“The journey that we’ve been through with this crew has hardened us and prepared us,” Mike Leone
The Rochester Americans made everyone sweat it out this week. They entered the final week of the season in need of only one point, and the Utica Comets, the one team that could catch them, had to win out. The Comets won out, and the Americans took it down to the wire with the final spot in the Calder Cup Playoffs on the line.
They played the Hershey Bears on Sunday, April 19, in a back-and-forth, high-scoring game. When the clock hit zero, and the Amerks forced overtime, the bench celebrated like they had won a playoff game. “We knew we needed a point and it was kind of like winning a playoff series; that’s what it felt like,” Americans head coach Mike Leone mentioned in a conversation with The Hockey News. And you can’t blame him for feeling that way after they stumbled into the playoffs.
So, the Amerks are back in the playoffs. This time around, it’s a different team, an American Hockey League team that’s had to battle to get in, and those battles have built them for a Calder Cup run.
Rochester Has Had Their Battles Already
The Americans were awful down the stretch, and that might be an understatement. Since Feb. 15, they’ve only won six games, and it was brutal loss after brutal loss. The 8-0 loss to the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins on April 18 was a new low, and while the drive between Wilkes-Barre and Hershey is an hour and a half or two hours, it probably felt like 10 after that defeat. In short, it’s been “Quite a couple of months,” as Don Stevens put it before the puck drop on the final game of the season.
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This season was a challenge for an Americans teams that didn’t have many obstacles last season. The Amerks lost a lot of talent to the NHL team while Isak Rosen was traded to help the Buffalo Sabres acquire Luke Schenn and Logan Stanley. It’s a trade-off that both the AHL and NHL teams are willing to take, as the Sabres made the playoffs and are set up to go on a Stanley Cup run.
“I would say it’s very similar to my first year of junior hockey, where we had nine guys this year in their first year in the American Hockey League, and there’s going to be highs and lows, and the guys here I’m really proud of those guys, really proud” Leone noted about the younger team that went through plenty of turnover. It allowed the Comets, who trailed the Amerks by 18 points in the standings on Feb. 17, to catch up by the end of the season.
These battles helped the Americans prepare for the playoffs. “The journey that we’ve been through with this crew has hardened us and prepared us,” Leone added, and they’ve been playing playoff hockey and tough games because of it for two months now.
The Amerks Have The Talent To Get Hot
A classic line in the AHL is that a team is better than its record indicates. In the Amerks case, they have a better team than the one that fell apart in the final two months. Even with the young players on the Sabres, they still have the talent to lead them in the playoffs.
The big one is Konsta Helenius, the Finnish forward in his second season in the AHL, who has already played a handful of games at the NHL level. He ended the season with 21 goals and 42 assists, yet has made his mark in the overlooked facets of the game. One scout noticed during the game against the Bears that he not only wins the puck but maintains it to allow the Amerks to generate more scoring chances. Then there’s his ability to play a heavy game, defend, and play the center position, something he didn’t do much of last season. It’s made Helenius one of the top prospects in the Sabres system and a game-changing forward for the playoffs.
The forward unit is led by Helenius but also has Trevor Kuntar and Anton Wahlberg, adding a spark to the top six and often playing on the top line when the Amerks need a big goal. Both Kuntar and Wahlberg have plenty of skill to allow the Americans to win high-scoring games while Zac Jones is a difference-maker at the point, a defenseman with 62 points who made the AHL First All-Star Team.
Then there’s Devon Levi in the net, someone the Amerks can lean on as their starting goaltender. Levi, through all the rough games, put together a strong season with a .904 save percentage (SV%) and a 2.83 goals-against average (GAA). “It’s been an up-and-down year for him but I think a good year for him,” Leone noted on the goaltender who willed the Americans to the playoffs. Goaltending goes a long way in the playoffs, and Levi gives this team an edge in the net.
How The Americans Stack Up Against The Marlies
It’s a new season for the Amerks. That’s the message Leone will send to the players as they turn a page on a rough stretch. “The season hardens you. You've got to find a way, and our guys found a way.” That new season begins on Wednesday night against the Toronto Marlies.
This is not an easy matchup, especially for the Americans. The Marlies are a well-coached team with John Gruden getting the most out of them all season, and like the Amerks, they have top-end talent and great goaltending. Plus, the Marlies have the edge up the middle with multiple centers who can impact the game on both ends.
It will make for a tough three-game series, one that the players won’t enjoy but the fans will get their money's worth. The Amerks will be in a fight, and it’s only the start. If they win the series, they’ll have a well-rested Laval Rocket team waiting for them. The Rocket defeated the Americans in the playoffs last year and once again, look like the best team in the North Division.
That said, the Amerks are the one team nobody wants to face, certainly not the Rocket. Sure, they aren’t playing great hockey and haven’t looked like a good team for months. However, they’ve had to play playoff hockey for months, and it’s prepared them.