By CRAIG POTTER
Another inconsistent second period costs Rochester in a 3-2 loss to the IceCaps.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rochester Americans continue to be inconsistent in the second period as it proved costly again on Friday night with a 3-2 loss to the St. John’s IceCaps before 4,720 fans at the Blue Cross Arena.
The players are pros and are being paid to play the game. How do you get them to be more consistent?
“I think that comes through experience,” said Amerks head coach Dan Lambert. “That comes with age that you understand. We have a lot of guys that this is their first year pro, and they just don’t understand that. They do get paid well. It’s their job as professionals to show up every day.
“Unfortunately, it’s not just the young guys, for sure. I’m not blaming them right now as realistically our older guys let us down tonight. At the end of the day, your job is to show up every night and do your job. If you don’t do it, these are the results that we get.”
Rochester rookie Alex Nylander scored the first goal of the game, after netting the game-winner on Wednesday night against the Toronto Marlies, but before the first period ended, the visitors from Newfoundland had tied the game. Cole Schneider and Patrick Mullen received assists.
“I think I have been having good practices as of late and it is transitioning in games,” Nylander said. “Tonight, I got a really good pass from Schneider, so I just had to put the puck into the net. The credit should really go to him. We (Derek Grant and Schneider) are starting to develop some good chemistry, so we just have to keep getting better.”
“We had a good first period,” said Amerks head coach Dan Lambert. “In the second period, though, for some reason we decided to not get pucks deep in St. John’s zone, we turned the puck over too much and it cost us tonight. After they got the lead, we were unable to penetrate their defense and we got the result that we got.”
In the second stanza, Kyle Bonis bagged his 8th goal of the season, with a blast from the right point, to put the Amerks back in front. Tyson Strachan and Mat Bodie assisted on the play.
“The third line has done a good job for us,” said Lambert. “As a team, we need that secondary scoring, but unfortunately in this game, you do not win too many games when your best players are not your best players.”
However, the IceCaps continued to apply the pressure which resulted in 2 goals in the final 4 minutes of the period to forge ahead, 3-2.
Rochester had a power play midway through the period, but could not beat St. John’s rookie goalie Charlie Lindgren, who finished with 18 saves.
Amerks netminder Linus Ullmark made 30 stops in taking the loss.
*NOTES – The Amerks announced on Friday that the team released defenseman Bobby Shea from his Professional Tryout…The game was the 200th pro game for Rochester defenseman Mat Bodie…Amerks forward Nick Baptiste, who leads the team in goals with 20 and is second in points, did not play in the game due to a family issue…The Amerks travel to Massachusetts on Sunday to take on the Springfield Thunderbirds in a 3:05 pm start…Cole Schneider’s assist was his 30th of the season as he leads the Amerks in scoring with 49 points.
Links
Rochester Americans – amerks.com
Videos
Kyle Bonis goal – https://youtu.be/n07xtAjpsls
Intermission – https://youtu.be/48spZMYORiQ
Final 30 seconds – https://youtu.be/MretiAsWzW4
Kyle Bonis interview – https://youtu.be/gvLGrrmZmDk
Alex Nylander interview – https://youtu.be/qDdEXnohCF0
Dan Lambert interview – https://youtu.be/_XU4zWuWI0I