AMERKS CAN CLINCH PLAYOFF SPOT THIS WEEKEND

By Ryan J. Harr

As the second-to-last week of March is rolling by quickly, the Rochester Americans are less than a month away from concluding their 62nd season of professional hockey in the American Hockey League.

The Amerks currently hold the third spot in the North Division with a record of 30-19-10-6 record with 11 games remaining in the 2017-18 campaign. With a 20-point cushion over the fifth-place Laval Rocket, the Amerks need just three points in the standings to clinch a spot in the Calder Cup Playoffs.

Talkin’ Playoffs

The Amerks are on the verge of appearing in the postseason for the first time since the spring of 2014, ending a three-year absence from the Calder Cup Playoffs. As it is uncertain who Rochester would face in the first-round, playoffs, it is certain it will be one of their North Division rivals in either the Toronto Marlies, Syracuse Crunch or Utica Comets.

“While it can be difficult not to look ahead to the playoffs, I think it will be a sense of relief once we do clinch,” said Amerks head coach Chris Taylor. “Some of the guys who were here last year may be gripping their sticks a little harder because they want to play beyond the regular season. One of the good things for us is we control our fate.”

Rochester has not hosted a playoff game since April 26, 2014 when the Amerks defeated the Chicago Wolves, 3-2, in Game 2 of the opening round of the 2014 Calder Cup Playoffs.

“As the regular season is coming to an end, one of the goals at the beginning of the year was to make the playoffs,” said C.J. Smith, who leads the Amerks in both goals (17) and points (42) in his first professional season. “While the playoffs are on the horizon, it is important that we close out the year on a strong note. We want to be playing our best hockey going into the postseason. I am looking forward to being a part of postseason hockey.”

Home Importance

After being away from The Blue Cross Arena for five of the last eight games, the Amerks return to Flower City for four straight contests and will play eight of their last 11 games on home ice.

The Amerks carry a four-game point streak on home ice as they show a 2-0-2-0 record in the first four games of the month at The Blue Cross Arena.

“It will be nice to play in a place we’re familiar with,” said veteran defenseman Zach Redmond, who leads the club with a career-high 27 assists in 53 games. “Playing at home makes preparation a little bit easier as we have our own facilities, so it’s something we are looking forward to.”

At The Blue Cross Arena this season, Rochester is second in league with a penalty-kill success rate of 88.2% and have not allowed the opposition to record multiple power-play goals in the same game since Nov. 24. During that span of 20 games, the PK unit has gone 65-for-69 (94.2 %).

“It is important for us to continue to do the things that have made us successful so far this season and create good habits going into the postseason,” Redmond said.

Return of All-Star Smith

After missing the previous 12 games with a lower-body injury, Smith returned to the Amerks lineup during the team’s recent three-game, four-day trek through New England this past weekend.

“It felt awesome to be back with the guys,” said Smith. “Being out injured, I missed being on the same schedule as the guys. While watching the games from the press box these past few weeks was definitely difficult, there some good things I was able to take away as it is a different perspective of the ice.”

Smith was held without a point during the first two games of road trip, but in Sunday’s contest with the Hartford Wolf Pack, he made his impact on the scoresheet in a big way as scored his first-career hat trick.

“I thought he took some time to find his game,” Taylor said when talking about Smith. “While he scored three goals Sunday, he is still trying to find his groove again after missing nearly a month. Friday, I think C.J would agree, he was still trying to get into game-shape, but the last two games of the trip he began to look like he did prior to his injury.”

With his three-goal performance, Smith became the first Amerk since Derek Grant scored three goals on Mar. 25 of last season in Binghamton and the first Amerks rookie to score three in a game since Tim Schaller at Toronto on Apr. 5, 2014.

Nylander Heating Up

While Smith returned to the lineup, Alexander Nylander, who missed the first month and a half of the season with an injury, has been on a torrid pace as of late. Dating back to Feb. 16, the Swedish forward as he recorded 15 points (4+11) over his last 15 games.

“It feels good to be getting points lately, but I have been lucky enough to play with some pretty good players,” said Nylander. “I give them a lot of the credit. I have had some great chemistry with those guys, and while we haven’t been able to get a lot of wins as of late, I think we are still finding out about each other’s tendencies out there.”

During his hot stretch, Nylander posted a career-long five-game point streak and has six points (3+3) in his last three outings, but according to Taylor, he is doing a lot of things away from the puck and getting rewarded for that.

“Alex is getting in the dirty areas of the ice and playing the right way,” Taylor said. “He is a very hard-working guy, who just turned 20 years old, he is improving every day. I think one of his best qualities is that he is such a coachable player and he always wants to be improve and get better. He has come a long way from the start of the year to now and we are very excited to see his growth over the season.”

Looking Ahead

The Amerks return to action Friday and Saturday nights at 7:05 p.m. at The Blue Cross Arena as the Binghamton Devils and Springfield Thunderbird come to the Flower City. Individual game tickets for the 2017-18 season start at just $14, while Amerks 2018-19 Season Ticket Memberships, which start as low as just $10 per game, are on-sale now. All memberships are up to 40% off Box Office day of game pricing. For more information, visit www.amerks.com or call 1-855-GO-AMERKS.