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By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
Nearly 20 years have passed since the Rochester Americans have won a division title.
But with Wednesday’s 3-1 victory over the Toronto Marlies, they’re moving closer to hanging a banner next to the one earned by the 2004-05 team.
Jiri Kulich scored two more goals and goalie Devon Levi stopped 34 shots as the Amerks defeated the Toronto Marlies in front of 4,575 fans at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial.
The victory pushed the Amerks into a tie with the Syracuse Crunch for the North Division lead at 85 points because the Crunch lost 2-1 in a shootout at Belleville.
Both teams have two games remaining – Rochester is home Friday with Cleveland and at Utica Sunday; the Crunch are at Utica Friday and home against the Comets on Saturday. The Amerks must finish ahead of Syracuse because the Crunch own the first tiebreaker, most regulation wins. Cleveland, with three games left, remains in the mix at 82 points.
But in winning on Wednesday, the Amerks are assured of finishing no lower than third, which means they avoid the best-of-three mini-round play-in series.
Still, there has been no repeated talk about the standings or a division title. In fact, coach Seth Appert contends there has been no talk.
“That’s important,” Appert said. “We haven’t once talked about that until I congratulated them for earning that tonight. A lot of them didn’t know.
“This group has done a really good job of keeping our focus on today. Just worry about today. It’s been like 26, 27 games like that, where we’re trying not to worry about standings, trying not to worry about the out of town scoreboard.”
Kulich opened the scoring against the Marlies 15:43 into the first period, converting a centering pass by Isak Rosen after Aleksandr Kisakov’s hustle down the left wing created the chance.
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That was the only goal of the period, largely because of Levi’s stellar play. He stopped all 12 Toronto shots, 11 of which came in a six-plus-minute stretch between 8:29 and 14:42.
The Marlies did tie the score on Roni Hirvonen’s power-play goal at 12:20 of the second period, but Brandon Biro retaliated just 1:57 later with a short-handed goal off a perfect Rosen pass.
“It was a good play by Biro to put Rosie out to space (on the attack) and then Rosie outbattled some of the best players in the division – some older, stronger men – for that puck,” Appert said.
The game-breaking goal came just 87 seconds later as Kulich scored on a breakaway. Speeding up the right wing with Jeremy Davies starting out of the Amerks zone on the left side, Kulich let Davies’ pass go behind him and then off the boards, turning it into the perfect lead pass entering the zone.
“The play by Davies, to play it behind him and lay it out in space – it was the only way to get him that puck with limited risk,” Appert said.
Kulich said he actually was worried as he saw Davies ready to release the pass.
“I was concerned, I thought he was going to pass right on my tape,” Kulich said, well aware it probably would have been intercepted by Josiah Slavin.
Instead, Davies banked the pass off the right-wing boards and Kulich sped past Slavin, took the pass in stride and made a quick fake before roofing an in-tight shot to give the Amerks the 3-1 lead.
“If Davies tried to pass directly to him it would have had to go through defensemen’s sticks,” Appert said. “The finish by Kulich was exceptional; the pass by Davies was probably better.”
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The second-year centerman has scored six goals in his past four games and eight in the past eight games, giving him 27 in 55 games. He scored 24 in 62 games as a rookie.
The Amerks held off the Marlies the rest of the way, though not necessarily with textbook defense.
“We struggled to break the puck out efficiently so we had to defend hard,” Appert said.
They made up for some of that sloppiness with a willingness to block shot after shot and make life a little easier on Levi.
“Blocking shots is contagious,” Appert said, “because it’s the worst thing to do because nobody wants to do it and it’s the most selfless thing to do. And the more guys that do it, it almost becomes a badge of honor. Then the next guy over the wall feels obligated to do it; if this guy’s blocking a shot for me, then I have to block a shot for him.”
Not that Levi necessarily needed the help. He was very sharp. Then again, it was the Marlies, so of course he was. He has faced Toronto three times and has allowed just four goals on 132 shots (52 saves in a 2-1 road win on Feb. 19, 42 saves in a 5-2 home win on March 15 and 34 saves on Wednesday).
“Levi was great as always,” Kulich said.
Kevin–it was great hearing from you, Bob and Sal yesterday morning. You represent all that is (was) good for so many years in Rochester sports journalism. Breath of fresh air. I hope you get to do this again. To hear the Amerks and Red Wings discussed on air for more than just giving a score was terrific! Can’t say enough good. Bravo!!
The game last night was interesting. Amerks are winning these days even when they don’t play particularly well. They were incredibly sloppy for most of the first 40 minutes. Some of the turnovers in the 1st period were cringe-worthy. Only Levi saved the day, like I suspect he will be doing a lot going forward.
Having said that, they still found a way to beat a very good team. Once they took the 3-1 lead, they shut the door and played pretty well in the 3rd. The officiating was awful. But that has been a constant this season, it seems. We live with it.
Last season we tied Syracuse for 2nd but lost the tiebreaker. It could happen again this season, only this time for 1st. Thanks to all our OT/SO wins early on, Crunch have a huge edge on us for regulation wins. It is debatable whether getting to sit out the first rounds is an advantage by finishing first. Sure didn’t help Toronto last season and historically, too much rest this time of year isn’t necessarily a good thing, especially if you are playing well.
Many of us remember the way we sped thru the playoffs like a juggernaut the year we last played in the Finals. Then we had to wait and wait to play the Wolfpack. We got stale; the momentum stalled; we lost game one 1-0 and never recovered in a series we definitely should have won. (postscript–we lost game 6 at home due to some incredibly awful officiating in the 1st period and I left the game early for the first time ever not wishing to see Hartford parade around our ice with the Cup) Anyway, guess we’ll have to see how it all plays out.
Kulich and Rosen have rediscovered their offensive game which bodes well for the good guys. Lots to look forward to.
Hi, Ted, Thanks so much for the very kind words. That they came from someone who has followed Rochester sports passionately for so many years, the words mean even more. Let me tell ya, Bob, Sal and I had a blast. My hope was that the four hours (though I’m not sure how much air time there really is with all the breaks) would be both informative and entertaining. Somehow we stayed pretty much all sports, so I’m not sure how many loyal Bob Lonsberry listeners continued to listen. Then again, considering the trio of co-hosts, I’m sure that’s what listeners expected. Thanks again, Ted, and enjoy the Amerks playoff run.