An ailing Rochester Americans team couldn’t stop the Quad City Flames from blowing past them tonight. With a team that belongs in quarantine, there weren’t many healthy bodies on the ice tonight.
Marek Zagrapan is still out with an Upper Respiratory Infection. He should be returning to the lineup on Friday as long as his lungs have recovered from the illness enough.
Stefan Meyer and Mark Mancari are among those affected by the nasty virus going around the locker room. Adam Dennis (who started in goal tonight) had a bad reaction to food yesterday and was sick from that. Mike Card is still with a concussion.
In the first period the Amerks got off to a very slow start. Letting two goals in in just over one half of the period. The first goal was scored by Warren Peters at 5:29. The second was scored on the power play after Peter Aston got two minutes for hooking. Grant Stevenson slipped one by Adam Dennis at 12:12 for his 5th goal in two games against the Amerks.
The Amerks started to tighten up their game as much as they could going into the second period. Although Adam Dennis was facing far more shots than Curtis McElhinney at the other end of the ice, he held the Flames scoreless in the second.
Stefan Meyer scored his 14th goal of the season with a power play goal with assists going to Mark Mancari (22) and Dylan Hunter (14) at 16:46.
The Amerks came out hitting in the third period but were once again playing catch up the whole time. They had a few good chances to tie up the game but the puck just couldn’t reach the back of the net.
At around 18:30, Adam Dennis was called out of the net in favor of an extra attacker to try to tie up the game. Before he could even get to the bench, the puck was turned over in the Amerks’ zone. Dennis struggled to get back to the net (sans stick), and someone took out Tomi Maki. This awarded Maki a penalty shot which was successful.
Adam Dennis again was pulled for another forward with less than a minute left in the game, giving Cam Cunning the chance to score his fifth goal of the season with an empty net goal at 19:29, only further sealing the Flames’ win in Rochester.
Stefan Meyer said it best after the game, “We only have each other now.” With Amerks’ fans’ frustration at an all-time high, the players are now only relying on themselves to care about the outcome of the games. Many fans have long since given up. Only the few true remain.
Where is the help this team needs? With a lineup who can barely make it out of the locker, the Buffalo Sabres still bench their own players in favor of Patrick Kaleta who has been on call for a few weeks. The Florida Panthers are beginning to get their injured players back so, hopefully the Amerks can hope to see a few call ups returning from their soon.
Fans can certainly expect the Panthers to send players back before the Sabres do. The Sabres have made it perfectly clear that they don’t care about the outcome of the Rochester Americans.
The Amerks are back at home on Friday when they play the division rival Lake Erie Monsters. The game starts at 7:35 PM and can be heard live on Hot Talk 1280 WHTK, whtk.com and can be watched live on B2 networks.
Additional Coverage of the Game: