The Rochester Amerks didn’t have a good time in Game 2 of the AHL Eastern Conference Finals. To their credit, the Hershey Bears made an adjustment and goaltender Hunter Shepard returned to the player he was before Game 1.

Honestly, I could stop right here because that is the story of the game. It’s not that Matthew Savoie messed with the lineup by making his AHL debut. It’s not that the Bears outplayed the Amerks because they didn’t.

Goalied

This game was lost by the Amerks in the first 30 minutes. They were getting pressure on the Bears, but couldn’t get the puck by the goaltender. They ended the night with nine high-danger chances at 5 on 5 by our tracking data to just three for Hershey.

You can see above that the Amerks also won the shot-share battle in this game as well at 5 on 5. This doesn’t account for score effects, but the game was scoreless until late in the second. The Amerks were in control of the game up to that point.

The Bears do deserve some credit and in particular their head coach Todd Nelson. He realized that his team was crushed in transition in Game 1. As a result, he pulled back the reigns on an aggressive forecast in Game 2.

Throughout Game 1, the Bears were sending two forwards deep to attack the Amerks defenders and the third forward was hovering around the top of the faceoff circles. The defensemen were able to move the puck quickly in Game 1 to get the puck to the forwards with speed and they flew through the open neutral zone.

In Game 2, that third forward stayed around the blue line and then retreated through the neutral zone as the Amerks came up the ice to form a three-man wall at their defensive blue line. That resulted in the Amerks having to dump the puck in or try to skate through it. Offensive failed exits were way up for Rochester in this game and you can see below that the number of controlled entries was down from Game 1.

Poor Puck Movement

The other factor that played into the Amerks’ rush attack slowing down was poor puck movement by the blue line. Passes were off all night and failed exits were up in this game.

Part of that is a credit to the Bears’ adjustment, but puck control was sloppy throughout the night. The defense group will need to put together better performances moving forward if the Amerks want to win this series.

Shot Contributions

There were two standouts for the Amerks in this game. Those two players were Lukas Rousek and Jiri Kulich. Rousek continues to look like an NHL player every time you watch him. He was all over the ice tonight creating opportunities for his linemates.

Lukas Rousek nearly sets up Jiri Kulich for the opening goal 👀 pic.twitter.com/dTUNpYukXw

— The Sabre Report (@TheSabreReport) May 25, 2023

He led the team in Game 2 in primary shot contributions at 5 on 5 in our data.

Jiri Kulich ended up this in PSC, but all three of his shot attempts were excellent chances. Shepard made exceptional stops on all of them to hold the 18-year-old off of the score sheet. He had his feet going again in this one and was a fun player to watch.

Savoie had a great chance in the opening minutes of the game and shot it wide. From then on he was never really heard from again. You could tell he was battling some nerves as he had issues with puck control throughout the game. I expect him to improve as the series moves along.

Game 3 is tomorrow night back in Rochester. We’ll see what kind of adjustment Seth Appert makes to counter the Bears.

Photo Credit: Rochester Amerks/Facebook