On the brink of elimination for the second time in less than a week, the Rochester Americans need to win three consecutive games to continue their memorable run in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Seth Appert doesn’t want his players to dwell on that fact, though. In the aftermath of a 3-1 loss in Game 2 of the North Division final in Laval, he tried to shift their focus to another win-or-go-home matchup Wednesday night at Rochester’s Blue Cross Arena.
“The series is well within our reach,” he said. “It’s not a lost cause. We just need to go home on Wednesday and win one game. Then, worry about the next game after that.”
Sounds simple.
But the Amerks need to solve Laval, particularly goalie Cayden Primeau, who stopped 62 of 64 shots to give the Rocket a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series. Primeau, a Montreal Canadiens prospect, has a remarkable .949 save percentage in the postseason and his teammates scored nine goals in two games at home on Sunday and Monday.
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Rochester will have the advantage of hosting Game 3 in front of a large crowd of its fans at 7 p.m. As important, the Amerks had time to recover and watch video to better understand how to create offense against an opponent that’s far different than the previous two they defeated the playoffs.
“It’s going to be a good, hard, tough series,” said Rochester center Mark Jankowski. “They’re a good team, we’re a good team. We have to figure out a way to solve Primeau a little bit more and slow them down a little bit more, too.”
The first significant question that needs to be answered is who will be in the lineup for Game 3? Appert made changes Monday in the second game of a back-to-back, turning to defensemen Oskari Laaksonen and Josh Teves and forward Brendan Warren.
Laaksonen, a third-round draft choice of the Sabres in 2017, hadn’t appeared in a playoff game. The 22-year-old was an American Hockey League all-star during the abbreviated 2020-21 season but his play in his own zone led to his exclusion from the lineup.
Laaksonen was back on the power play Monday night, when the Amerks went 0-for-4 on the man advantage. Their only goal of the loss was by Arttu Ruotsalainen, who leads the AHL in postseason scoring with eight goals and 12 points in nine games, and it occurred with traffic in front of Primeau.
“When a goalie’s in a rhythm, you have to make it miserable on him,” said Appert. “You have to screen him. You have to make him play deep in his crease. … Things that we’re generally good at, but we haven’t been as good at it the first two nights.”
Goaltending will be the story to watch. Aaron Dell, 33, helped the Amerks reach the third round of the playoffs for the first time since 2004 with timely saves, but he hasn’t been as sharp in this series. He has allowed seven goals on 52 shots and his .878 save percentage ranks last in the AHL among goalies to appear in at least five games this postseason.
The save percentage doesn’t indicate how well Dell has played at times. His teammates haven’t been as good in their own end against Laval, which attacks with speed off the rush. But the momentum-shifting saves haven’t been there, and Sabres prospect Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen might be ready to return from a lower-body injury that’s kept him out of the playoffs.
Luukkonen, a second-round draft pick of Buffalo in 2017, hasn’t appeared in a game since the regular-season finale April 29, when he was unable to finish following a collision with Utica’s Ryan Schmelzer. Luukkonen, 23, used a strong April to boost his season save percentage to .900 and he was at .917 in nine games with the Sabres before a separate lower-body injury kept him out from Jan. 11 to Feb. 11.
Luukkonen will compete for the starting job in Buffalo in the fall and an elimination game is the type of development opportunity management wanted for him this season, but it wouldn’t be ideal circumstances for a goalie making his first appearance in almost a month. The winner of the series will advance to the conference finals to face Springfield or Charlotte.
“He’s inching closer,” Appert said following Luukkonen’s practice with the team Saturday. “UPL looked very good in practice, so he’s certainly becoming closer to being available.”
Wingers Michael Mersch and Linus Weissbach, and defenseman Mattias Samuelsson also have been out with injury. Their status for Wednesday is unclear with the Amerks not practicing Tuesday. Forward depth has been an issue with Mersch, Weissbach and Matej Pekar out, placing more pressure on Rochester’s top players to make a difference.
Jack Quinn, a first-round pick of the Sabres in 2020, has zero goals on 24 shots – he had eight shots on goal Monday – and two assists in nine playoff games. The AHL’s rookie of the year is consistently generating chances and making an impact in other areas, but hasn’t been able to score.
Peyton Krebs, who has a league-best 10 playoff assists, almost scored Monday night but his wraparound attempt was blocked by Laval defenseman Xavier Ouellet. And JJ Peterka has five goals with 10 points in nine games.
“Going down 2-0, I think that puts a lot of pressure on (Laval),” said Rochester defenseman Brandon Davidson.
