By Erica Whyte
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Rochester Americans closed out Week 3 of the regular season tied for first place in the AHL with 11 points through their first eight games of the season. With two wins and one overtime loss to North Division opponents Utica, Toronto, and Belleville this past week, the Amerks collected five out of six possible points. And although their five-game win streak was halted with the 5-4 overtime loss to Belleville on Saturday night, Amerks head coach Chris Taylor is pleased with many aspects of the Amerks play.
“Anytime you get five out of six points in a week, you’re doing something good,” said Taylor after Monday’s practice.
“I really like the way were attacking offensively. I love the way our D are jumping in the play. We’ve got a lot of defensemen scoring a lot of big goals for us as of late,” Taylor said of Rochester’s blueline.
And he’s not just talking about the AHL’s number one and number two producing defensemen in veteran Zach Redmond, who has tallied 12 points in eight games, and newcomer Lawrence Pilut, with 10 points in six.
In Saturday’s game alone, three of Rochester’s four goals were had by defensemen. Rookies Brandon Hickey and Will Borgen each tallied their first pro goal, and Brendan Guhle notched his second in as many nights.
According to Redmond, seeing the younger blueliners jumping into play makes this already-strong Amerks lineup that much more lethal.
“There are some mobile defensemen out here,” said Redmond, who last season led the Amerks in scoring and was named a Second Team All-Star. “Those guys can skate, and fly, and add that extra element, and that can definitely help produce offense.”
Redmond attributes the increase in production from the team’s defensemen and the new “offensive-defenseman” mindset stems back to Buffalo training camp with Sabres head coach Phil Housley. The former Sabres defenseman was notorious for joining the rush as a player and systematically revolutionized the position from the blueline.
“Starting last year with Phil, obviously he played that way as a player, and I think that’s something he was kind of preaching in camp,” said Redmond.
The Amerks have the chance to extend their point streak to seven games on Friday, when they open a back-to-back home weekend by welcoming the Utica Comets to the Blue Cross Arena for the first time this season. Rochester will then face the Laval Rocket on Saturday. Both games will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7FM/AM 950 ESPN Rochester, and can be viewed on AHLTV.