points. Syracuse also has 81 points but wins the tiebreaker for second place by virtue of more regulation wins (27-25).
“It was a really gutsy effort by the guys,” Appert said. “Not only are a lot of key guys out of the lineup, but the minutes that other guys had to play were really high. (Mason) Jobst and (Sean) Malone probably played 22 to 24 minutes a night (in each of the three weekend games).”
Of the injured players, Kulich probably has the best chance to return sooner than later. He suffered a lower body injury on Saturday but there’s a chance he could be ready for Game 1 or 2 against Syracuse, Appert said.
Games 3 and, if necessary 4, are in Rochester on April 28 and 30 (7:05 p.m., 3:05 p.m. Game 5 would be at 7 p.m. May 6 at Syracuse.
History: After going 16 years without winning a playoff series, the Amerks last year defeated Belleville 2-0 in the mini-round and Utica 3-2 in the division semifinals before they were swept by Laval 3-0 in the North finals. … Despite playing a gazillion times during the regular season for three decades, the Amerks and Crunch have met in the postseason just four times, with Rochester winning the first three: 1996 (4-1), 1997 (3-0), 2004 (4-3) and 2018 (0-3).
Digging deep for sure! After dumping on these guys really hard (and with 100% justification) Friday and Saturday at home, Amerks took to the road, where they are absolutely better, and with a makeshift lineup, got the job done. Subban was a ton better than he was in the Friday debacle. Amerks played a solid 3rd period for the first time. Their 1st period was good also. 2nd period, not so much despite scoring twice. Cleveland was all over us and it was beginning to look ugly again.
The new guy from Cincy, early this morning, scored a very important goal 3 minutes into the 3rd. It have the Amerks a two goal lead and something we have missed this weekend…some confidence. When Monsters pulled their goalie with over 3 minutes to play, it was the Amerks who were the aggressors and they got the dagger goal fairly quickly.
So now let the fun begin. I am not the least unhappy we are starting on the road. The way the team has played at home this year it would be totally demoralizing to have gone to Syracuse down 2-0. But if we at least split in the Cuse, Amerks will come home to two I’m betting very large, noisy crowds. Finishing 3rd was not a booby prize by any stretch.
And avoiding 4th place was very important. Interesting that none of the games in this series are scheduled for mid-week. Interesting indeed.
Maybe the time off will help our walking wounded somewhat.
Some writer admonished us on twitter that this wasn’t a ‘must-win’ game. Well it was, on many levels that the writer just didnt get. We all knew Amerks had clinched a spot in the playoffs, but there was so much more to winning this game.
They got it done. On the road. Where they play better.
So let us now dream of a huge upset against our thruway rivals. Amerks bounced back from the abyss this afternoon. I really wasn’t expecting it..but hey its the playoffs now, so we might as well enjoy the ride, for however long it lasts.
How far away are our injured players from returning specifically biro thanks
Brian from I’ve heard “week to week” but nobody except possibly Kulich will be ready this weekend in Syracuse
Watched a bunch of the Amerks this past season on AHL TV. I like the back story around Houser, having finally broken into the NHL last season, but I think Subban is your goalie for any sort of playoff run. Lot of heart on this team that can win games just based on effort. Lets go Amerks! Hockey, Hockey Hockey!