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ROUND 3 PREVIEW: ROCHESTER TAKES ON TOP-SEED TORONTO

May 11, 2023

The Rochester Americans are heading north of the border to face the top-seeded Toronto Marlies in the North Division Finals. The best-of-five series opens on Thursday night at Coca-Cola Coliseum.

 

“Toronto won our Division for a reason,” Amerks head coach Seth Appert told the media on Wednesday. “They were the best team in our Division from start to finish this year. They’re a great team.”

 

The Toronto Marlies finished the regular season with 90 points, winning the North Division by a large margin. The Rochester Americans tied for second with 81 points.

 

 

“They’ve felt like a different team than last year. The speed, the competitiveness, the presence that [Logan] Shaw has for them. It didn’t surprise me that they had a really good year.”

The Marlies stumbled a bit coming into the postseason: they finished 2-6-2-0 in their last 10 games. But they found their way immediately during Round 2, defeating the Utica Comets in four games.

 

“They’re a tremendous line rush team, they’re excellent on the power play, they’re getting a lot of traffic on opponent’s goaltenders,” Appert explained ahead of the series. “So those are things that we have to take away from them or negate to the best of our ability.”

“From an offensive perspective, we want to play to our identity, regardless of who we play against.”

 

Marlies captain Logan Shaw led the Toronto team with 69 points (21+48) durin the regular season. Shaw has four goals and an assist in his first four postseason games. Forwards Kyle Clifford and Joseph Blandisi have also tallied five points apiece.

 

Between the pipes, goaltender Erik Källgren earned wins in Games 3 and 4 againt Utica. He’s in his second season in Toronto and earned 10 wins in 24 regular season games. The Marlies’ most successful netminder, Joseph Woll, is currently with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

 

He got the Game 4 start and made 24 saves against the Florida Panthers. Should the Maple Leafs be eliminated, Woll is eligible to return to the Marlies.

 

SEASON SERIES

 

The Amerks and Marlies split the season series with four wins apiece. The last time these two teams met was March 12, 2023, with Toronto stealing the win in Rochester.

 

The Marlies might just be the most “unfamiliar” team in the North for the Amerks, after two months have passed since their last match-up. And the rosters for both teams look a bit different, too.

 

“I don’t really look too much into our season record against them,” forward Sean Malone said. “All I know is they are very good offensively, and when you give them time and space, they find lanes and they find the weak side of the ice.

 

He continued: “So I think it’ll be important for us to defend well, defend right away, get turnovers and then go play in their zone. I think we’re at our best when we’re playing above them and playing hard, and making it hard on their forwards to get open.”

 

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While Round 2 was widely expected to be a low-scoring battle, Round 3 could prove to be a high-scoring series: the Amerks and Marlies have combined for more than four goals in all but one meeting during the regular season.

 

“We want to come out in attack mode,” Appert said. “Period one, game one. It doesn’t guarantee a win, but it gives us the best chance to win.”

 

 Amerks captain Michael Mersch leads the Rochester squad so far with seven points in five postseason games, including a hat trick in Round 2, Game 3. Defenseman Lawrence Pilut, who tallied the overtime game-winner in Game 5, has tallied five points.

 

It’s going to take another all-out team effort from the young squad to defeat a grizzled Marlies team, but the Amerks are feeling more confident after Round 2. “Once you’re there and you’ve done it before, you lean on those experiences,” Malone explained.

“Going into this series, we’ll be good.”

The puck drops on Game 1 at 7:00pm on Thursday night at Coca-Cola Coliseum. The game can be streamed on AHLTV, heard on The Fan Rochester, or seen at The Distillery Mt. Hope location.

 

Game 2 is Saturday afternoon in Toronto, and the series returns to Rochester for Game 3 on Wednesday, May 17 at 7:05pm. Tickets for Game 3 are on sale now.

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