By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
When the lineup has little firepower, when it takes a monumental effort just to create a scoring chance, the last thing you want to do is give the opposition chances off of unforced errors.
The Rochester Americans learned that the hard way on Wednesday night.
Two poor plays with the puck – including a needless icing by defenseman Ryan Johnson late in the third period – led directly to Belleville goals and the Amerks lost 3-1 to the Senators at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial.
With All-Star forwards Isak Rosen and Konsta Helenius still on recall to the parent Buffalo Sabres, the Amerks generated few prime opportunities. When they did have Grade-A looks, they failed to capitalize.
“It’s no secret there’s a lot of offense out of the lineup,” said winger Carson Meyer, whose goal midway through the second period tied the score 1-1. “Rosen, Helenius, those guys usually drive the horse for this team.
“But the rest of us have to step up. We didn’t generate enough tonight – there was too much one-and-done.”
There also were two too many critical mistakes. Like in the second period, when Brendan Warren was in full control of the puck to the left of Amerks goalie Devon Levi but gave it away behind the net.
Two passes later and Lassi Thomson was firing a shot past Levi to give Belleville a 1-0 lead 8:54 into the middle period.
“That’s a play you can’t make; you can’t hand teams goals,” Amerks coach Michael Leone said.
The Amerks responded quickly, tying the game just 63 seconds later. Nikita Novikov moved down the left wing from the point and made a perfect goal-mouth feed to Meyer, who just had to steer it past goalie Leevi Merilinan.
The goal was Meyer’s eighth and ended an eight-game goalless drought. He also had just one goal in his previous 13 games.
“I hadn’t been thrilled with my game the last couple weeks,” Meyer said. “Hopefully this jump-starts my game for the second half.”
The costliest error came with just under six minutes remaining. Johnson was moving through the neutral zone but, instead of reaching the red line, fired the puck down the ice and icing was called.
On the ensuing faceoff in the Amerks zone, Cameron Crotty fired a shot from the right point that was redirected in the right circle by Jan Jenik and it zipped past Levi.
“It’s a play that can’t happen,” Leone said. “We’re at the red line and we ice it. We ice the puck and they score a faceoff goal.”
And just like that, the Amerks (21-16-4-2) are now in a fifth-place tie in the North Division with Belleville (19-19-8-0) at 48 points, though second-place Cleveland and Syracuse are just four points ahead. Rochester is just 5-6-1-1 in the past 13 games.
“That’s a game we have to get to overtime and get a point,” Leone said.
The Amerks are home Friday to play Springfield and at Utica on Saturday. The AHL All-Star break begins Sunday and the Amerks aren’t back in action until a Feb. 14 game back at Utica.
The AHL exists for players to develop and make mistakes. Winning ig great but the goal is development. With a depleted roster the boys are playing grittyu hockey!
It was another nothing game, with a team that for some reason has not embraced the ‘next man up’ philosophy. By the 3rd period, both teams were just skating around accomplishing nothing. Remains to be seen if the Sabres actually send us help during the Olympic break or will they come up with some sorcery (or injury) that will leave our cupboard bare after their game with the Pens tonite.
A lazy giveaway behind the net after a very good penalty kill resulted in the Sens 1st goal. An even lazier icing late in the 3rd resulted in the game winner. Meanwhile our guys were incapable of mounting anything close to offensive pressure. The homestand, as predicted has been unremarkable.
Can’t remember a time when 1) they can’t string wins together, at all for over 3 months and 2) there is no one who can score goals except Rosen, when he’s here.
Maybe its time for coach to take off the buffalo sabres hoodie and remind these guys who they are playing for, at the moment? We are tied for 6th and we’re not winning games. An ugly combo.
If you follow other teams in the AHL you will note that the organizations that stress development AND winning are your most successful ones. We in Rochester have to hear many Sabre fans continue to scold us with the tired ‘the only reason you exist is’. This franchise has been developing players for 70 years and along the way they have won 6 Cups and gone to the Finals at least 10 other times. Its pretty clear that sending players to the NHL and providing a winning atmosphere has helped them develop through strong competition at a very high level.
Sabrefan tells us we here in Rochester don’t understand how farm teams work. I would heartily disagree. Those folks also forget this is a business…both in buffalo and 60 miles to the east. Tickets are sold, and they aren’t cheap. The AHL is not a beer league (except when they allowed the west coast teams to play fewer games than the rest of the league). Winning a Calder Cup is and always has been a goal worth reaching (watch the films of Cup Champs celebrating)
When parent and farm work together, its not unusual for both to be successful. It takes a lot of effort, planning, scouting, and leadership. We haven’t won a Cup in 30 years under the Sabres leadership. Sabres have not won a Cup…ever. How’s that working out? Lots of room for being critical of how Sabres have ‘developed’ their young talent.
But if anyone wants to ignore the value of winning down here, they are sadly mistaken. It matters a lot.