By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
They say you only get one chance to make a first impression.
Erik Brännström made quite an entrance into the Buffalo Sabres organization on Wednesday night.
The seventh-year defenseman scored his first of two goals just 67 seconds into the game, he was active on the rush and he provided poise and steadiness in the defensive zone for the Rochester Americans.
Still, despite Brännström’s contributions, the Amerks’ season-long losing streak reached five as the Charlotte Checkers took advantage of a foolish Brendan Warren penalty to post a 4-3 victory at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial.
With the score tied 2-2, a hooking penalty on Warren below the end line in the Charlotte zone gave the Checkers a power play and they capitalized. Ben Steeves converted an Oliver Okuliar pass at 7:57, breaking the tie, and the Amerks couldn’t recover.
“You just can’t take a penalty 200 feet from the net,” coach Michael Leone said after the Amerks fell to34-17-3-3. They have lost three straight in regulation and are 0-3-0-2 in their past five.
That said, Leone had few other complaints with the Amerks play. They held the Checkers to 23 shots – Charlotte averages 35 – and limited the quality chances that goalie Devon Levi faced.
The losing streak is an issue, but Leone said there’s no reason to panic.
“There are no teams that have gone 72-0,” he said. “We’ve gone through stretches where we’ve won six in a row, seven in a row, five in a row. But you’re not going to win every game.
“We’re in a world where everybody’s concerned about results. We’re fine. The two games before (one-goal losses at Laval) were just OK. Tonight we were good.”
The addition of Brännström will make the Amerks better on the blue line. He has played 244 NHL games with Ottawa and Vancouver, producing 10 goals, 67 assists and 77 points.
He was obtained Friday at the NHL trade deadline from the New York Rangers in exchange for winger Nicolas Aube-Kubel. That completed a strange hat trick for Brannstrom: three trades since Oct. 6 (Colorado to Vancouver, then Vancouver to the Rangers).
“It’s not fun to switch teams all the time but it’s fun to be here now on a winning team, that’s what you go for at this time of year,” Brannstrom said.
Brännström’s first goal gave the Amerks an instant lead 67 seconds into the game. Jesse Puljujarvi mishandled the puck on the breakout high in the Charlotte zone and Brännström pounced, then fired a high shot past the blocker of goalie Kaapo Kahkonen.
“It was fun to see it go in,” Brännström said. “That’s what I want to contribute with.”
The Checkers tied it at 10:16 when former Amerks winger C.J. Smith scored his second goal in his 17th game with Charlotte. The eighth-year veteran started the season in the KHL but joined the Checkers in late January.
John Leonard’s 26th goal gave Charlotte a 2-1 lead 4:21 into the second period; he redirected a shot by Tobias Bjornfot on a power play.
That lead stood for nearly 10 minutes, until 14:13, when Clague scored his 10th goal. His shot from the N in the Bob Johnson Auto Group logo near the blue line hit Will Lockwood high in the slot and then clanked in off the left post.
Steeves broke the tie with his power-play goal, then Leonard hit an empty net with 2:11 left. Brannstrom scored an extra-attacker goal at 18:47 but the Checkers held on for the one-goal victory.
Notes: Defenseman Zach Metsa sat out due to illness … Lukas Rousek was awarded a penalty shot at 8:22 of the third period but his sharp-angle shot hit the post. Rousek is the last Amerk to score on a penalty shot on home ice (Dec. 27, 2023). The most recent Amerk to be denied on a penalty shot was Graham Slaggert, at Utica on Feb. 15, and the most recent home failure was by Viktor Neuchev on Jan. 31, 2024.
‘good’ is not good enough in mid-March. And why shouldn’t we be concerned about results? How else do you win Calder Cups? When you have lost 5 in a row all by one goal and all 3rd period lapses you have a problem. Sure, you can’t win 72 games, but trying to sell us on how ‘good’ we were when from the goalie on out, the team is failing when it counts, is not a good look.
Levi didn’t face any real tough ones last night. The 1st Checkers goal he should have stopped. 2nd one was a deflection. Game winner on the PP in the 3rd was the killer goal that has been sinking us lately. Overall, Levi’s game has slipped a bit.
rousek..he’s definitely not a goal scorer…no goals in 23 straight games and his penalty shot attempt was not good..skated in too deep and had to try and impossible shot. He scores that one and it may have been a different game.
AFter 4 road losses, Amerks needed a much better game at home and they didn’t deliver. In the 3rd period they let Charlotte control the play and they took two dumb penalties early which killed any momentum. Warren’s penalty should have had him on the end of the bench for the duration.
It was not a fun game to watch coach. The team is in a trough right now. Time to give Levi a night or two off and let Sandstrom have a go at it, if for nothing else but to change things up a bit. (is he OK? Can he play?)