Rochester, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Rochester Americans are perfectly content to let the Syracuse Crunch run around the ice and let their goons take cheap shot penalties. Rochester is more content to score goals and win hockey games.
Syracuse’s goon tactics have not worked in the first two games of the best-of-five series, as Rochester is 2-0 and have scored the last seven goals of the series.
If the Crunch don’t stop playing hockey like they’re the Broad Street Bullies of the 1970s, there’s a good chance the better team in the first two games will finish the sweep in Syracuse.
Rochester is playing the game the right way, and even when they lost the momentum in the second period on Sunday, they allowed Devon Levi to see the puck and make 15 of his 35 saves on the day.
There was never any panic in the Amerks' game.
I was very impressed with a lot of what I saw from head coach Mike Leone’s group. This is a team that is willing to do what’s necessary to win a hockey game.
The Amerks sell out to block shots, even though they’re much smaller than Syracuse. They stand up for themselves and don’t back down.
That was evident when 6-foot-6, 220-pound Jack Finley got into a fight with Amerks defenseman Vsevolod Komarov. The two went toe-to-toe until Finley caught Komarov on the chin and put him down to the ice for a while. He eventually got up, but had to be helped to the dressing room.
On Rochester’s first goal, 18-year-old rookie Konsta Helenius started batting with Tobie Bisson. The kid won the battle from his much bigger opponent, and by the time the puck shot from the point by Kale Clague got to the front of the net, Helenius was right there to put it into the open cage.
Clague is playing in the playoffs for the first time in his professional career, and the 26-year-old is the Calder Cup Playoffs' leading scorer with two goals and two assists for four points in two games.
Syracuse came hard at Levi in the second period thanks to some sloppy puck play by Rochester, but Levi played the whole game under control, and was always right in position to make the save.
Jiri Kulich left the ice after blocking a shot and couldn’t put any weight on his left leg. He stayed on the bench, trying to get the pain to go away. He finally was able to return, and his teammates were happy he did.
The teams traded really dumb penalties with Rochester killing off theirs. Joel Teasdale of the Crunch slashed the stick out of one of the Amerks hands with 17.6 seconds left in the second period.
With 13.3 second left in the period, Kulich’s missile from the right circle was in the net for a 2-0 lead. Josh Dunne won the draw back to Clague, and he immediately put it in Kulich’s wheelhouse.
That was the goal that seemed to really put Rochester in control.
At 5:53 of the third period, Kulich won the draw back to Clague, and he gave Rochester a three-goal lead.
Isak Rosen then added the empty netter to cap the scoring.
One of the cheap shots from the Crunch put Jack Rathbone face-first into the wall. He also went to the dressing room, leaving Rochester with just four defensemen.
Rathbone did return, but Zach Metsa got a 10-minute misconduct, leaving the Amerks back to four defensemen for the first 10 minutes of the period.
When Ryan Johnson went to the penalty box, Rochester was actually down to three defensemen for a short period of time.
That’s the point of all this: This group doesn’t seem to get rattled. They just play the game the way it’s supposed to be played, and they roll with what’s thrown their way.
Levi seems to give this team a lot of confidence, as he’s been on top of his game for most of the season while in Rochester. Syracuse scored the first two goals of this series in Game 1, and since then, Rochester has seven unanswered goals.
Now if you follow the Amerks, you know nothing is won.
Two years ago, Syracuse won the first two games at home in pretty dominant fashion. Rochester came home and won the next two, and then went to Syracuse to win the series in overtime.
Rochester knows it can’t let up, and they can’t give Syracuse any hope.
Game 3 of the series is Thursday in Syracuse.