AMERKS EAGER FOR HOME ICE IN GAME 3
Apr 27, 2023“It’s good to have a few days, especially with how short-manned we’ve been, and give guys with injuries some time to get back” Amerks head coach Seth Appert said after practice on Wednesday. “But at the same point in time, in the last day or two, you start chomping at the bit.”
The Rochester Americans have waited five days for Game 3 in their second round series against the Syracuse Crunch, which they trail 2-0. But all week, on and off the ice, the focus has simply been on Game 3.
“I think that started Monday by talking about putting away what happened while learning from it,” Appert explained, “and then talking about what we need to do moving forward.” Something the team would love to do is have a quick start on Friday night.
“Do we want to have a great start? Yes. One-hundred percent. We have the home crowd, and the home crowd helps with that.”
“A big hit, a blocked shot, a goal, a scoring chance… the crowd starts going nuts, and then it builds into a crescendo and starts piling on the opponent.” But, Appert noted, sometimes things happen: “Hockey is a game of chance, at times. We just need to play consistently through.”
And Syracuse is a very consistent, structured team. They held the Amerks to zero shots on goal in the first period on Saturday. And still, Appert felt, the team was very much in that game. They just couldn’t deliver.
“We didn’t create enough, obviously,” he said today. “But there wasn’t a lot of room for either team. We put ourselves in position to create more, and we didn’t take advantage of it. So we need to play faster.”
Playing faster is not just about skating, especially against a team like the Crunch, who produce very few turnovers: Appert elaborated that he’d like to see his team be quicker with their puck decisions and knowing the play they want to make.
The speed and the physicality of the playoffs can be daunting at first for the younger guys, but now they’ve seen two games. Now they can adapt. “We talked to Isak [Rosen] yesterday, Jiri [Kulich] this morning about this: What did you learn? What did you see? Why did you struggle?”
Appert continued, “All of those things are important experiences to go through because playoff hockey is a different animal than the regular season.” It’s a different animal every game, but especially in a must-win, like Friday night. Yet, despite the pressure, the team has kept a positive focus.
“I have confidence in this group,” Appert said. “This group’s been through a lot. We’ve been short-handed a lot of different times this year. We’ve had our back against the wall a lot of times, and there’s a reason that we finished tied for second in this division.”
“There’s a lot of heart and a lot of character in that room, and we’re going to need all of that tomorrow night.”
The Amerks might get some offensive reinforcement as well, as rookie forward Jiri Kulich participated in three full-team practices. There’s not official word yet, according to Appert, but “Kulich is headed in a good direction. I feel better about him being in the lineup tomorrow than I did yesterday.”
The home crowd will have to wait and see, but regardless of Kulich’s return, the Amerks will have a chip on their shoulder as the puck drops at Blue Cross Arena for Game 3. “We need to give [the crowd] a reason to be rowdy early and often,” Appert said.
Tickets for Friday night are still available, but selling quickly.