AMERKS WEEK 18 ROUND-UP
Amerks split the weekend, Hinostroza starting to settle in, Grueling stretch awaits
Feb 13, 2023Week 18 marked the halfway point in the 2022-23 campaign for the Rochester Americans, and the first pair of games back from the 2023 All-Star Break were split over the weekend.
The Springfield Thunderbirds came to the Flower City riding an eight-game win streak, the Amerks had a big response the next night against the Syracuse Crunch and the team embarks on its most grueling stretch of the season this week with four games over the next six nights.
We cover it all here, and more, with Amerks head coach Seth Appert in our Week 18 Roundup.
HANDLING THE PUCK PRESSURE
Springfield came into Friday on an eight-game tear, by the time the Thunderbirds left Rochester, they extended that streak to nine with a clean 4-0 win over the Amerks at The Blue Cross Arena. It was the first game back for both teams after the annual All-Star break and one that came with a lot of pressure for Rochester.
“Springfield's got a really good team,” began Appert when asked how the Amerks handled the Thunderbirds dominant puck pressure. “Their puck pressure was high. I thought they put us in some uncomfortable positions. I don't think we navigated it (puck pressure) as good as we could have in terms of the cleanliness of our breakouts and our puck decisions.”
Despite the offensive execution that Appert liked early on, the Amerks were just unable to generate any type of offense. Even while veteran defenseman Matt Bartkowski registered a career-high seven shots on goal while blueliner Jeremy Davies and forward Mason Jobst each had four and three, respectively.
So, it wasn’t the chances that Appert was upset about; it was the fact that the compete wasn’t hard enough to get to right areas to execute offensively.
“The biggest thing is their big physical defensive core. Our forwards didn't compete hard enough to get inside on them,” said Appert. “We got enough shots, the shots were pretty much even in the game, but I don't think we did enough to get to the inside to threaten consistently.”
Despite the loss, the Amerks’ first in Rochester against Springfield after entering the contest 5-0-0-0, the club has eight wins in 13 games opposite the Thunderbirds since the start of the 2016-17 season. It was the Amerks’ first shutout loss on home ice since Feb. 26, 2022.
RESPONDING IN THE RIGHT WAY
After falling to Springfield 4-0 on Friday, the Amerks came back with a vengeance on Saturday against the Crunch, taking away a 4-1 win to close out their first week of action back from the AHL All-Star Break.
“It was a good response,” began Appert when asked where the fire came from on Saturday night. “We haven't played our best hockey in the last couple of weeks and we needed to respond and that was an important game for us. They’re (Crunch) a hard team to play against. They have a very good lineup right now. On the road, that’s a tough building.”
On the strength of his first three-point outing in the American Hockey League in over five years, forward Vinnie Hinostroza powered the Amerks to a 4-1 victory over the Crunch on Saturday at Upstate Medical University Arena. Along with a two-goal effort, Hinostroza added an assist for his first three-point performance since Dec. 2, 2017 as a member of the Rockford IceHogs.
In Appert’s eyes, this was the first game that Hinostroza looked like himself since being with the Amerks.
“When you come down here (AHL), it's totally different,” explained Appert when discussing Hinostroza’s efforts against the Crunch. “Now you're playing 18 to 20 minutes and you're playing on the first line. On the power-play and penalty kills. There's an adjustment period to that and I thought this was the game where he looked the most like himself in terms of the energy and passion and competitiveness that that he plays with.”
Defenseman Ethan Prow recorded his fifth multi-point game of the season while forward Jiri Kulich and defenseman Lawrence Pilut scored their 10th and second goals of the season, respectively. Additionally, forward Brandon Biro capped off the scoring as he netted an assist to become the first Amerk this season to reach the 30-point plateau.
Just a good game from start to finish for the Rochester.
Appert then finished with, “I thought we had a really good start. That was important to not have to chase the game, to get off to a good start…and then they had to chase the game. So that was really good.”
CRAZY STRETCH ON TAP
Energy. That’s going to be a key word this week as the Amerks head into a heavy stretch of four games over the next six days.
“It's (energy) going to be critical this week, how you manage the games and that you're not wasting energy,” said Appert when asked how that one word will play a major factor over the next six days. “We have four-in-six this week and then starting a week later we have a six-in-nine. So, it's a big stretch of games and we’re at that point of the season where every game is critically important right now.”
The week’s action begins tomorrow against the Cleveland Monsters, a team that the Amerks are just four points ahead of in the standings. This game is critically important for Rochester to come out with a win considering how close the North Division is from second to sixth place.
“The game Tuesday, in Cleveland, they're a team that's on our heels in the standings and it's a very important game,” said Appert when looking at the week ahead. “The most important thing you can do is to take it one game at a time. Let's worry about Cleveland. Let's put all of our focus and all of our energy into Cleveland – to preparing for them and playing against them and then have to go from there.”
After Tuesday at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, the Amerks head home on Friday to kick off a home-in-home against the Toronto Marlies before wrapping up the week with a Sunday matinee against the Crunch. A lot of North Division matchups over the span of just six days, meaning all hands on deck.
“We’re going to need everybody this week. We have 15 healthy forwards right now and eight healthy defensemen, and we're going to need all of those guys at some point this week to give us good minutes.”