By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
The role for Konsta Helenius has changed ever since linemate Isak Rosen was traded away two weeks ago by the soaring-toward-the-top Buffalo Sabres.
“When I played with Rosie, Rosie was the goal-scorer and I was the passer,” Helenius said. “But I like to score goals too.”
On Sunday, Helenius showed that he’s pretty good at it.
The second-year winger scored three goals in a span of just 13 minutes and 5 seconds as the Rochester Americans rallied from an early 3-1 deficit to defeat the Hartford Wolf Pack 6-3.
Jake Leschyshyn, Jagger Joshua and Vsevolod Komarov also scored goals as the Amerks won for just the second time in 13 games (2-8-1-2) and, in the process, thrilled a crowd of a Bills Day crowd of 8,725 at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial.
“This was a big win for us,” Helenius said, referring to the recent losing skid. “It’s been hard for us.”
Life on the ice appeared to be getting only more depressing after 13 minutes on Sunday as the Wolf Pack zoomed to a 3-1 lead.
Trey Fix-Wolansky, who feasted on the Amerks when he played for the Cleveland Monsters, gave the Wolf Pack the lead just 3:38 into the game.
He burst in on left wing by himself, angled across the slot and, after faking to the backhand when he reached the crease, tucked the puck in around the left skate of goalie Devon Levi for his 26th goal.
Helenius, who doesn’t turn 20 until May 11, tied it at 7:35 off the fast break. He took Anton Wahlberg’s drop pass in stride in the right circle before somehow slipping a 5-hole shot past goalie Spencer Martin.
Anton Blidh restored the Hartford lead just 87 seconds later. Defenseman Scott Morrow moved in from the left point, side-stepped Carson Meyer and then passed across the slot Blidh, who had an open net.
Brody Lamb then extended the lead to 3-1 at 12:49, converting Morrow’s pass into the slot, and the margin could have been 4-1 at 16:31 but referee David Elford waved off a Blidh rebound goal, ruling the Wolf Pack winger interfered with Levi.
“Too many easy chances,” Helenius said of the early team defense. “Then we started playing defense better.”
They also started scoring. Well, he did, anyway.
Helenius scored his second goal just before the period ended, converting a Matteo Costantini pass with 14.3 seconds left to pull the Amerks back within a goal.
He completed his second career hat trick on the first shift of the second period. With both teams a man short, Wahlberg created a Hartford turnover just inside the Amerks blue line and Helenius raced the other way by himself. He darted down the slot before firing a wrister over the glove of Martin.
The talented Finnish forward now has 18 goals, 30 assists and 48 points in 50 games. While his 200-foot game has improved, Leone said, he remains the Amerks one player up front that opponents must fear.
“He has a swagger to him in a good way,” Leone said. “He can go into the rink thinking he’s the best player on the ice, and that’s easier said than done.”
Hartford squandered a great chance to regain the lead, failing to score during 90 seconds of five-on-three power play between 9:18 and 10:48. Defenseman Noah Laaouan was a big reason, coming up with a critical shot block.
“That PK was huge, the sacrifice by the guys,” Amerks coach Michael Leone said.
The Amerks used the momentum of the kill to seize control, as Leschyshyn’s 12th goal gave them their first lead less than three minutes later.
As Meyer worked down the right of the slot, Leschyshyn motored down the left of the slot and was free to steer in the Meyer pass at 13:29.
Joshua provided insurance 2:05 into the third period when he tracked puck-carrying Cooper Moore to the right of the net and managed to swat it off the defenseman’s stick and past an unsuspecting Martin on the short side.
“There’s no logic in our sport,” Leone said. “I would say we were a lot better on Friday (in a 5-3 loss to Syracuse) and tonight we score six but I didn’t think we were as good.”
Solid pro debut
Defenseman Gavin McCarthy played his first pro game, wearing No. 2 for the Amerks.
A third-round pick (86th overall) in 2023 by the Sabres, McCarthy opted to turn pro earlier this week after three seasons at Boston University.
“A little nervous going into the game, trying to test the waters,” he said. “Obviously it’s a bit faster, guys are stronger.”
Said Leone: “I thought it was a solid first game for him.”
As Leone noted, it certainly didn’t hurt that, as a freshman at BU, McCarthy faced Macklin Celebrini – the emerging superstar forward for the San Jose Sharks – and Lane Hutson – the Montreal Canadiens young star defenseman – in practice every day.
Teenage hat tricks
The last Amerk to record a hat trick before turning 20 was Jiri Kulich, who did so twice in the 2023-24 season: at Laval on Oct. 18 and at home vs. Belleville on April 13, the day before he turned 20.
And even deeper in the trivia archive: The youngest Amerk to scored a hat trick was Jozef Cierny, who was three and a half months shy of his 19th birthday when found the net three times in an 11-2 rout of the Baltimore Skipjacks on Jan. 31, 1993.
Tough schedule remains
Heading into Sunday, the Amerks had the second-toughest remaining schedule of any Eastern Conference team (opponents had a .606 points percentage).
They still must play Syracuse (38 wins, 81 points) three times, Providence (a league-best 47 wins and 95 points) and Cleveland (33, 73) twice and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (39, 86) and Charlotte (37, 79) once each.
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