Even Levi can’t save the Amerks in loss to Belleville

By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA

On Monday, a day after Alexander Ovechkin broke Wayne Gretzky’s all-time NHL goals record, Budweiser Canada arranged special delivery of a commemorative Bud Zero can to Rochester Americans goalie Devon Levi.

The 1 of 1 can, which emphasized the Zero in the brand name, paid tribute to the 28 goalies that have played against Alexander Ovechkin and never allowed a goal.

In Levi’s one game against the Washington Capitals with the parent Buffalo Sabres, he stopped all four shots by Ovechkin.

“Congrats Ovi, happy to not be a part of it,” Levi wrote on an Instagram post while holding the can. “Thanks for the 4 dump-ins.”

The Amerks apparently thought if Levi could stop the greatest goal-scorer hockey has ever seen, then surely he could, by himself, dispose of the Belleville Senators on Wednesday night.

How else could anyone try to explain the truly poor performance by the Amerks who, despite the brilliance of Levi in goal, lost 4-2 on home ice.

“We were bad,” Amerks coach Michael Leone said. “Not competitive, not desperate enough. A lot guys were no-shows.”

Most of those going through the motions were the guys expected to produce, the guys who have been the driving force of this 41-win season.

But on Wednesday, the majority of players took the night off, which is why Belleville was able to overcome a 2-0, third-period deficit and rally for the victory.

“Our skill guys weren’t very good at all,” Leone said.

Levi certainly did his part. He stopped 33 shots, including all 23 through two periods when the Senators easily could have had a 4-2 lead.

Among his many Grade-A saves was what may have been his save of the year – certainly one worthy of the #SCTop10 hashtag – 10:16 into the second period.

Belleville’s Cole Reinhardt, with possession at the right point, passed deep into the zone for a wide-open Tyler Boucher to the left of the net. Boucher was free to shoot but opted to instead pass across the slot to Wyatt Bongiovanni.

The pass seemed to be setting up a sure goal as Bongiovanni fired a one-timer toward an empty net. But Levi flung himself across his crease and, while in the midst of a lunging, spinning sprawl, fired up his glove and deflected the puck away, keeping the score 1-0.

Bongiovanni looked stunned that a save was made and the crowd then began what has become a commonplace LEE-VI, LEE-VI chant.

In reality, it only prolonged what became end-of-game agony for the Amerks. Donovan Sebrango and Garret Pilon scored in the first 9:08 of the third period to tie the score, then Stephen Halliday provided the game-winner with 55 seconds to play.

He bulled his way to the top of the crease to gain position on defenseman Zach Metsa, then redirected Sebrango’s shot from the left circle past Levi.

While Leone did say that in a 72-game season there will be poor performances, especially when playing against non-playoff teams, his players said there can be no excuses.

“We have to treat every game like a playoff game,” said winger Riley Fiddler-Schultz, who scored the first goal and assisted on the second by Brett Murray. “If you go into the playoffs with bad habits, you’ll get your tail handed to you.”

The game certainly started well for the Amerks with Fiddler-Schultz scoring on a power play just 3:07 into the game. Kale Clague walked into a slap shot just inside the left point off a drop pass Lukas Rousek and Fiddler-Schultz, positioned near the left hash marks, redirected it with Anton Wahlberg standing directly in front of goalie Leevi Merilainen.

Murray scored the only goal in the second period, with just 1.3 seconds remaining. Fiddler-Schultz wristed a shot from the right circle along the right boards and it caromed in off Murray’s leg as the power forward drove to the net.

But the B-Sens apparently believe they can somehow overcome what was a six-point deficit going into Wednesday to earn a playoff spot. They’re now four points behind Toronto for that fifth and final slot in the North Division.

Their rally began when Sebrango fired home a Pilon drop pass that Levi had little chance to stop at 1:23 of the third.

The Amerks then gift-wrapped the tying goal via delay of game penalties. Murray flipped the puck into the stands while trying to clear it from the Amerks zone at 7:12. Just 34 seconds later, defenseman Vsevolod Komarov air-mailed a clearing try from the Amerks blue line into the protective netting above the glass at the other end of the rink.

The B-Sens used that 1:26 of five-on-three power play to set up Pilon for the tying goal at 9:08.

“You can’t shoot it over the glass when you have a penalty kill, it’s just a mental error,” Leone said.

Following Halliday’s go-ahead goal, the Amerks pulled Levi in favor of a sixth attacker but mounted little pressure before Keean Washkurak scored into an empty net with 4.2 seconds remaining.

“Credit to them, they wanted it more,” Leone said. “They wanted to win and we weren’t there to match the compete level.”