By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
When you’re not on the ice every night, when you’re more likely to be a healthy scratch than one of the forwards on the lineup sheet, then every shift you do play seems magnified.
Perform well and the coaching staff notices. Fail to produce or make mistakes and they’ll also notice. Bad luck in a game simply adds to the frustration.
Which is why Saturday evening’s 4-1 loss to the Laval Rocket certainly had to cause consternation for Rochester Americans winger Aleksandr Kisakov.
The third-year winger, playing in just his third game of the season, helped create Jack Rathbone’s goal early in the first period but was robbed by Laval goalie Connor Hughes a few minutes later and then was the victim of an unlucky bounce on what became the winning goal.
So despite doing plenty of good things in the eyes of coach Michael Leone when playing alongside linemates Mason Jobst and Brett Murray, there surely was frustration.
An attempted pass into the deep slot by Laval defenseman William Trudeau from the left circle ended up being a perfect set-up for Laurent Dauphin in the right circle when the puck caromed off Kisakov’s stick and sailed across the slot. Dauphin one-timed it home with just seven-tenths of a second remaining in the second period, his second of three goals in the game, breaking a 1-1 tie.
“I wouldn’t put that on him,” Leone said of Kisakov.
Nor would blame be deserved. That would be reserved for the team as a whole for refusing to shoot – and for failing to defend in the final minute of periods.
The Rocket have established themselves as the early class of the AHL’s North Division at 12-2, but they did nothing in the first period to create offense. Still, they ended up in a 1-1 tie when Dauphin converted a Vincent Arsenault pass off a two-on-three short-handed fast break.
His buzzer-beating goal at the end of the second period broke the tie, then Gustav Lindstrom and Dauphin inflated the score with empty-net goals in the final 2:14 of the third period.
The Amerks outshot the Rocket 26-18 – and 26-16 with goalies in the nets – but lost. They had a 31-25 edge in shots on Wednesday but lost 3-2 in overtime to the Rocket.
There are two big reasons they lost on Saturday: an unwillingness to shoot the puck and a lack of desire to get to the blue paint of the goal crease.
“They must have blocked 25 to 30 shots, credit to them,” Leone said. “But we have a responsibility to get shots through.”
Said Rathbone: “A little kudos to them but we have to do a better job of getting shots through.”
As a result, Hughes had a pretty easy night in goal and lowered his goals-against average to 1.85 while boosting his save percentage to .935.
“There are going to be some games when you have to score goals when it’s not a two-on-one or a three-on-two so you have to get to the hard areas,” Leone said. “I really like our play away from the puck … but it’s got to be more of our DNA to get to the hard areas.”
Not that trying to barge to the net against big defensemen that play big is all that fun. But losing also isn’t fun.
“They’re big, they’re heavy, they’re really good at boxing out,” Leone said. “It’s a willingness to get to the net front. You really have to commit to it; it’s hard. You have to dig in and you have to have grit and fearlessness to get into the hard areas of the rink (because) that’s where goals are scored.”
By not doing so on Saturday, the Amerks (7-5-1-0) will take a three-game losing streak into Sunday’s 4 p.m. late matinee at Toronto. That after a six-game winning streak.
Kevin–you are a professional journalist. You also understand how fans react to games. So your stories and updates reflect how the room is read. Since we no longer have call-in shows after games, you are able to evaluate how the fans feel, particularly after losses. I have always respected that and its why I enjoy reading your work. Its honest and genuine. Thanks as always for that.
I have noticed an annoying ‘trend’ over the past couple of seasons in the Amerks website game write-ups. After every loss, the story always goes: ‘despite the loss’ almost like a formula, followed by a litany of irrelevant past stats that I’m sure are designed to somehow still make us ‘feel good’ about the team and deflect away from perhaps some pretty shabby efforts. After losing two home games to rival Laval, I really don’t care about what are record has been against them in season’s past. I don’t care how many points they have earned over the past…fill in the blanks..That doesn’t matter, especially in a league where players come and go so frequently. What matters is no wins over the past 4 games. And winning is what matters.
I get that perhaps the edict is ‘be positive’, avoid negativity…which of course in pro sports is total nonsense. The fans need an outlet for when their guys are messing up just as much as when you are amped up when things are going well.
If these were simply kids playing high school sports, its a different dynamic. But pros have to get used to being criticized one way or the other. People pay good money to watch. They deserve honesty.
Is this being petty? I don’t think so. There are still fans out there that remember when our journalists were our eyes and ears and we expected honesty. And we got it.
OK–off my chest. Right now Amerks are struggling. They have no power play. Guys who have been here before aren’t contributing. Team has 4 goals in 4 games. Their play at the BCA has been abysmal; a carryover from last season. No visiting team comes here anymore and expects to be intimidated. The games have been boring. Sabres dealings with their goalies is confounding. Just about everything the Sabres do is confounding. That has been a constant for years.
This week it doesn’t get easier…Laval and Hershey before another game with Utica (who still hasn’t won a game yet…you know that will have to end soon). Time for a re-set. Time to work on the special teams, which can either make or break a season. We still dont know what this team is all about yet. Do we?