UTICA, NY — Beer cans were broken open as the party began on the ice at Adirondack Bank Center.
And when the players and coaches of the Rochester Americans reached the entrance to the visitors’ locker room one by one on Thursday night, they were showered with healthy scratches and injured players that saw the group make a comeback that stunned the Utica Comets.
The Amerks had just scored three consecutive goals in the final game of a best-of-five, second round series to knock out the Comets with a 4-2 win and advance to the North Division final of the Calder Cup Playoffs.
“It’s pure joy, excitement, relief,” said Brett Murray, a six-foot winger who equalized in front of Utica’s net in the third period. “Everything. We fought hard and it paid off.”
The Amerks will face Laval in the division final — Rochester’s first third-round appearance since 2004 — and the best-of-five series kicks off Sunday night at 7 p.m. at Place Bell. Blue Cross Arena will host matches three and four on Wednesday and Friday next week. The winner of the series will advance to the conference finals to face Charlotte of Springfield.
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For anyone outside the Amerks dressing room, another comeback may have seemed unlikely as they trailed 2-1 in the second break. Utica was one of the top teams in the American Hockey League during the regular season. The young best players, including New Jersey’s 2020 first round Alexander Holtz, started to impress and goalkeeper Nico Daws was exceptional in the second period. The Comets beat Rochester, 4-2, in Game 4 and led by four goals for 40 minutes.
Holtz scored the go-ahead goal on Thursday with an impressive wrist shot from the right circle to beat goalkeeper Aaron Dell at the far post for a 2-1 lead with 8:39 remaining in the first period. Fabian Zetterlund, the Comets top player in the series, opened the scoring on a shot that flew over several players before landing in the net.
But the Amerks have always seen themselves as a top team in the AHL. Their regular season record was negatively impacted by injuries, recalls to Buffalo and a Covid-19 outbreak that forced coach Seth Appert to regularly use different ECHLers for several weeks. But they have always expressed the belief that they could achieve more.
Rochester upset Belleville in the first round play-in, winning four postseason games in overtime, making a remarkable comeback in Game 1 against the Senators. When the Amerks entered the locker room during the second break in Utica, West Seneca native Sean Malone noticed no signs of panic.
“There was never any doubt,” he said.
Plow by shift, the Amerks ate away the Comets’ confidence. Nick Boka, a defender who plays forward with captain Michael Mersch who is out, created a rebound that forced Utica winger Tyce Thompson to take down JJ Peterka. Rochester scored in the ensuing power play, as Arttu Ruotsalainen scored his leading eighth goal of the postseason to make it 2-2 with 16:39 remaining in the regular season.
Less than four minutes later, Malone shot down the right wing on a pass from Lukas Rousek and used the defender as a screen before uncorking a wrist shot that defeated Daws at the far post for a 3-2 lead. The crowd was silenced. The Utica players stopped intimidating the Rochester players after every whistle.
“I think the boys just wanted it more tonight,” said defender Casey Fitzgerald, who scored the opening goal for Rochester in the first period. “Nobody was ready for the season to be over. Guys gave everything to keep it going for the guy next to them. It was fun.”
The Sabers’ top prospects with the Amerks didn’t score, but found other ways to contribute and responded well to the physical play by pushing back.
Jack Quinn absorbed blow after blow for the Comets’ net and even landed a few big hits. Peterka didn’t skate away when he faced Nikita Okhotiuk and had four of the Amerks’ 28 shots on target. Peyton Krebs added his leading ninth assist from the playoffs while showing fearlessness in all three zones.
Role players like defender Peter Tischke blocked shots in key situations. Center Ben Holmstrom won the face-offs in the defensive zone late in regulation. Mark Jankowski scored the empty goal. The reconfigured defensive pairs, led by Fitzgerald and Brandon Davidson, capped the Comets after the first period. And goalkeeper Aaron Dell delivered his best postseason performance, scoring 19 saves to earn his fifth postseason win.
“The resilience of this group is quite special,” Appert said.
Here are other observations of the game:
Dell again played as a goalkeeper trying to prove he belonged in the NHL. The 33-year-old kept the deficit to one goal in the second period with his stop on Chase De Leo during a 2-on-1 just four minutes in mid-frame. Dell’s rebound control made things easier for the Rochester defender as Utica had few second chance chances. His goals weren’t on Dell either.
“He probably has a knot in his saddle,” Appert said of Dell. “That’s a proud man, that’s a guy who’s played a lot in the NHL and really well. I think he’s got a little chip on his shoulder right now, which is appropriate.”
Fitzgerald’s had a strong postseason. In addition to his offensive production, Fitzgerald excelled in a top couple role and made big plays at big moments. He is a restricted free agent this summer and the Sabers could add another defender this summer, but the 25-year-old has shown his game continues to evolve.
The Amerks have won two playoff series, despite Quinn not scoring a goal. The 20-year-old winger has two assists in seven play-off games and consistently creates scoring opportunities in this series. He has scored one goal in his last 15 games dating back to the regular season, but he is finding other ways to impress.
“I thought he was good defensively, I thought he was physical, I thought he created the attack,” said Appert. “I thought he was excellent for most of this series.”
• Mersch was unavailable for a second consecutive game due to an illegal head check by Utica’s Robbie Russo towards the end of the regular season in Game 3. Defender Mattias Samuelsson (lower body), goalkeeper Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (lower body) and winger Also Linus Weissbach (upper body) was out due to an injury.
• Sabers center Dylan Cozens recorded a hat-trick in Canada’s 6-3 victory over Kazakhstan in the IIHF World Championship on Thursday. Cozens, 21, has three goals and five points in four games at the tournament.
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