By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
Whenever the Rochester Americans had truly needed to win during the season, whenever they had desperately need to earn a point, they somehow managed to find a way, even if it wasn’t always pretty.
That ability to rise to the occasion is, after all, how they slithered into the Calder Cup playoffs on the regular season’s final day as the fifth seed in the American Hockey League’s North Division.
But on Sunday evening, in the deciding third game of the play-in mini-round series, the Amerks came up short, losing 4-2 to the Toronto Marlies.
With the loss – a ninth straight at Coca-Cola Coliseum dating back to Feb. of 2024 – the Amerks season comes to a close, and so, too, does the 58-year broadcasting career of Don Stevens.
“I feel like we’ve had our backs against the wall so often this season and we’d claw our way out,” center Carson Meyer said. “We’ve always found a way to battle through it. We really believed we’d win today and make a run.”
The Marlies depth and talent – they had six players in the lineup who spent considerable time with the parent Toronto Maple Leafs this season – eventually was too much to overcome.
Toronto’s Ryan Tverberg scored the only goal in the first period, Logan Shaw scored twice and twice in the second and William Villeneuve then hit an empty net with 90 seconds remaining to clinch victory for the Marlies.
Konsta Helenius and Olivier Nadeau scored for the Amerks.
“I’m really proud of this team,” coach Michael Leone said. “It’s been a gruesome year mentally and physically (with recalls, trades and injuries) but we found a way to take them, in my opinion, as far as we could go.”
The Amerks played from behind on Sunday for 57 minutes and 48 seconds, which is not a recipe for success. But when Tverberg scored just 2:12 into the game off a two-on-one fast break, the Marlies played from a position of strength to the final buzzer.
Still, after falling behind 2-0 and 3-1, the Amerks were within a goal when they pulled goalie Devon Levi (35 saves) for a sixth attacker with 2:40 remaining.
Toronto goalie Dennis Hildeby made a clutch save on a point shot from Gavin Bayreuther, then Villeneuve gained control of the rebound and lofted the puck down the ice and it slid into the empty net at the other end.
“We pushed a really good team to the brink,” Leone said.
Tverberg gave the Marlies the instant lead just 2:12 into the game off a two-on-one fast break down the right wing.
Ryan Johnson was unable to hold a bouncing puck in at the left point and Tverberg sprinted to center to pick it up and lead a two-on-one into the Amerks zone. He angled into the slot, and when defenseman Radim Mrtka tentatively backed away instead of forcing Tverberg, the Marlies winger ended up with a point-blank shot from just above the crease.
Relentless work by Marlies veteran defenseman Dakota Mermis created Shaw’s first goal, which came 4:48 into the second period for a 2-0 lead.
Mermis pushed the puck through center, chipped it past Mrtka on the half wall in the Amerks zone, then maintained pursuit and played it past Johnson and around behind the net.
The Marlies then went around the world, with every player on the ice touching the puck before Shaw, alone in the deep slot, converted a pass from behind the net by Vinni Lettieri.
Helenius cut the deficit to 2-1 at 10:06. Taking Mrtka’s quick head-man pass at center, Helenius sped in through the right circle and fired high past Hildeby.
But Mason Geertsen’s hack at a puck already covered by Hildeby gave the Marlies a power play at 13:52, and they needed just 38 seconds to turn it into Shaw’s second goal.
Shaw and Bo Groulx worked a give-and-go, with Groulx feeding the puck into the deep slot to set up Shaw with an open net.
The Marlies returned the needless penalty favor at 15:36 when Villeneuve essentially tackled Chris Douglas in the Toronto zone. Just 47 seconds later, Anton Wahlberg set up Nadeau in the deep slot and the Amerks were back within a goal at 3-2.
The score didn’t change until just 1:30 remained, when Villeneuve hit the empty net.
Any thoughts on the play of Olivier Nadeau? It seems like he had a solid second half of the season, at least offensively. His first contract is done with the end of the Amerks season, and with the lack of forward prospect depth in the prospect pool, it seems like it might be worth bringing him back on a 1- or 2-year deal.
Those early goals really haunted Levi this season. He allowed several 1t shot or very early minute goals which put his team behind the 8-ball right away. It was too bad it happened again yesterday because overall Amerks played a very good game and Levi was otherwise solid. At least he didn’t go out in humiliation like last season. His season was one of highs and lows. He wasn’t as able this season to overcome his team’s many deficiencies. they just weren’t as strong or talented as in previous years. The injuries and recalls, without bonafide AHL talent to replace hurt us a lot.
Sabres are on a quest, and we sort of became collateral damage as far as a competitive team goes. I think it was fair to say they went as far as they could have possibly gone. They really weren’t a playoff team. they ended the season losing 7 of their last 8 games. the numbers were uglier if you go back about 30 or so games. So let’s not.
We will sorely miss Don Stevens. As AHL guru Patrick Williams said, he was the heart and soul of everything Amerk. Along with no Don in 2026-27 I see lots of changes on the horizon. If the Sabres have a successful playoff run, there could be a renewed interest in having us be a strong AHL component.
Always sad when a season ends, no matter how it ends. The offseason seems so long! but here we are again.