By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
As the Rochester Americans limp toward the Christmas holiday break, they’ve managed to achieve an undesirable form of consistency.
They’re consistently inconsistent. In the 10 games since Nov. 21, it’s been win one, lose one; win one, lose one.
Until Wednesday, that is, when the Amerks followed up Saturday’s 2-1 shootout loss to Syracuse by somehow managing to lose 3-2 to the Utica Comets, a team missing eight regulars because of callups and injuries.
“A bunch of guys that just wanted it more,” miffed Amerks coach Michael Leone said. “If you don’t want it bad enough, games like that are going to happen.”
Utica defenseman Topias Vilen, a guy who went 62 games without a goal, broke a 2-2 tie with a power-play goal midway through the second period and the Comets (6-14-3-1) held off the Amerks the rest of the way.
They did so simply by outworking the Amerks, holding Rochester to just 21 shots – and only five in the third period. That’s despite a pair of third-period power plays, when Comets goalie Nico Daws never faced a shot.
“We get two power plays and no shots … just not good enough,” Leone said. “You can’t just show up because on paper we have more skill than the other team.
“If you don’t want it bad enough, games like that are going to happen.”
Those games are becoming a little too commonplace. After starting 7-2, the Amerks are under .500 since Nov. 1 (7-8-2-1) and their overall record has fallen to 14-10-2-1.
“Obviously a game like tonight we didn’t have our best effort,” said defenseman Zac Jones, who recorded his league-best 24th assist on Isak Rosen’s first-period goal and scored his second goal. “The biggest thing in this league is being consistent for 60 minutes every game, but it’s not easy to do.”
Rosen’s team-leading 10th goal staked the Amerks to a 1-0 lead 6:12 into the first period. Working with a two-man advantage, Jones passed to Konsta Helenius in the left circle. Helenius then zipped a pass across to the right circle, where Rosen was free to one-time a laser past Daws.
“That shot is lethal,” Jones said.
The goal was Rosen’s sixth on the power play, also tops on the team, while Jones added to his league-leading total for power-play assists (19).
But a giveaway by defenseman Isaac Belliveau led to the tying goal by Matyas Melovsky with 4:33 left in the period.
Belliveau had full possession of the puck in the circle to Levi’s right and tried to bank it off the boards and out of the zone. The carom instead went directly to Lenni Hameenaho, who immediately found Melovsky on the right wing and his shot zipped past goalie Devon Levi.
Another turnover, this one by defenseman Vsevolod Komarov just inside the Utica blue line, followed by ill-advised line changes by Rosen and Jagger Joshua led to two-on-one fastbreak for the Comets and the go-ahead goal 52 seconds into the second period by Jonathan Gruden off a Cam Squires pass.
“We change on a backcheck to (allow) a two-on-one,” Leone said, clearly miffed at the decisions.
Jones tied it at 4:39 with his second goal of the season, moving in front the left point before picking the top right corner on a screened Daws.
But Utica regained the lead on Vilen’s power play goal at 10:11. With Ryan Schmelzer posted up in the deep slot, Levi never saw Vilen’s shot from the center point. He had gone 62 games without a goal, including his first 17 this season.
Instead of a third-period full-court press, the Amerks rarely hinted at sustained offensive-zone pressure and made life easy for Daws.
“Guys gotta understand just the right way to play the game,” Leone said. “We’ve got D going down the wall, we’re slamming, we’re trying to chip the puck by them and toe drag. … It’s not winning hockey and if you play like that you’re going to get beat by anybody no matter the night.”
A talk down memory lane with Don Stevens
Don Stevens, the voice of the Amerks, will join guest host Kevin Oklobzija for a two-hour walk down memory lane during the John DiTullio Show on Fox Sports 1280 on Dec. 30.
The show airs from noon to 12 p.m. on WHTK-AM (1280).
They are pathetic. I left after the second period. Leone says all the right things, but they dont translate on the ice. These players just simply are not aggressive enough to win at this level. This is North American hockey, not the big ice like in Europe. Nastiness, physicality and intimidation still matter here. We dont have enough guys who want to play that way, especially on defence, where it is needed most.
It was a horrible effort start to finish. Amerks played sloppy, uninspired hockey against a team that had won only once on the road this year (it was here) They barely raised a sweat in the 3rd, when they needed to go all out to reclaim the game. Instead what we saw was 2 feeble power plays where they couldn’t even get organized, followed by a lot of nothing the final 10 minutes.
Even after pulling Levi with a lot of time left, they never controlled the play. If the new Sabres GM was watching, he had to be pretty unimpressed with his ‘prospects’ down here.
When we lost that shootout last week to the Phantoms, we were undermanned. The 8 guys that took the skill competition shots couldn’t have done a worse job. Last night, the team had a full roster, but nobody took charge. Levi faced very few shots, but the loss wasn’t on him.
Amerks are now a very disturbing 5-5-2 at home. They never win on Wednesdays. Attendance is always poor. This 4 game homestand has been awful so far. Last nights game was simply a complete waste of time.
Do better Amerks. Do a lot better.
Two losses on home ice in a row to the leagues worst team and yesterday that team was missing 8 players on an already awful team! Amerks have become almost unwatchable on home ice, the shootout attempt against Lehigh valley was a series of the worst 8 shots I’ve ever seen the Amerks take in there franchise history in the shootout! The team on Wednesday has had beyond pathetic effort on home ice and it’s been a very strong pattern! No wonder attendance has suffered!
2 of Utica 6 wins are against Rochester, are the Amerks the only team Utica has beaten more then once?
‘the other team wanted it more’ mantra is getting overused this season. Amerks collectively disappear for long stretches and no one seems to be able to take charge. It was a mistake making Metsa the captain, because he isn’t here enough. Your captain has to be here and he has to be a leader.
The team is a mess right now. they shouldn’t be. The talent is there from the goalie on out but the ‘chemistry’ (I know, overused term but still applicable) isn’t.
Put them back in those red 60’s unis–the ones that harken back to winning and throw the whites and blues into storage for the season.
Amerks have lost 5 straight home games on Wednesday nights and have only 1 win on home ice Wednesday all season which was in October! Amazing that the coaching staff can’t get this team to show up Wednesday nights simply pathetic and embarrassing and no coach Leone the process isn’t more important then the result when the result is this consistently bad!