From the Rochester Amerks’ perspective, the call could not have been much easier, or more obvious.
Midway through the overtime period Sunday afternoon at Blue Cross Arena, the Amerks cleared their zone and Tyson Kozak – at least according to him and the entire Rochester bench – swore that he was able to tip the puck at center ice which should have prevented an icing call.
The linesmen didn’t see or hear that and put his arm up, and once the play was blown dead, there was no discussion by the four men in stripes to make sure it was the right call. The Amerks were forced to take a faceoff in their own end of the rink, and in this game, that was a dangerous proposition.
Sure enough, for the third time, the Amerks lost a defensive zone faceoff – this one by Brandon Biro – and the Crunch were able to gain control of the puck. It wound up at the point and Declan Carlile fired a shot that Gabriel Fortier was able to deflect past Amerks goalie Devon Levi for the game-winning goal.
Syracuse’s 4-3 victory evened the best-of-five Calder Cup North Division semifinal at a game apiece and now the series shifts to Syracuse for Games 3 and 4 Thursday and Saturday.
“It was a terrible call, clear as day and Kozak is as honest as the day is long,” Amerks coach Seth Appert said. “You could hear it from the bench. That’s a big call and to have four guys not want to get together to decide whether it’s the right call? Nothing. Not a word.”
It was an unfortunate ending, but what got the Amerks into that position was repeated failures on faceoffs and the Crunch made them pay as three of their goals came directly from faceoff wins in the Amerks’ defensive zone.
“It’s not why we lost,” Appert said of the icing call. “We’ve got to defend better, we gave up three faceoff goals, our centers need to do a better job, our D didn’t do a good enough job boxing out. You can’t give up three faceoff goals.”
Here’s what happened in Game 2:
First period: Amerks overcame a slow start
The first five minutes did not go well for Rochester as the Crunch were buzzing around Levi and it began just 20 seconds into the game when Levi had to make a point blank save on Devante Stephens cruising alone down the slot.
Once they weathered that initial storm, the Amerks dominated the rest of the period and probably should have been up at least 2-0, maybe 3-0. Instead, they settled for 1-0 thanks to a power-play goal by Michael Mersch at the 10:40 mark.
Biro fired a shot from the point that Crunch goalie Brandon Halverson stopped, but the rebound bounced out front. Mason Jobst was able to chip it to the right side to Jiri Kulich whose quick shot was blocked but the puck fell at Mersch’s skates and after a couple whacks he was able to backhand it home.
A few minutes before that Biro had a great chance all alone in front after a faceoff win but was stopped, and then Mersch sent Jobst in on a breakaway and he couldn’t cash it in. Late in the period, Isak Rosen had a Grade-A opportunity but lost control of the puck before he could get a shot off and seconds later, Kulich was nailed for an offensive zone tripping penalty.
Second period: Late Crunch goal changed game
The Amerks were less than a minute away from taking a reasonably comfortable 2-0 lead into the second intermission, but with 46.2 seconds left, Jobst lost a faceoff, the puck slid back to the right point to Jordy Bellerive and he sent a shot through a maze in front and Levi never saw it.
“Yeah, that was a tough one for myself especially because I took the faceoff,” Jobst said. “It was a momentum shifter; you never want to give up a goal in the last minute.”
It was a deflating goal because at that point, the Amerks had complete control, particularly after they had stretched their lead to 2-0 six minutes earlier.
Lukas Rousek chased down a loose puck along the left boards in the Syracuse end and somehow, the Crunch lost track of Linus Weissbach who was busting down the middle of the ice all by himself. Rousek spotted him and centered a backhand pass and Weissbach ripped a low shot through Halverson’s legs.
Third period: Amerks blow lead, tie it late
The late second-period goal felt the Crunch into the intermission feeling good because in Game 1 they had rallied from a 2-0 deficit and tied the game before ultimately losing. This time they went one better, not only tying it but taking a 3-2 lead with a pair of goals in a span of 4:04.
They generated heavy pressure in the first five minutes and it eventually resulted in the tying goal when they won another defensive zone faceoff and Phillipe Meyers circled out to the right point and whipped a wrist shot that Gage Concalves tipped past Levi.
Then at 9:03, the Amerks lost coverage to the left of Levi and Syracuse’s Maxim Groshev was able to thread a pass through the slot to an open Sean Day who buried a quick shot to give the Crunch their first lead of the series.
“They’re one of the top teams in the American Hockey League all season long,” Appert said. “They were first place in our division a lot of the season so we know how good they are and they’re not just gonna go away.”
But the Amerks have had quite a season, too, and they found a way to keep pressing which resulted in the tying goal at 16:06. Ethan Prow fired a superb outlet pass from his own end off the left boards to Jobst who moved in on Halvorsen and wristed one into the top corner over the goalie’s glove.
“Just trying to get everything on that as I possibly could,” said Jobst, who was the Amerks’ leading point scorer this season. “I honestly couldn’t even really see I had so many guys in front of me. I felt like the way the goalie had been playing he potentially might be down and if I just got it up it would have a chance.”
Overtime: Bad calls proved costly
Before the missed icing, Levi had to make a great save on Bellerive who got open in front just to keep the game alive. The Amerks had a great chance to end it, too, as Justin Richards drove to the net with a Crunch defenseman draped over him and nearly beat Halvorson just moments before the fateful non-call.
Inside the numbers
On Friday Levi became the first Amerks rookie goalie to win a playoff game since Andrey Makarov on May 2, 2014, and he also was the first to win his playoff debut since Ryan Miller on April 20, 2005.
The teams finished their season series dead even at 5-5-2, but the Amerks really struggled after the second period against Syracuse as they were outscored 29-11 in the final two periods plus overtime.
Last spring the Amerks dropped the first two games of their series against the Crunch, then swept the last three to win it. Friday’s Game 1 victory made it four in a row, so that streak comes to an end.
Sal Maiorana can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. To subscribe to Sal’s newsletter, Bills Blast, which comes out every other Friday during the offseason, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast
