Amerks give up four goals in the third period and lose Game 4 to the Bears

Rochester Amerks coach Seth Appert had a feeling that his team was going to respond in a big way Monday night in Game 4 of the Calder Cup Eastern Conference finals.

They lost Games 2 and 3 to the rugged Hershey Bears, but there was nothing in those two games that signaled to him that anything was amiss. In fact, what he saw in those losses, and then how the team responded in practice Sunday, actually made him feel like winning Game 4 was perhaps inevitable.

“You get to know your team so well over the course of nine months and you just know when you know,” Appert said before the game. “There’s isn’t any particular thing that I can say ‘this thing shows me this.’ We just have a tremendous leadership core that I believe in at a high level. We’ve been through worse things than this in the past two years and a lot of the core guys have been here for two years.”

For 50 minutes Appert was looking pretty prophetic as the Amerks were holding on to a 2-0 lead. But then the Bears erupted for three goals in a span of 5:21 in the third period and added an empty netter with 56.8 seconds left to pull out a somewhat stunning 4-2 victory in front of a tremendously disappointed sellout crowd of 10,687 at Blue Cross Arena.

“It sucks that we gave away a game we should have won, but we can't let it be more than one game,” said Appert. “Use it as motivation, use it as fuel, be angry about it, but at the same point in time get your rest, get recovered and all we have to do is go on the road and win one game.”

That’s what the Amerks did in Game 1 last week, but now they have the enormous burden of having to do it with their season on the brink as they trail the best-of-seven series three games to one heading into Game 5 Wednesday night at the GIANT Center in Hershey.

Of course, they fell behind Syracuse two games to none in that best-of-five and roared back to win the final three so it’s certainly possible, but Syracuse is not Hershey, and the Amerks are finding that out.

Here’s what happened in Game 4:

First period: Lineup change made a difference

There was plenty of excitement over the fact that the Sabres’ 2022 first-round draft pick, Matt Savoie, was inserted into the Amerks lineup for Games 2 and 3, but Savoie struggled to make an impact against a big, physical and veteran team like Hershey and was a healthy scratch for Game 4.

The man he had replaced, Filip Cederqvist, went back into the lineup and that paid dividends just 3:01 into the game. Zach Metsa led a rush into the Bears zone and fed Cederqvist in the left circle and he ripped a shot that Bears goalie Hunter Shepard stopped. However, the rebound popped out to the right where Linus Weissbach was waiting to slam it home for the only goal of the period.

“It’s never fun to be outside the lineup,” Cederqvist said. “So yeah, I’m just keeping my head down and working hard. It was nice to play.”

The Amerks could have padded their lead, but they got nothing going on two power-play chances. After going an unsustainable 7-for-11 with the man advantage in the Toronto series, they are 0-for-7 in this series.

Second period: Weissbach strikes again

This was a mostly awful period of hockey, the equivalent of watching an NFL game where both teams repeatedly go three-and-out and punt. Of course this is exactly how the Bears want it, ugly as possible, but what they likely didn’t anticipate was being down 2-0 after 40 minutes.

The Amerks didn’t get their first shot on goal until nearly 12 minutes into the period because the Bears were so suffocating on defense. Also, the Amerks spent an inordinate amount of time in their own end as they had to kill three Hershey power plays.

“They’ve got some bigger defenseman back there so I think we gotta use our feet or speed,” Weissbach said. “We’re a fast team so I think we just gotta stay off the walls and kind of spin off whenever they’re trying to finish us off.”

Yet despite all the frustrations on offense, it was the Amerks who scored the lone goal of the period. Cederqvist gathered a loose puck in the right corner and fed Matt Bartkowski at the blue line and he fired a slap shot that Weissbach redirected past Shepard at 16:01.

“Great play by Bartkowski to Weissbach again on the back post and those are the goals you got to score at this time of year,” Appert said.

Third period: A total collapse for the Amerks

Logan Day nearly got Hershey on the board 40 seconds into the period when he rang one off the post, but that made it clear the Bears were coming hard and sure enough, they ran the Amerks right out of the building.

Lucas Johansen got the first as he blew through the slot and beat Subban from about 20 feet away, and then Day moved from his right defense point and lasered a wrist shot over Subban on the short side.

Mason Morelli then netted the game-winner with 4:33 left as he banged in a rebound from right in front of Subban as the Amerks failed to clear traffic in front after Subban made the initial save. Morelli then doubled down by scoring the empty netter.

“Just lacked composure with the puck there in some big moments,’ Appert said. “Both their first two goals to tie it, we had pucks on sticks - one in the defensive zone, one in the offensive zone - and I thought we just made immature decisions with it, which led to them getting chances, and unfortunately, those chances went in. A veteran, savvy team like them can make you pay for that.”

It was a tough way for the night to end for Subban who was spectacular in the first 50 minutes. He finished with 32 saves.

“He was great,” Appert said. “I’m sure he’s angry because there’s probably two he wants back at the end, but he was great. We had a really good start, Malcolm was very good in those first 40, 50 minutes. I liked our first 10 minutes in the third, we didn’t sit back in the third, we were in the offensive zone the whole time creating chances, maybe not getting enough to the net, but I liked that we were staying in an attacking mindset.”

Inside the numbers

∎ Scratching Savoie wasn’t a surprise, but defenseman Ethan Prow was definitely a surprise. He apparently suffered an injury Saturday, so Mitch Eliot took his place in the lineup.

∎ Amerks center Brett Murray crashed into the boards late in the second period and went right to the locker room, but he returned for the third period. It’s uncertain whether Prow can return for Game 5.

∎ The Bears have won all five of their postseason road games.

∎ The Amerks have scored four goals or more in each of their seven wins this postseason, but have been held to two goals or fewer in each of their five losses.

Rochester Amerks vs. Hershey Bears schedule

• Game 5 Wednesday, May 31, GIANT Center, 7:05 p.m.

• Game 6 (if necessary), Friday, June 2, Blue Cross Arena, 7:05 p.m.

• Game 7: (if necessary): Monday, June 5, GIANT Center, 7:05 p.m.

Rochester Amerks vs. Hershey Bears tickets

If you plan to travel to Hershey for Game 5, tickets are available at Ticketmaster.

If Game 6 is necessary in Rochester, tickets start for as low as $22. You can get them either in person at the Blue Cross Arena box office, online or by calling 585-454-5335.

If you can't get tickets, all of the games are being broadcast on the MSG Network or via streaming on AHL.TV.

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

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Hershey bears defeat Rochester Americans in Calder Cup playoffs.