** Daniel Steiner has been sent back (technically loaned) to the Reading Royals of the ECHL.  Steiner had spent the first part of the season with the Royals after he was not able to land a job in the NHL or AHL.  He is signed to a contract with the Amerks which is why he was technically loaned.  Steiner is considered a veteran and with the other veterans healthy he was the odd man out.  It’s better for him to get playing time than sitting out every game here.  (Prev article: Steiner is Living the Dream)

** The Amerks lost 4-2 on Friday against the Binghamton Senators.  If you look at the final stat sheet you’ll see that B-Sens goalie Chris Holt scored an empty net power play goal.  Yes, a goalie scored against the Amerks.  The Senators had a three goal lead until Graham Mink scored his first goal in since February 6th in the final second of the second period.  Mink finally ended a drought of 14 games without a goal.  John de Gray scored at 2:49 of the third but the Senators held on for the win.

Here’s a video of the goal that Holt scored.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMmskduL_gc

** On Saturday night the Penguins scored three power play goals on their way to a 5-4 win over the Amerks.  Two of those power play goals were in the first five minutes of the game.  Jeff Taffe scored a pair of goals (his 24th and 25th of the season) along with Jordan Henry and Chris Taylor also putting pucks in the net.  It was too little too late for the Amerks.  I did manage to watch a few minutes of the first period and from what I saw was a Penguins team out skating the Amerks all over the ice.

Mike Duco was involved in another quick uneventful fight, this time against Brian Strait of the Penguins.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otvIyN-wPCo

The Amerks penalty kill unit gave up six goals on 15 chances for the opposition this weekend.  Taking that many penalties and also allowing that many goals is horrible.  The Amerks are now on a three game losing streak heading into Wednesdays road game against the Lake Erie Monsters, a team they have lost against five times already this season.

Prior to this three game losing streak the Amerks had gone 7-3 in their past 10 and given signs they were going to be playing good hockey again but it seems like they’re back to their losing ways again.  With only 10 games left in the regular season now is the time for a great stretch to really gain some momentum heading into the playoffs.

Weekend Recap: Two Losses, A Goalie Scored and Steiner Sent to Reading is a post from: Let's Go Amerks!. For discussion visit the forums at LetsGoAmerks.com/Forums.

Graham Mink scored at 10:21 of the first period to put the Amerks up 1-0 but Josh Hennessy answered back at 12:44 of the first with a power play goal to tie the game.  The first period was an ugly one for the Amerks as they were out shot 22-9 by the Senators.  That’s right, 22 shots in one period of play.

Did you know that the Binghamton Senators are in last place in the league?

The biggest highlight of the first period had to be Steve MacIntyre knocking out Jeremy Yablonski (click for video).  Yablonski had to be helped up off the ice and did not return to the game.

Alexander Salak was the obvious star of the game for the Amerks as he went on to make 53 saves in the game while only allowing four goals.  No, you’re not reading that wrong, the Senators had a total of 57 shots on net.

The second period was when the Amerks finally took over by scoring four goals in the period.  Goals by Graham Mink, Jamie Johnson, Clay Wilson, and Mike Duco were all impressive.  Zach Smith scored in the second for the Senators and the period ended with the Amerks up 5-2.

Former Rochester American goalie Mike Brodeur was pulled after the Amerks fourth goal in the second period and replaced by Chris Holt.

This is where the story of the game becomes interesting.  Heading into the third period the Senators were down by three goals but they did not quit.  Even though they were down they had not lost a step in the game, something that does usually happen to the Amerks when they go down in a game.

Kaspars Daugavins scored the third power play goal of the game for the Senators at 6:02 of the third period.  The Senators  ended the game 3/7 on the power play, the Amerks finished 1/6.

With two minutes left in the game Chris Holt was pulled for the extra skater and Josh Hennessy scored his second of the game at 19:06 of the third period.  It was too little too late and the game ended 5-4.

Allowing 57 shots and the other team to go 3/7 on the power play is not pretty, but the Amerks found a way to hold on.  After Friday nights game we questioned if the team cared or if they had any answers, which they did not.  On Saturday the team scored five goals to win on the road, against the last place team in the league.  It’s amazing that a last place team can give this team such a run but there’s nothing to be concerned about.

