GAMEDAY NOTES AND QUOTES: AMERKS START TWO-GAME SWING IN CLEVELAND
Richards makes his return to Cleveland, Mersch, Kisakov and Biro all make return to lineup tonight
Nov 16, 2023
By Andrew Mossbrooks | @Mossbrooks48
The Rochester Americans (7-3-2-0) visit Cleveland for their first of two encounters on the week with the Monsters (7-3-1-0) Thursday night.
“I think they probably have the best lineup in our division,” said Amerks head coach Seth Appert earlier in the week. “They’ve been in a rebuild. They’ve got a lot of draft picks and they’ve drafted very well, so they have a lot of prospects that are very talented. They have an elite, high-end defense core. This is going to be a great test. They’re always hard to play against and they’re absolutely loaded with the lineup they have now.”
RETURN TO FORM
Injury has felt like a buzz word in Rochester with the plethora of injuries the Amerks have suffered to begin the season. Fortunately, Appert provided encouraging news earlier in the week, stating forwards Aleksandr Kisakov, Brandon Biro, and captain Michael Mersch are healthy and slated to play Thursday’s game.
“Any guy you get back is important, and when you get your captain back it’s huge,” said Appert. “Biro has been one of, if not our best player over the past couple of seasons. These three players are pretty impactful guys to get back.”
“I’m very fortunate to have this job,” said Mersch. “The way that the guys battled for some critical points early in the season with all the injuries we’ve had is huge. That stuff doesn’t go unnoticed. I’m looking forward to getting back into the lineup and getting into the battle with the guys because that’s one of the best things about playing.”
Mersch, Kisakov, and Biro have combined for seven goals and 17 points with each of them playing no more than six games with Rochester this season. The latter of which (Biro) returns to the Amerks after a two-game stay with the Buffalo Sabres, where he netted his first two NHL goals against Philadelphia on Nov. 1.
“Probably something I’ll remember forever,” said Biro. “You never really know when you’re going to get chances. It was kind of a surprise to get called-up at that point (in the season), but I got two, so I’ll take it.”
10K TOKARSKI
Appert confirmed Thursday morning that goaltender Dustin Tokarski will get his fourth start in goal this season.
In his first start, Tokarski became the 18th goaltender in league history to reach 400 games. A week later, he made 31 saves in a 4-3 win last Friday against Utica, bumping the 15-year veteran up to over 10,000 saves in the American Hockey League. He is 2-0-1 on the year.
“It’s been great to be back,” said Tokarski earlier in the month when coming off an injury to start the season. “Guys are rallying hard and grinding out there, so it’s good to see that team mentality and how it’s a next man-up mindset.”
Since breaking into the league in 2009, Tokarski has appeared in 11 games against the Monsters’ organization, posting a 6-2-2 record against them.
A RETURN FOR RICHARDS
Fourth-year pro Justin Richards will oppose one of his former teams for the first time in his career Thursday night when he takes on Cleveland, a team he played 61 games for during the 2022-23 season.
“Absolutely,” said Richards when asked about there being added motivation when facing his former team. “I still have some friends on the team, but once that puck drops, none of them are my friends.”
Richards posted two assists playing against Rochester as a member of the Monsters, but collectively amassed 10 goals and 39 points in Cleveland. He’s up to four points (2+2) as an Amerk, with both goals coming shorthanded.
“I love it here,” said Richards. “It’s a great city and a great organization. The coaches have been great and all of my teammates have been very nice to me and very welcoming. We have a great lineup here.”
FIVE-SECOND RULE
Rochester is coming off its first shutout loss of the season. The team dropped a 6-0 game in Utica Saturday after holding off the Comets for a win the night prior.
“We need to keep evolving into becoming a puck-hunting, forecheck-based team,” said Appert. “That needs to be our identity. It’s not our identity yet because we don’t do it every night. If something is your identity as a group, you take pride in it and do it 95 percent of the time. Right now, we’re probably doing it 65 to 75 percent of the time. On Friday, we were elite at it and that led to a lot of success. We did a lot of good things defensively on Saturday, but we spent too much time in the defensive zone. When you spend too much time in the defensive zone, bad things are going to happen.”
Appert has touted Cleveland’s offensive defense core and how they generate chances for their forwards in the attacking zone. How do you counter that?
“By getting in and out of your defensive zone in five to seven seconds,” Appert responded. “Everybody in this league can play good defense for five to seven seconds. Very few teams, if any, can play good defense for 25 to 30 seconds. We need to get in and get out. We need our defensemen to get guys into the walls and get stalls and find breakouts, so we spend less time there.”
SCARY MONSTERS
The Amerks play their first of eight games against Cleveland Thursday, then quickly follow with game two 48 hours later.
In their final meeting last season, Filip Cederqvist converted for a natural hat trick in a span of 4:45, though the Amerks were on the wrong side of a 4-3 final.
Cleveland failed to make the postseason a year ago. So far this season, the team is off to its best start in franchise history.
“Their lineup last year was decimated,” said Appert when comparing this year’s Cleveland team to last year’s. “A lot of their guys last year were in Columbus (NHL) for large chunks of the season. Now that Columbus is healthier, they have a lot of guys in Cleveland. I think they look excellent. They look dangerous. They look extremely talented offensively. I think they’re going to be a heck of a challenge.”
“We played a really complete game,” said Richards when asked about his time with Cleveland last season. “We took care of the defensive zone first and offense after. Chances were hard to get against us and we capitalized on ours.”
“They play hard,” said Mersch. “They play a physical game. It seems like they have some high-end skilled players on their roster right now.”