Rochester faces another year of a first-round elimination.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Amerks will return to Blue Cross Arena on Wednesday night aiming to change the tide of their series with the Syracuse Crunch. Rochester trails 2-0 in the best-of-five series following a pair of losses in Syracuse over the weekend.
Game 3 is set for 7:05 pm at the Blue Cross Arena on Wednesday. Game 4, if necessary, will be played at the same time on Friday. A pair of home wins for the Amerks would set the stage for a deciding Game 5 in Syracuse on Saturday.
“We just need to clean up some things, we know that,” coach Chris Taylor told reporters after practice on Monday. “We watched lots of video here to rectify those situations. We didn’t like the results, obviously.
“When you’re in playoff time, results, that’s ultimately what matters. We know that. But now we’re back home and we’ve got a game on Wednesday to regroup here.”
Postseason scoring leaders
T-1. Kevin Porter: 1G – 2A – 3 PTS
T-1. Seth Griffith: 0G – 3A – 3 PTS
T-3: Stuart Percy: 1G – 1A – 2 PTS
T-3: Colin Blackwell: 1G – 1A – 2 PTS
T-3: C.J. Smith: 0G – 2A – 2 PTS
News and notes
The Amerks are giving away 5,000 rally towels in the first round, courtesy of Seneca Niagara Resorts & Casino and Genesee Brewing Company. Individual game tickets for Round One start as low as just $14 and range in price up to $28 depending on seat location. Click here to purchase tickets.
All tickets purchased on the day of the game will increase by $2.
The Amerks recalled 6 players from Cincinnati on Monday: forwards Justin Danforth and Daniel Muzito-Bagenda, defensemen Arvin Atwal and Eric Knodel, and goaltenders Jonas Johansson and Jason Kasdorf.
The Cyclones’ season came to an end with a Game 5 loss to the Ft. Wayne Comets in the Division Semifinals of the Kelly Cup Playoffs on Sunday.
Justin Bailey and Nicholas Baptiste each scored their first professional postseason goals in Rochester’s 6-5 loss in Game 2, which both players thought was an improvement over Game 1.
Bailey emphasized the importance of utilizing the home crowd early as the series shifts to Rochester for Game 3.
“I think in the first 10 [minutes], we definitely want to make a statement, whether it’s with a hit or just a good play,” he said. “I think coming back home will be great for us. Obviously, it’s not the way we wanted to go out in Syracuse, coming back here 0-2, but at the same time it will be good to have our home ice for the next two games and hopefully force Game 5.”
The Amerks played the Crunch 10 times during the regular-season, developing a rivalry that alternate captain Taylor Fedun said has shown in the physicality of their series thus far.
“That’s exactly what we were expecting,” he said. “That’s playoff hockey in this league, especially against a team like Syracuse who’ve we seen, it seems, like 100 times this year. There’s certainly a good rivalry there, a healthy competitiveness, maybe a little bit of hatred and it certainly shows on the ice.”