Tenacious Amerks show plenty of snarl in last-minute victory

By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA

In recent years, if the Rochester Americans were going to defeat the Syracuse Crunch, they were more than likely going to rely on skill to do so.

Speed, precise passing and bullseye shooting from a stable of gifted offensive forwards often was the recipe for winning.

That was then, this is now. A little offseason retooling added grit, snarl and power up front, meaning the group currently on the Amerks roster is just as likely to create a goal off sustained forechecking and bodychecking pressure as they do off the rush.

Take Friday’s 4-3 comeback victory, for instance. All four goals were the direct result of winning puck battles on the wall, and the last goal was scored by defenseman Zac Jones with just 13.5 seconds remaining to break a 3-3 tie in front of 7,349 fans at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial.

“Last year we were harder to play against in a different way with the speed and the pressure,” Leone said. “Now, if you look at the guys like ‘Jags’ (Jagger Joshua), (Trevor) Kuntar, (Mason) Geertsen, these are heavy, big players that win puck battles and can grind you down in hard games like this.

“They pushed, we pushed, but we have guys that know how to play a heavy game. I really appreciate our level of physicality.”

Isak Rosen, Noah Laaouan and Carson Meyer also scored goals while Joshua and defenseman Vsevolod Komarov each had two assists as the Amerks rebounded from Wednesday’s no-show 3-1 loss to the Cleveland  Monsters.

“This was a great bounce-back for us,” said Jones, whose goal was his first while he also notched his team-leading 18^th assist. “We didn’t play our best on Wednesday so it was almost like a must-win.”

Even though the Amerks had played well on Friday – dreadful passes by Rosen and Viktor Neuchev that directly led to Crunch goals not withstanding – they found themselves trailing 3-2 with under four minutes to play.

But relentless, heavy play on the wall led to sustained offensive zone time and eventually Meyer’s tying goal with 3:55 remaining.

Anton Wahlberg blocked a clearing attempt near the right point and for the next 20 or 30 seconds the Amerks had the Crunch scrambling. The puck eventually came to Komarov at the right point and he smartly wristed a shot toward Meyer at the right edge for the tip-in goal.

The winning goal had a similar look. The line of Joshua, Riley Fiddler-Schultz and Kuntar prevented the Crunch from gaining possession in the Syracuse zone, with Fiddler-Schultz and Joshua then working the puck back to Komarov at the right point.

This time, with the puck wobbling and pressure coming, Komarov flipped waist-high wrister toward the slot. Joshua tipped it downward and Jones, swooping in front the left point and through the left circle, reached out and redirected it between the legs of goalie Ryan Fanti.

“I saw ‘Komi’ get the puck and I thought I should kind of sneak down,” Jones said. “He made a great play to get the puck through the first layer and I just tried to get a piece of it.”

In winning with a lineup that is still missing key pieces (Josh Dunne, Noah Ostlund and Zach Metsa remain on recall to the Buffalo Sabres and center Jake Leschyshyn is out week-to-week with a lower body injury), the Amerks improved to 12-9 and showed how an abrasive style can be effective.

“If you look at our lineup right now, we literally have three guys that have never played center,” Leone said, referring to Wahlberg, Fiddler-Schultz and Graham Slaggert. “I thought our guys did an incredible job of boxing out, playing hard to play against. Geertsen, ‘Wardog’ (Brendan Warren) and Slags titled the ice.”

The 6-foot-4, 231-pound Geertsen, reassigned by the Sabres on Nov. 21, had his first fight as an Amerk early in the first period and made his presence known throughout the game. He even ended up killing a penalty in the third period.

“We ran out of penalty-killers and he (Geertsen) said he killed before and then he gets out and he blew that guy up (delivering a thundering open-ice check on Crunch winger Jakob Pelletier at center ice),” Leone said.

Rosen scored the only goal in the first period, converting a pass from Konsta Helenius to give the Amerks the lead at 14:00.

Crunch defenseman Tommy Miller gathered in a Ryan Johnson dump-in behind the Syracuse net but Helenius applied immediate pressure, playing the body and then establishing position to strip the puck away. One quick, 10-foot pass later and Rosen was alone with the puck at the left edge of the crease and he picked the top right corner for his sixth goal.

Rosen’s giveaway at center led to an unassisted breakaway goal by Wojciech Stachowiak 3:06 into the second period, and the Crunch moved ahead 2-1 at just 6:02 later when Pelletier redirected from the right hash marks a Miller point shot.

But a determined shift of pressure by Fiddler-Schultz, Joshua and Kuntar produced the 2-2 goal by Laaouan at 17:57.

Fiddler-Schultz was able to deny possession by Crunch forwards Mitchell Chaffee and Dylan Duke on the left-wing half wall before Joshua swooped into to provide support. Joshua then feathered a pass across to Laaouan, who moved down to the high right of the slot before wristing a shot past goalie Ryan Fanti.

The goal was his first in 13 games this season, and first in 20 career AHL games over the past four seasons.

“To tie the game up in that situation and get the game back to square gave us some momentum,” Laaouan said.

Neuchev’s giveaway enabled the Crunch to regain the lead 10:29 into the third period. He attempted an outlet pass from along the left-wing half wall in the Amerks zone but Conor Geekie was in perfect position to intercept.

Two quick passes and a shot later and Pelletier ended up with a rebound and a mostly open net to shoot into for a 3-2 Syracuse lead.

Had this been the NHL, where coaches can ask for video review to determine goaltender interference, the goal almost assuredly would have been disallowed. Crunch forward Nick Abruzzese skated across – and maybe into – the top of crease and bumped Levi on his way by. In doing so, Levi’s left arm – with his catching glove – became entangled in Abruzzese’s legs and he had no way to even attempt to stop Pelletier’s shot.

Levi complained and there was a discussion by the officials but the goal stood.

The Amerks, however, found a way to rally.

“Every time we’ve had a poor game since I’ve been here, we’ve gotten back to our game,” Leone said. “That’s a really good hockey team (the Crunch are 12-7) that doesn’t give you much but I thought our guys battled really hard.”