By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
Come February, the Rochester Americans very likely will have forgotten just about everything from Wednesday night’s 5-3 loss to the Utica Comets.
But in the moments following the final horn at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial, frustration ruled.
And rightly so. When your compete level is poor, when your mistakes lead to gimme goals, when a player is demonstratively showing his frustration with his teammates, well, it’s a bad night at the office.
“I don’t love that we got outworked today,” Amerks captain Matthew Peca said. “We gave away goals.”
Perhaps the only player who could find consolation was defenseman Caleb Jones. Not from the way the Amerks played in falling to 3-3-0-1, but just because he was playing.
Now in his 10th pro season and a veteran of 260 NHL games (including playoffs), Jones skated in just eight games last season and was playing in only his sixth of this season.
He suffered an ankle injury in October of 2025 and a shoulder injury shortly after his return in January. Both required surgery over the summer so now it’s a matter of once again feeling comfortable on the ice.
“Tonight felt pretty good,” said Jones, who scored the Amerks first goal. “It just takes a sec when you miss a year like that, just the rhythm and timing of things. Honestly it’s just getting back to playing, trying not to overthink things, trusting yourself again.”
Of course, he’s attempting to do all of that with a new team. Jones was acquired along with defenseman Daniel Laatsch by the parent Buffalo Sabres in the Oct. 12 trade that sent defenseman Ryan Johnson to the Penguins.
While Jones said he is familiar with several Amerks from hockey circles, he has only played as teammates with one: Brendan Warren, and that was USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program a dozen years ago.
“We carpooled together and roomed together there so it was pretty cool seeing him after all this time,” Jones said. “He’s exactly how I remember him, he’s an awesome guy.”
Jones’ goal came with 17.3 seconds remaining in the second period. He whipped the puck from deep in the left circle to the goal mouth, hoping to connect with Conor Sheary, but the pass instead caromed off the skate of Utica defenseman Eamon Powell and past goalie David Rittich.
By then, however, the Comets (4-1-0-0) already had scored four times. The first came off a Vsevolod Komarov giveaway that led to a Ben Steeves goal off a three-on-one at 7:38 of the first period.
The second came just 1:56 into the second period, when the Amerks lost coverage in the slot and Xavier Parent tipped home a Gabe Klassen centering pass.
Then came a pair of short-handed goals, the first when goalie Matthew Villalta’s headman pass instead caromed off Peca skated and into an empty net, and the second after a poor line change allowed Rittich to make a long outlet pass to spring Marc McLaughlin on a breakaway.
“We can’t just be giving up goals for free,” Jones said. “They don’t give up anything the way it is so we put ourselves behind the 8-ball.”
As McLaughlin celebrated his goal, Komarov, hung out to dry by the ill-timed line change, gestured toward the bench in frustration.
It was not a good look.
“Your job as a player, when things go wrong, is to turn the page to your next shift and the next play in the game that you have to make,” coach Michael Leone said. “He didn’t do a very good job of that. It’s just not acceptable.
“Body language we talk about all the time. He was a healthy scratch last year for one game for body language, so I have no time for that.”
Under normal circumstances, Komarov most certainly would have been a healthy scratch for Friday’s game at Syracuse. But he’ll very likely be serving a suspension from the American Hockey League, punishment for the match penalty he received midway through the third period.
As a scrum was ending in the Amerks crease, Komarov kicked at a fallen Utica player.
“Those things can’t happen,” Leone said. “You can’t let frustration or things like that … I’m sure there’s going to be repercussions. He’ll definitely be talked to by us.”
Aiden McDonough and Riley Fiddler-Schultz scored in the final 2:40, but the Comets had already wrapped up the victory by then.
Leave a Reply