By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
Isak Rosen knows the Rochester Americans need him to score goals, especially now with so many key players either on recall or injured.
Which is why he wasn’t all too happy with his play in two games this week against the Hershey Bears.
On Wednesday, just one of his shot attempts reached goalie Clay Stevenson. On Friday, through two periods, he didn’t have a shot on goal. And remember, this is a guy who in the previous 12 games had 51 shots on goal.
But the fourth-year right winger proved once again he only needs one shot to make a difference. His wrist shot off the rush from the left circle fooled goalie Mitch Gibson and zipped into the net on the short side, snapping a 1-1 tie just 57 seconds into the third period to power the Amerks to a 3-1 victory.
“I was pretty pissed at myself, I kept shooting at defenders and sticks and not doing a good job of faking and getting around them,” Rosen said.
The goal was his 20th of the season – in just 28 games. He has reached the 20-goal barrier in three consecutive seasons, the first Amerk to do so since Chris Taylor from 1999-2000 to 2001-02.
More importantly, his goals often come at critical junctures. His goal Friday — a night when Dean Melanson and Claude Verret were inducted into the Amerks Hall of Fame — put the Amerks back on top and they were able to hold the Bears at bay until Anton Wahlberg scored the clinching goal into an empty net with 31.2 seconds remaining.
“You need your best players to step up,” Amerks coach Michael Leone said of Rosen.
This was hardly all about one goal, however. Leone raved about the team effort. They held the Bears to just 23 shots, never trailed and were never on the ropes.
“I told the group after the game I thought we got rewarded for the hockey we played the last five, six games,” Leone said.
He had a long list of players that stepped up, including defensemen Peter Tischke (who assisted on Riley Fiddler-Schultz’s goal 3:34 into the game) and Aidan Fulp; goalie Devon Levi, who wasn’t tested often but made three clutch saves; Fiddler-Schultz, who does nothing flashy but everything well; and Wahlberg, who was strong again at both ends.
“I told him (Wahlberg) it’s really hard to do what he’s doing,” Leone said. “He’s a left winger playing 1-C center for us and he’s done an incredible job, he’s a plus 13/14 on the year (plus 11 actually).”
After losing 3-1 to Hershey (19-15-5-2) on Wednesday, the Amerks (21-15-4-2) saw winning on Friday as imperative.
“I just like that we played the way we played for 60 minutes, we just gutted it out,” Leone said. “I thought we were the more desperate team tonight, like we this wanted this one.”
Fiddler-Schultz scored the only goal in the first period, giving the Amerks the lead in the game’s fourth minute.
With Jagger Joshua posted up at the top of the crease, Fiddler-Schultz tipped out of mid-air Peter Tischke’s chest-high wrister from the center point and the puck then caromed off defenseman Ryan Chesley and past Gibson.
After producing just 4 goals, 4 assists and 8 points in his first 25 games, Fiddler-Schultz now has 7-8-15 in the past 16 games.
“I thought I was playing some good hockey but wasn’t getting rewarded,” he said. “I just tried to stick to my game, stick to my strengths. I knew eventually it was going to turn.”
The Bears tied the score 4:32 into the second period when Jon McDonald’s wrister from the right point eluded Levi, the defenseman’s first goal in 43 games (33 this season, 10 to close last season).
As he joined the post-goal celebration, McDonald reached behind his head and pulled the figurative monkey off his back.
Rosen retaliated on the first shift of the third period. His shot from the circle went underneath the stick shaft of defenseman Ryan Chesley and zipped past Gibson.
“I think the goalie was a little off (the post); he was cheating a little on the off side,” Rosen said.
The score didn’t change until Wahlberg’s empty-net goal, which came shortly after the Amerks killed off a Hershey power play (three-for-three on the night, 18-for-18 the past five games).
That’s one reason they have been able to at least tread water while Konsta Helenius and Zac Jones remain on recall to Buffalo and Jack Rathbone and Vsevolod Komarov are out injured.
“It’s important to get through these difficult periods if you want to be a good team,” Rosen said.
On this night, we hand out all plusses. It was as entertaining as Wednesday was boring. Scoring more than one goal was a surprise. Hold a 1 goal lead for the entire 3rd period was different. Actually scoring into the empty net was refreshing. The D was great, holding the Bears to just 10 shots over the first 40 minutes, then matching the Bears speed in the wide open 3rd period when both teams fired 13 shots.
Levi was sharp. the penalty kill, especially in the final 2:44 was great. The team played with some fire, a purpose, and while one win doesn’t fix the fact that this team is undermanned…it sent the crowd home happy on a night when they needed to be sent home happy.
The HOF program was nice. Verret’s kids paid nice tribute to their dad and they looked genuinely happy and proud to wear the Amerk #21. Always great to see Marty Biron back in Rochester as he represented Melanson. The 80’s music, played at a sane volume throughout was also refreshing. (why can’t they play the current garbage at that same volume?)
Hope Savage is OK. He took a major hit getting tangled up with his own teammates late in the 3rd. During the recent slump the D has been darned good. Now if we can get some scoring…hopefully during the Olympic break.
A good night at the BCA. And our first win over the Bears in 7 tries.