The Heat completely outplayed the Amerks and won the game 4-0.  That’s the only recap needed.  Rochester has now gone six straight periods without scoring a goal and has been shutout two games in a row for the first time all season.  The loss puts the Amerks in a three way tie for 10th place in the conference.

So, what’s the issue with this team?  Pretty simple.  The other teams have deeper rosters than the Amerks.  It’d be hard to blame the loss on goaltender David Leggio.  He didn’t have much help in front of him.  The players on the ice were never able to move the puck outside of the Amerks zone for an extended period of time and put any pressure on the Heat.  Only 17 shots the whole game, maybe about five or six of those could be considered real scoring chances.  The Amerks were 0 for 6 on the power play and again, no real scoring chances.  Simply put it was a horrible game, especially this late in the season.

The losses of McNabb, Brennan, Tropp and Foligno have really hurt the depth of the roster, a roster that has struggled all season with depth.  TJ Brennan will join the Amerks on Wednesday night in Abbotsford but he’s not likely to be enough.

The remaining schedule doesn’t favor Rochester with the next three games on the road against teams they’ve had a tough time beating, the Heat, Bulldogs and Phantoms.  They’ll return home next Tuesday to play the Griffins, a team currently below the Amerks in the standings.  After that they’ll play the Crunch at home, another team that has comeback midseason and about to make the playoffs in the East and then end the season against the Monsters, another team playing better as the season wraps up.

The Toronto Marlies clinched the North Division lead with the Amerks loss.  For the current and projected standings in the playoff race CLICK HERE.

Here’s the scoring highlights from the Heat:

The same two teams play again tonight at 10pm Eastern Time.