Amerks use the 3 R’s, Rosen, Rathbone and Rousek, to rally past Providence

By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA

Over his two seasons as an assistant coach with the Rochester Americans, Vinny Prospal has watched Lukas Rousek pass up countless chances to shoot the puck in order to show off his passing skills.

Maybe more than Prospal passed on in his 1,108-game NHL career.

“He drives me nuts with that,” Prospal said.

Of course, when you can pass the puck like Rousek, it’s easy to see why he prefers to play set-up man.

Like on Friday night, when he patiently bided his time along the left-wing boards before making the perfect cross-ice pass that Isak Rosen one-timed home for the tying goal late in the third period.

“He’s one of the best passers I’ve ever seen,” said Rosen, whose extra-attacker goal came after an aggressive move by the coaching staff, pulling goalie Devon Levi with 3:19 remaining.

Then after Levi and the penalty killers denied an overtime power play for Providence, shootout newbie Jack Rathbone scored the only goal in the shootout as the Amerks snapped a five-game winless skid by defeating the Bruins 4-3.

On this night they rode the 3 R’s to victory — Rosen, Rathbone and Rousek — and in winning for the first time since Feb. 26 (0-3-0-2 in those five games), the Amerks improved to 35-17-3-3 and head into their weekend off feeling good about their game again. They don’t play again until Friday.

They appeared to be starting their break early, however. A dreadful first period allowed the Bruins to build a 2-0 lead on a pair of goals by Jeffrey Viel, both directly off offensive-zone faceoffs.

And if it wasn’t for two big saves in the latter half of the period by Levi, the deficit could have been larger.

“We were not too happy with our effort – all of us,” Prospal said. “But I thought we were great for the last 45 minutes.”

The rally began when Alex Brannstrom – playing his second game with the Amerks since a March 7 trade sent Nicolas Aube-Kubel to Hartford – rocketed home a slap shot on a power play at 5:38. It was his third goal as an Amerk.

“The guy gets traded here and it’s always difficult, but the best way to get involved (as a new teammate) is to get on the scoresheet,” Prospal said.

Mason Jobst then tied the score 70 seconds into the third period. Bruins goalie Brandon Bussi stopped Rathbone’s one-timer from the center point but couldn’t pounce on the rebound and Jobst swatted it home from the left edge of the crease.

But a retaliatory penalty by defenseman Nikita Novikov gave Providence a power play with 7:55 remaining, and when defenseman Ryan Johnson was assessed a high sticking minor 39 seconds later, the Bruins had a five-on-three for 1:21.

They converted with 6:08 remaining when Georgii Merkulov fired a quick shot from the high slot into the top right corner of the net.

Novikov had been hit in the neck or jaw by a high stick from Matthew Poitras, but neither referee, Jake Kamrass nor Damian Figueira, called a penalty. Novikov then cross-checked Frederic Brunet to the ice seconds later and it cost the Amerks.

Yes, an obvious penalty was missed, but as Jobst pointed out, the retaliation is almost always called.

“They made us pay,” Jobst said.

The Amerks again tied it, this time after pulling Levi early – with 3:19 remaining – because they had a faceoff in the Providence zone.

“We had nothing to wait for to put our best six players for that occasion out there,” Prospal said.

They needed only 1:06 of extra-attacker time to set up Rosen’s 27^th goal. Rosen moved the puck from the right wing over to Rousek on the left side. He then surveyed the situation while idling along the wall before picking the perfect to thread a pass from the left circle past Trevor Kuntar, Tyler Pitlick and Jake Gaudet and into Rosen’s wheelhouse for the one-timed rocket.

“I passed to him and you know it’s going to come back, right on your stick, you know it,” Rosen said. “I don’t know if Providence thought he’d shoot – probably not – but he still finds the pass.”

The Amerks survived a Brannstrom hooking penalty called 27 seconds into overtime when he prevented a shot by Merkulov on a partial breakaway, then won it on Rathbone’s shootout goal.

It’s the little things

Johnson made a key play that led to Jobst’s goal. He stepped up in the neutral zone and threw a hip into Oliver Wahlstrom, forcing an early release of the puck that led to an icing.

Off the ensuing faceoff, Bussi stopped Rathbone’s point shot but Jobst swatted home the rebound.

Prospal and Jobst were both quick to note that a similar play cost the Amerks in the first period, with their needless icing leading to Viel’s second goal and the 2-0 Providence lead.

“We have full control behind our net and it ends up in an icing,” Jobst said. “That’s the level of detail it takes this time of year.”

It’s the little things, Part II

Jobst made a game-saving defensive play with 2:45 remaining, just 34 seconds after Levi was pulled in favor of an extra attacker.

He tied up Tyler Pitlick in the deep slot, denying the Bruins forward a redirection into the empty net. Rosen then tied the score 32 seconds later.

Saying goodbye to Claude Verret

The Amerks paid tribute to former center Claude Verret with a moment of silence before Friday’s game.

Verret, 61, died on Thursday. An Amerk for four seasons, he was living in his native Quebec.

Verret won the AHL’s Dudley “Red” Garrett Memorial Award as Rookie of the Year, his first of two consecutive 90-point seasons (39-51-90 followed by 40-53-93). He was plagued by injuries his final two seasons in Rochester but continued to produce when he did play (19-32-51 in 52 games in 1985-86 and 13-12-25 in 36 games in the Calder Cup year of 1986-87).

In 229 career regular season games with the Amerks, Verret had 111 goals, 148 assists and 259 points, plus 10-17-27 in 31 playoff games. He played just 14 NHL games, producing 2-5-7 for the Buffalo Sabres.

His offensive production was even crazier with Trois Rivieres in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. He was the league’s leading scorer in 1981-82 with 54-108-162 and finished second to Pat LaFontaine the following season with 73-115-188. Mario Lemieux was third in the scoring race that year.

Notes: The Amerks outshot Providence 44-29. The Amerks hadn’t had 40 shots in a game since the 20^th game of the season on Nov. 30. They hit 40 six times in the first 20 games. … The Amerks are 5-3 in shootouts, though they had lost the past two (Feb. 28 at Utica and March 1 at Syracuse) to start their winless skid