Amerks stave off elimination with gritty 4-1 victory on the road in Hershey

If there was one thing Rochester Amerks coach Seth Appert could bank on Wednesday night, it was that his team wasn’t going to buckle to the pressure of playing an elimination game.

“Our guys have a lot of belief that we’ve answered the bell when in tough moments, and we’re gonna need to do so again,” Appert said before Game 5 of the Calder Cup Eastern Conference finals at Hershey’s GIANT Center.

They certainly did. Goals by Jiri Kulich in the first period and two by Lukas Rousek and one by Michael Mersch in the third were enough for a gritty 4-1 victory over the Bears to keep alive Rochester’s season and force a Game 6 at Blue Cross Arena Friday night.

Look at what the core group of this team has accomplished. Last year they were down 3-0 going into the third period in the opener of the best-of-three play-in series against Belleville, with the specter of having to go to Belleville in a win-or-else game. Instead, they rallied to win 4-3 in overtime and then won Game 2. Later, they faced an elimination situation in Game 5 at favored Utica but won 4-2 to advance.

And then this season, they needed to beat Cleveland in the season finale to earn a first-round bye and did so, and they faced three elimination games against Syracuse and won them all. Now this, against a Hershey team that is without question one of the best in the American Hockey League.

This team has passed so many tests night after night, series after series, and this was certainly one of the biggest.

“That was what I expected,” Appert said after the game. “I never know the results, but I did expect us to play great. This group, as I've said many times, they've been through a lot together and they love playing for each other. So I did expect us to play really good.”

Because they did, the Amerks come back home with a chance to extend this special season.

“We were excited to try to make this bus ride meaningful for us and make them have to come back,” Appert said. “I didn't want this to be the last day I get to coach this group. This group is just phenomenal and I love coaching them. So it's really nice that this bus ride isn't our final ride in terms of we still have things ahead of us, which is awesome.”

Here’s what happened in Game 5:

First period: Jiri Kulich breaks his drought

The Bears came out breathing fire in the first three minutes, no surprise on their home ice, and it could have easily been 2-0 if not for a couple big saves by Malcolm Subban.

Having weathered that flurry, the Amerks stunned Hershey by taking a 1-0 lead at 4:43. Kulich, who has been frustrated by the physical, defensive-minded Bears, took a pass from Joseph Cecconi near center ice and found some room to work. He sped into the left circle and lasered one low to the blocker side, a shot that Bears goalie Hunter Shepard should have prevented. Kulich scored a goal in all six games he played in the first two rounds, but this was his first of the series.

Shepard then made a nice save midway through the period on Lawrence Pilut in front after a nice feed from Jobst, and moments later, the Amerks had a 2-on-1 and Linus Weissbach just missed hitting the top left corner. And a minute after that, the Amerks went on the power play but couldn’t generate any chances.

Second period: Malcolm Subban was outstanding

Hershey took an early penalty and after the Amerks failed for the ninth straight time in this series on the power play, the Bears began to control play early in the second and put heavy pressure on Subban but he turned aside five shots in a span of about two minutes to protect the 1-0 lead.

Eight minutes into the period Isak Rosen had a chance to make it 2-0 on a breakaway but he rang one off the post, and on the ensuing scramble in front of the net the Bears took their third penalty. But again, it was nothing doing for the Amerks though they did get a couple quality looks.

Hershey nearly tied it shortly thereafter but Subban stopped Aliaksei Protas who was wide open 10 feet in front of the net and in the same scramble Hendrix Lapierre had a great chance go off an Amerk defenders’ stick and out of play.

Late in the period the Amerks killed Hershey’s first power play, the first 58 seconds in a dangerous 4-on-3 situation, and when the horn sounded, despite being outshot 16-8 the Amerks were still up 1-0.

Third period: Lukas Rousek, Michael Mersch put it away

The Amerks forced a turnover in the Hershey end, Mason Jobst worked his way to the bottom of the left circle and then whipped a perfect feed across the goal crease to Rousek who one-timed it from a tough angle past Shepard just 1:22 into there period, and so began the decisive third period for Rochester.

“It was an amazing play,” Rousek said of the vision and accuracy Jobst showed. “A beautiful play.”

About two minutes later Hershey’s beast of a defenseman, Dylan McIlrath, pasted Rosen into the boards which led to a retaliatory roughing penalty by Weissbach, leaving Appert and the Amerks to wonder how McIlrath wasn’t penalized as Rosen’s helmet went flying off.

Predicatably, just seven seconds into the power play, Protas set up in front of Subban and tipped Logan Day’s shot from the center point into the net to cut the deficit to 2-1.

“I thought they were gifted a power play there that they probably didn't deserve and they scored on it, so credit Hershey for that,” Appert said. “Now the crowd’s going crazy and we needed to deliver.”

Mersch did exactly that. Just when it felt like the Bears were going to repeat their big comeback from Monday night in Game 4, Protas took a hooking penalty at 12:47 and just 24 seconds into the power play Weissbach rushed into the zone, backhanded a pass to the left side to Mersch and he picked the short side upper corner on Shepard to make it 3-1.

“That was important,” Appert said. “The power play wasn't real good tonight, but they scored; they scored when we needed them to. That was a big moment there and not surprised the captain scored.”

Inside the numbers

∎ Defenseman Ethan Prow, who sat out Game 4 with an injury and was badly missed, was back for the Amerks, but because of his injury, Appert dressed seven defensemen. Austin Strand was the seventh, making his postseason debut. The forward who sat out was Kohen Olischefski.

∎ If the Bears go on to win the series, they will reach the Calder Cup finals for the 24th time in franchise history but first since 2010, and they would be seeking their 12th championship which is the most in AHL history.

∎ Rochester came into the series 12-for-29 (41.4 percent) on the power play in the postseason, but it was 0-for-10 through two periods in Game 5 before Mersch’s goal broke the ice.

∎ In AHL history, 18 teams have come back from down 3-1 to win a Calder Cup playoff series. Rochester has done it three times, in 1960 (vs. Cleveland), 1992 (vs. Binghamton), and 2004 (vs. Syracuse).

Rochester Amerks vs. Hershey Bears schedule

• Game 6, 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 there is a Game 7 in Hershey, tickets are available at Ticketmaster.

Game 6 in Rochester is close to a sellout. 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: Rochester Americans defeat Hershey Bears to stay alive in AHL playoffs