Rochester Amerks playoff position is slipping as they prepare for grueling weekend

If ever there was a good time for the Rochester Amerks to get a break in their schedule, this week was it.

After splitting a two-game set at Belleville last weekend, the Amerks traveled home contemplating a rough stretch where they lost five of six games since Feb. 21 and earned only four of a possible 12 points.

Since losing 4-1 to the Senators Saturday night, Seth Appert’s team has gotten a breather from the relentless grind of games - 10 in a span of 17 days - and is spending this week’s five non-game days working on things in practice in preparation for what will certainly be a grueling weekend when it plays Syracuse at home Friday, goes to Syracuse Saturday, and then hosts Utica Sunday.

“This is playoff hockey, every game needs to be played like a playoff game,” Appert said. “It’s how it has been in the North Division the three years I’ve been here, these last 25-30 games feel like you’re already in the playoffs.”

But if the Amerks don’t get things straightened out, they may not be playing actual playoff games come April. As of Wednesday morning they’re sitting in fourth place with 58 points and that’s not ideal for this reason: the top three teams in the division get a first-round playoff bye and don’t have to participate in the best-of-three play-in series that pits the fourth- and fifth-place finishers.

The Amerks were in that series two years ago and upset Belleville, then last year they finished tied for second with Syracuse and avoided it.

Perhaps more concerning is that Rochester leads fifth-place Toronto by a single point and is only four points clear of Utica and Laval who are tied for sixth. Only the top five teams qualify, so there’s not much wiggle room and earning points has become paramount.

Belleville leapfrogged Rochester because it swept two games at Blue Cross Arena last week, then earned the home split last weekend which gave them six points to the Amerks’ three in that four-game segment.

In between all that, Syracuse won for the fifth straight time season in Rochester, rallying from a 2-0 deficit for a 5-2 victory last Wednesday. It was the third time in February where the Amerks blew a 2-0 lead and lost to Syracuse. The Crunch has taken firm control of second place and it now leads the Amerks by nine points, a big reason being its 6-0-2 record against Rochester.

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Last spring the Amerks stunned the Crunch in the postseason, winning the final three games of their best-of-five after it dropped the first two. Now, they need to find a way to turn the tables on Syracuse this season, and this upcoming home-and-home set would be a good place to start.

“Syracuse is just heavier, stronger and better than us right now and we’ve got to change that,” Appert said. “Our younger guys gotta decide to change that. Last year they were better than us at this time as well, but we decided we wanted to change that.

“They’re a really deep lineup with now the best forward in the American Hockey League back in their lineup (Alex Barre-Boulet has been up with the Tampa Bay Lightning most of the season but was recently sent down).”

Seth Appert still showing faith in Isak Rosen

There has been a constant hum lately regarding the downturn in production from the Swede who turns 21 on March 15. Since Dc. 13 when he returned to Rochester after his brief recall to the Sabres, he has just five goals in his last 28 games, though he does have 12 assists.

Appert has been asked several times about Rosen, and he continues to beat the drum for Buffalo’s undersized 2021 first-round draft pick.

“He has played excellent,” Appert said. “Rosen has been very good all the way through. His defensive game is excellent, he’s one of our best penalty killers and he’s created volumes of chances, four to five a game. Sometimes they just don’t go in, or the plays he makes just don’t go in.”

That may very well be true, but Rosen is a top line player in Rochester and he needs to start finding the back of the net if the Amerks are going to make their push to the postseason. His 31 points are third on the team behind Lukas Rousek (38) and Mason Jobst (35) and they rank him tied for 106th among all AHL players.

His low goal total is one of several reasons why the Amerks are now minus-22 in goal differential which is tied for second-worst in the 15-team Eastern Conference.

Damien Giroux came back from Jacksonville

The center who was signed in the offseason after he played three seasons in the AHL for Iowa, farm club of the Minnesota Wild, played in last Wednesday’s loss to Syracuse but did not see action in the two games at Belleville.

He couldn’t get consistent ice time at the start of this season in Rochester and was sent down to the Sabres’ ECHL team in Jacksonville. With the Icemen he played 17 games and scored seven goals and 15 points while posting a plus-13 rating. That prompted his recall, and now we’ll see if the versatile 24-year-old can get into the lineup more regularly, especially if Tyson Kozak remains sidelined.

“In my mind he’s a full-time American League player,” Appert said. “It just so happened with our numbers this year up top (in Buffalo) and here, the numbers squeezed him (down to Jacksonville). But he’s a guy who can play with top nine players because he has offensive instincts and competitiveness, and he can play on a checking line, fourth line, penalty kill. He can do a lot of things along with bringing an infectious, positivity to the room every day.”

Amerks lineup notes

▶ F Mason Jobst, who had been on a nice point producing run for about a month, sat out the last three games with an illness and the Amerks clearly missed him.

▶ F Jiri Kulich has returned to the lineup after missing nearly two weeks with a concussion and he played in each of the last three games, producing two assists. Despite playing in only 38 games, he leads the team with 17 goals, but he has just one in his last 17 games after a hot start.

▶ F Tyson Kozak, who is one of the Amerks’ best forecheckers and energy players, missed all three games last week with an upper body injury and his status is unknown heading into the weekend.

▶ G Devon Levi has cooled off a bit after his 52-save masterpiece in Toronto on Feb. 19. Since then the Amerks have lost four of his five starts (one in a shootout) and he has allowed 14 goals, though part of the problem is the Amerks allowed an average of 34.8 shots per game.

What’s next for the Amerks?

The dreaded three-game weekend, a staple of life in the AHL, though it’s the first and only one the Amerks will face this season.

They have to play the Crunch twice, and Friday will be their sixth opportunity to get their first win at home against their fierce Thruway rival. They have managed a pair of overtime/shootout wins in Syracuse, though.

Utica wraps up the weekend with a 4 p.m. visit and as stated earlier, the Comets are a club Rochester must stay in front of. So far this year, the Amerks have a 5-3-1 record in the series, though the last game was an ugly 7-3 defeat at home.

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which comes out each Friday during the offseason, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Rochester Amerks prepare for grueling weekend against Syracuse, Utica