AMERKS RETURN HOME WITH SPLIT FROM LAVAL
Oct 21, 2023
By Andrew Mossbrooks | @Mossbrooks48
The second week of the season had a little bit of everything, didn’t it? The Rochester Americans played two games in Laval against the Rocket that featured hat tricks, fights, a goalie scoring a goal (kind of), and plenty of penalties. The end result: a two-game split as the Amerks travel back to the Flower City with a 2-1-1-0 record through their first four games into the year following a 5-4 overtime win Wednesday and an 8-4 loss Friday night at Place Bell.
THREE FOR JIRI
Jiri Kulich continued his torrid start to the season Wednesday in Laval by notching not only his second consecutive overtime game-winner, but subsequently posting his first career hat trick, as the 19-year-old’s third goal of the game lifted Rochester to a 5-4 overtime victory. The 28th overall draft pick by the Sabres in 2022 registered points in each of his first three games this season and currently leads the Amerks with four goals. He and Isak Rosen are tied for the team lead in points with six.
Kulich’s hat trick was the first of the season by an Amerk and the first since Filip Cederqvist converted for three on April 15 of last season at home against Cleveland. The last hat trick scored on the road for Rochester came off the stick of Brandon Biro, who netted three against Laval last March.
PUTTIN’ UP POINTS (AND FAST)
The Amerks scored nine goals in two games this week and have 17 through the first four contests this season. Rochester’s depth was on full display yet again with seven different skaters finding the back of the net in Laval. At least 10 players recorded a point in Wednesday’s win, while nine Amerks were on the scoresheet Friday.
Rosen continues his streak to start the season. The second-year pro has points in each of the first four games this year, scoring two goals and adding four assists over his streak. Additionally, defenseman Jeremy Davies and forward Aleksandr Kisakov enter next week on three-game point streaks, with each player having a pair of goals and assists. Davies’ homecoming to Quebec was a good one. After earning the primary assist on Kulich’s OT winner Wednesday, he scored his second goal of the season Friday night, whipping a shot from the right point that eluded Rocket goaltender Jakub Dobes.
Davies’ goal Friday came just 1:27 after Brendan Warren scored in his season debut to get Rochester on the board.
The Amerks have already strung together goals in rapid succession four times this season. In those instances, the Amerks have scored consecutive goals less than three minutes apart, with the fastest pair coming in Friday’s third period, when Kisakov and Kale Clague scored 21 seconds apart.
PENALTY PERIL
Rochester faced 12 penalty kills north of the border in Laval this week. The team went nine-for-12 on the kill. The Amerks accumulated 35 penalty minutes, including five for Brett Murray’s fighting major sustained late in Friday’s game when the Amerks’ assistant captain wrangled William Trudeau to the ice. It’s the second fighting major assessed to Rochester this season, with Joseph Cecconi accruing five minutes for dropping the gloves in Toronto last week.
Rochester was shorthanded five or more times in each of its three games during this Canadian road trip. That said, Justin Richards recorded the first shorthanded goal of Rochester’s season in the opening game of the week.
On the other side of special teams, Kulich and Kisakov each tallied power-play goals. Rochester’s man-advantage has gone 4-for-15 (26.6%) to start the 2023-24 campaign.
UP NEXT
Rochester makes the trek back to Blue Cross Arena, where they’ll enjoy playing four of the next five games, beginning Wednesday against Charlotte. After playing consecutive two-game weeks to open the season, the Amerks will face a trio of opponents Wednesday-Saturday, hosting Charlotte and Laval, before venturing to Utica Saturday night.