It's all about the Calder Cup for the Amerks: What you need to know about the next series

The goal is to play in the National Hockey League, and every player on the Rochester Amerks roster is hoping to someday get that chance, either with the parent Buffalo Sabres, or some other club.

But right now, no one wearing the Amerks red, white and blue crest is thinking about the Sabres or the NHL. Right now, there is only one goal in mind, and Seth Appert’s gritty squad is laser-focused on the AHL’s Calder Cup playoffs, and that was abundantly evident Thursday night in Utica.

“Those guys aren’t worried about Buffalo, they’re worried about trying to win a Calder Cup,” Appert said after the Amerks rallied for three third-period goals to overtake the Comets and win 4-2 in the deciding fifth game of their hotly-contested North Division semifinal series.

The AHL is, first and foremost, the league where future NHL players learn how to play professional hockey at very close to the highest level, another step in a long journey that began for most when they could barely balance on blades on frozen ponds.

More:Amerks pull off massive comeback in Game 5 to win series against top-seeded Utica

But at this time of year, it isn’t completely about developing for the future, it’s about gaining experience in big games with plenty at stake, it’s about learning how to win, how to battle through adversity, how to come together as a team and play for the guy on either side of you on the bench.

“I think that winning and development are connected to each other,” said Appert, who has guided the Amerks into their first third-round playoff series since 2004. “You need to build a winning culture. 

“Yes, you’d like it to be a championship, but it’s probably more about the winning culture — how you go about your business every day, how you compete and work every day to get better, to challenge your teammates to try to keep up with you.

“I think that there’s been a lot of positives, both in Buffalo and here this year, in regards to that. I think that having this experience and this pressure on our young guys down the stretch and in the playoffs has been very healthy when they’ve succeeded with it and when they’ve struggled with it.”

There was certainly a little of each in the rugged Utica series as the Amerks lost the first game, won the next two, dropped Game 4 at home with a chance to clinch, and then fell behind 2-1 after 40 minutes in Game 5.

But the Amerks stunned the Comets with two goals in a series-deciding span of 3:24 early in the third - Arttu Ruotsalainen and Sean Malone doing the honors - and then locked it down on defense before Mark Jankowski put it away with an empty net goal 61 seconds before the final horn.

“We didn’t want our season to be over,” said defenseman Casey Fitzgerald. “When you have a special team like this, you just want to keep playing.”

And so they will, this time against the Laval Rocket, the top farm club of the Montreal Canadiens.

Amerks vs. Rocket: Game dates, times, ticket info

We were very close to having another juicy, nasty Thruway series between Rochester and its fiercest rival, Syracuse. However, the Crunch - who finished second in the North Division behind Utica - coughed up Game 5 to Laval at home after opening a 2-0 lead.

They allowed the Rocket to tie it with 39 seconds left in the third period, and then lost it midway through overtime on a goal by Laval’s Gabriel Bourque.

So instead of the Crunch, the Amerks will face a team similar to them, one coming off an emotional upset triumph over a higher-seeded divisional rival.

Here is the schedule for the AHL North Division best-of-five finals. 

• Game 1: 7 p.m. Sunday at Place Bell in Laval, Quebec, a 5½-hour drive from Rochester. If you go, you'll need the ArriveCAN app, a passport or an enhanced New York driver's license to enter Canada.
• Game 2: 7 p.m. Monday, May 23, in Laval.
• Game 3 is at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday, May 25, at the Blue Cross Arena. Here's how to buy tickets.
• Game 4, if needed, is at 7:05 p.m. Friday, May 27, at the Blue Cross Arena.
• Game 5, if necessary, is at 7 p.m. Sunday, May 29, in Laval.

The teams split their eight-game regular season series with Rochester winning the first three, losing the next four, then taking the last game on Ethan Prow’s overtime goal for a 4-3 victory on April 13.

Goalie matchup will be one to watch

Rochester’s Aaron Dell made some key saves in the Thursday clincher at Utica, but he’ll need to pick up his play against the Rocket based on his regular-season performance against them.

Dell started three times against Laval and had a rough go with a 1-2 record, an .860 save percentage and a 5.08 goals-against. He gave up seven goals in a 7-2 home loss on March 9, and five more in a 6-2 loss at Laval on April 6.

At the other end in the Laval net will likely be Cayden Primeau who has had a great postseason with a 1.96 goals-against average and a .940 save percentage. He was on the bench for Game 1 against Syracuse, but when Kevin Poulin allowed four goals in a 5-3 loss, coach Jean-Francois Houle turned to Primeau and he helped the Rocket win three of the final four.

Primeau lost 4-3 head-to-head against Dell on Oct. 29, he gave up four goals in a 5-3 loss to the Amerks Dec. 10, he made 29 saves to beat Rochester 5-1 on Feb. 20, and made 29 more saves in the 6-2 Laval victory on April 6.

Old friend Jean-Sebastian Dea had a career season

Dea, the 28-year-old veteran center who spent parts of the previous two seasons with the Amerks, joined the Rocket in 2021-22 and produced 26 goals (including eight game-winners) and 52 points, both career highs. Against Syracuse in the playoffs, he had a goal and three assists.

Laval’s leading scorer during the regular season was left wing Rafael Harvey-Pinard who had 56 points (21 goals).

In the postseason, center Alex Belzile has been lethal as he scored four goals against the Crunch after netting just 10 in 32 games during the regular season. Defenseman Sami Niku - who had only 11 assists in 36 regular-season games - had five against Syracuse.

Jack Quinn still searching for the net

The Amerks have now won two postseason series without getting a goal from the talented 2020 first-round pick of the Sabres. Quinn scored 26 goals in just 45 games during the season, but he now has scored just one goal in the last 15 games including the seven in the playoffs.

Still, Appert loved Quinn’s game Thursday, but really, his entire series despite the goose egg in the goal column.

“That young man went to battle tonight,” Appert said. “He had some big hits, he didn’t back down an inch. I thought he was good defensively, he was physical, he created offense …maybe it didn’t go in the net all the time. I thought he was outstanding most of this series and he helped us win a series without scoring. That’s part of becoming a great player.”

Added Malone, himself a 20-goal regular-season scorer who had two against Utica including the game-winner Thursday, “Quinner has had chances and he’s going to break through.”

As always, special teams will be important

The Amerks led the 11-team Eastern Conference in power-play success at 23.5% during the regular season and has clicked on 33.3% of its chances in the seven playoff games to date.

Laval’s penalty kill ranked ninth in the East at 80.9% and has stayed true to form in the postseason at 80%. If the Amerks can get the Rocket into the penalty box, there’s an advantage to watch for, especially with Arttu Ruotsalainen firing away from the right side as he has four power-play goals in the postseason.

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana.