By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
The scoreboard will say the defining moments in the Rochester Americans regular season finale at Utica took place in a 30-second stretch early in the third period.
That’s when Ethan Prow and Isak Rosen scored 30 seconds apart, turning a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead.
But the true defining moments of what the Amerks are all about as a team came in the final minute, when they were protecting that lead and Utica was applying extra-attacker pressure.
Rosen sacrificed his body to block a Tyler Wotherspoon slap shot with about a minute left, then Graham Slaggert’s hustle negated an icing and what could have been a critical defensive-zone faceoff in the waning seconds, clinching the 3-2 victory.
“That last 2 ½ minutes was a definition of why this has become a good team,” Amerks coach Seth Appert said. “One of our leading scorers is eating a shot like that, and then Graham Slaggert – he created the screen on the tying goal – is hustling down the ice to negate the icing.
“It’s become a gritty team.”
In winning, the Amerks (39-23-7-3) earned home-ice advantage for the best-of-five first-round Calder Cup playoff series against the Syracuse Crunch. The series starts Friday in Rochester. See the end of the story for the complete first-round schedule.
They left the ice in Utica in position to be crowned champions of the American Hockey League’s North Division. But an hour later, the Cleveland Monsters completed a 3-1 victory at Toronto and, in doing so, became division champs.
The Amerks and Monsters (40-24-5-3) finished tied at 88 points but Cleveland won the tiebreaker – and division banner – based on most regulation and overtime wins (36-35). Syracuse finished third at 87 points.
So it sets up a rematch of last year’s first-round matchup between Syracuse and Rochester. While the Crunch limped to the finish line, winning just five of their final 15 games (5-7-0-3), no team closed the regular season hotter than the Amerks. They finished on an 8-1-1-0 run and were 13-2-1-1 over their final 17 games.
Finishing strong has become a hallmark under Appert. So, too, has needing victory in the season finale in order to either get into the playoffs or assure the most favorable situation.
“It’s the best time of year, meaningful hockey,” Appert said after Friday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Monsters. “You earn the right to play big, meaningful games and it’s a blast to be able to participate in them.”
In 2020-21, the Amerks didn’t gain an invitation to the Calder Cup playoffs until after they had played their final regular season game. To earn a playoff berth, the Amerks needed to win their final game – on home ice against Utica on Friday, April 29 – and then get help the following day from the Belleville Senators.
The Amerks defeated Utica 8-1 but would only gain the fifth and final playoff spot in the North Division if Belleville defeated the Toronto Marlies on April 30. The B-Sens obliged, defeating Toronto 5-2.
Last season, in order to avoid the best-of-three mini-round play-in series, the Amerks and their injury-depleted lineup needed to win their regular-season finale at Cleveland. They faced that dilemma after losing 4-3 on home ice to the Monsters.
But they once again rose to the occasion, defeating the Monsters 4-1 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
This time, they needed to win in regulation at Utica to be assured home ice for the first round and to have a shot at the first division title for the franchise since 2004-05.
After a scoreless first period, Rosen staked the Amerks to a 1-0 lead 2:24 into the second period, The Comets, however, retaliated with goals by Graeme Clarke at 8:12 and Justin Dowling on a power play at 10:33 to move ahead 2-1.
But the Amerks surged in the third period. Prow’s fourth goal tied the score at 5:35, then Rosen’s 20th put the Amerks ahead 3-2 at 6:05.
Amerks goalie Devon Levi, starting for the fifth consecutive game, made 31 saves as the Utica outshot Rochester 33-26.
Amerks vs. Crunch
Game 1 — Friday, in Rochester, 7:05 p.m.
Game 2 — Sunday, in Rochester, 3:05 p.m.
Game 3 — May 2, at Syracuse, 7 p.m.
Game 4 — May 4, at Syracuse, 7 p.m.
Game 5 — May 10, in Rochester, 7:05 p.m.
Tickets for home games go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Tuesday. Select fans will have a pre-sale window that starts at 10 a.m. Monday. Pre-sale access is available via the Amerks website.
Jim Rome always used to say ‘scoreboard’. Thats all that really matters in pro sports..no matter how you achieve it. Yesterday the Amerks played ‘scoreboard’ to a tee. They played well for 30 seconds in the 3rd and 2 1/2 minutes at the end. That was it. The rest of the game was underwhelming to say the least.
1st period was lazy. 2nd period was horrible. The PP was ineffective and the PK surrendered the go-ahead goal. Amerks looked like they really didn’t want to play this game. 3rd period…well they were outshot 15-5. thankfully 2 of the 5 shots went in and then Levi & Co stood tall weathering the Utica onslaught with the goalie pulled. And it was an onslaught. Amerks never cleared the puck until the final 10 seconds or so when an exhausted Slaggert outskated the Utica players down the ice to nullify the icing and that was the game. Major props to Rosen who gave himself up in the final minute to stop a bullet. For several seconds he couldn’t even move and Utica effectively had a 6 on 4.
Major props to Levi too. Its that kind of goaltending that will be needed to advance in the playoffs. Home ice against Syracuse may be a non factor. Most of the 12 games between the two this season went to the visitors. For some reason too…Amerks seem to save their worst for the huge crowds at the BCA. Let’s hope that changes.
So, for the 2nd consecutive year Amerks fail to take the higher spot due to losing the tiebreaker. Hope it doesn’t matter other than losing bragging rights for winning the division. Would be nice to get Murray back soon although the coach doesn’t sound optimistic. Would have been nice too for the Sabres to have planned better to get us some reinforcements, but they never do so maybe we’ll be OK barring injuries.
Sabres are a huge enigma. We can’t survive as a franchise in this city without them as our parent. But living with them is so frustrating. Our local media would ignore us with a different parent…the sports fans in this town are so intertwined in Buffalo sports. We saw fan support disappear when we were hooked up with Florida. That will never change here.
All in all, our guys finished strong so hopefully they will give us a good playoff run. Ironically the two top teams in the league were the two Finalists last year…Hershey in the East and Coachella in the West. Both had outstanding, head and shoulders better than the pack, seasons.
I want another crack at the Bears!