Rochester does not perform up to the hype of the talent on the team.
By CRAIG POTTER
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — For a team entering the season with the high expectations that the Rochester Americans have, i.e. General Manager Randy Sexton feels with the talent here the team can win the Calder Cup, the Amerks did not perform up to that expectation in the 6-2 loss to the Charlotte Checkers on Friday night before 5,203 fans at the Blue Cross Arena.
“That’s a good team over there,” said Amerks captain Kevin Porter, “but we made them look like NHL All-Stars.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Amerks coach Chris Taylor. “The turnovers … we didn’t want to hit anybody … our ‘D’ jumping up out of nowhere … our forwards wouldn’t back up our ‘D.’
“It was totally out of character for our team and what kind of structure we teach them. Our defense was jumping into the play, but our forwards wouldn’t back up our D. We had no one on our blue line and we were all trying to play offense. It wasn’t a good night.
However, there was one ray of sunshine, goalie Scott Wedgewood made 33 saves.
“The disappointing part was how we came out and started the game. The one bright spot was Wedgewood,” Taylor said.
Despite giving up the 6 goals, it was not all Wedgewood’s fault which is why Taylor kept him in the game.
The Amerks battled back from a 2-0 deficit to knot the count 2-2 in the second on a power play tally from C.J. Smith, who was last season’s Amerks’ Rookie of the Year, and Swedish rookie Larry Pilut scored his first career AHL goal.
“It was nice to score but it would have been even nicer to get a win,” said Pilut. “Now that goal means nothing.”
However, Rochester turned the puck over in the final minute of the stanza for a 2-on-1 which the Checkers converted to take the lead for good. They doubled their output in the third period for the final score.
“Every time we chipped the puck behind their guys, I thought we did a good job,” Taylor said. “We got the forecheck…We had a lot of good chances but a lot of time we had turnovers. We didn’t want to hit anybody, we were weak in our own zone. We gave up a lot of 2-on-1s, 3-on-1s. It’s just uncharacteristic for our team.”
The Amerks fans, however, were not as disgusted as the fans in Buffalo who booed the Sabres off the rink following a 3-0 loss to the Boston Bruins Thursday night in Buffalo.
At least the Amerks fans did not boo, this night. The players were equally disappointed with their performance as well.
“I don’t think our fans deserve that kind of showing on opening night,” center Kyle Criscuolo said. “Top to bottom we need to be better.”
When Taylor was asked, ‘What needs to be change for (Saturday) night?’ He responded, “Everything; everything. Our compete, our will, our structure, finishing bodies. Everything.”
*NOTES — The Amerks opened their 63rd AHL season, the 37th as the primary affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres…The loss dropped the Rochester’s all-time home-opening record to 38-19-6, and season-opening record to 32-24-7 all-time…The Amerks return 3 of their Top 5 scorers from last season – Zach Redmond, Kevin Porter, and C.J. Smith…Larry Pilut, Rasmus Asplund, and Victor Olofsson all made their North American debut after playing professionally a year ago in Sweden. Pilut led the Swedish Hockey League defensemen in scoring with 38 points, and was named the SHL Defenseman of the Year…The two teams go at it again Saturday night at the BCA with a 7:05 pm faceoff.
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Rochester Americans rookie defenseman Larry Pilut (28) scores his first AHL goal on a power play in the second period that tied the game 2-2 with the Charlotte Checkers on Friday night (10/5/2018) in the season opener before 5,203 fans at the Blue Cross Arena. However, the visitors from North Carolina posted a 6-2 victory.
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