I’ll take the win and let’s start hoping for an entertaining game like this at home next week.

The next game for the Amerks is on Wednesday on the road against the Adirondack Phantoms.  They’ll return home next Friday possibly against former goalie David Shantz and the Abbotsford Heat.

As Expected Amerks Rebound to Defeat Senators is a post from: Let's Go Amerks!. For discussion visit the forums at LetsGoAmerks.com/Forums.

He sent the message that it’s his crease, his home, and he does not need anyone else to stick up for him.

Unfortunately Jimmy Bonneau got thrown out of the game for being the third man in as he jumped in to help out Plante, even though it wasn’t needed.

**** UPDATE: All I had to go on was the replays shown, but apparently more happened.  Earlier in the play as Spencer skated by close to the net he caught the butt end of Plantes stick.  Spencer also took a run at an Amerks player but missed completely which led to Plante making some wise cracks (which he’s well known for).  That’s when things broke loose.  Apparently some video is going to be looked at as well to see if Bonneau was already on the ice or if he was part of a “line change” to join the altercation.

For the second straight game the Amerks have stunk it up in the third period. The Binghamton Senators took control of the game by scoring three goals in the first five minutes of the third period going on to shutout the Amerks by the final score of 5-0.

Chris Holt was in goal for the Senators in his first AHL game of the season and earned a shutout stopping all 27 shots by the Amerks, not that many of them were big scoring chances.

Mike Duco had the best chance on a breakaway in the first but unfortunately it looked like the puck hit something on the ice and bumped over his stick.

Rochester started the third period on the power play and that’s when things started going downhill.  Martin St. Pierre scored a shorthanded goal when he stole the puck off the stick of Jeff Taffe and took over alone scoring off a wrist shot that beat Plante stick side just above his pad.

It only took another 57 seconds for Josh Hennessy to score another short handed goal giving the Senators a 2-0 lead.  It was a similar play and looked like the puck was taken from Taffe yet again.  Plante didn’t have a chance on the two man breakaway with no one from Rochester in site to assist.

Denis Hamel scored a power play goal making it a 3-0 game only 2:33 later making that three goals in the first five minutes of the third period.  Derek Smith sent a hard shot from the blue line that Hamel tipped in.

“The wheels have fallen off,” is how Don Stevens described that point in the game and he was right.

Erik Condra scored the next two goals, one at 11:36 and the other at 12:37 on the power play to end the scoring.

Hockey games are often won by the team who makes the least amount of mistakes.  That team on Saturday night was the Binghamton Senators.  They put the pressure on and capitalized on Amerks mistakes.

The score paints a horrible picture for Plante, but he played a decent game through two periods.  In the third he had no help at all from the players in front of him.

Plante did appear to be favoring his knee during the game, he held on and appeared to play alright.  He also did the same thing in the game when he was injured.  Hopefully some ice and a couple days off and he’ll be fine.

I’m not sure if teams are starting to catch on or this team has lost some focus heading into the six game road trip.  It would not be fair to point the finger at any one player, this was a team loss.

There’s two ways to look at this game.  One way to look at the game is that it’s their second straight stink fest in the third period of a game.  Poor puck control led to giveaways which led to goals.  Meltdowns late in the game are a bad habit to get into.  The second way to talk about the game is that this was only the teams third regulation loss in 20 games, that’s pretty darn good.

It was only the third loss of the season but bad habits have started to make appearances and bad habits are hard to break.

They’ll be back in action on Sunday afteroon at 3pm in Syracuse.  The Crunch won 4-3 on Saturday night beating the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.  The Amerks and Crunch have played five times this season with the Amerks winning all five games.  The Crunch will be hungry to finally defeat the Amerks.  This could be their best chance with the Amerks playing two straight stink fests.

Amerks Coast Again, Third Period Collapse Leads to Loss is a post from: Let's Go Amerks!. For discussion visit the forums at LetsGoAmerks.com/Forums.