AMERKS WEEK 20 ROUND-UP | Rochester Americans

Closing out February in a big way, Goaltenders rising to the occasion and Hinostroza back where he belongs

Feb 28, 2023

By Suzie Cool

Last week featured another three-in-three weekend for the Rochester Americans as they kicked off a span of six games over nine days, including a season-long, eight-day road swing. There were PLENTY of goals scored, which means run support for the Amerks netminders and a well-deserved recall to the Buffalo Sabres for forward Vinnie Hinostroza.

We cover it all here, and more, with Amerks head coach Seth Appert in our Week 20 Roundup.

The Amerks’ depth was, again, on full display this past weekend as the team went on to post 20 goals while limiting the opposition to only six through three games in as many days. There were 12 different goal-scorers between the games, while forwards Jiri Kulich (3), Michael Mersch (3), Isak Rosen (2), Linus Weissbach (3) and defenseman Jeremy Davies (2) all posted multi-goal weekends.

Not bad for a team that is trying to utilize its depth in the best way possible.

“It was beyond what I was hoping for,” explained Appert when asked about the depth in scoring this weekend. “I think this time of the year, we need depth scoring, but I also think that we are a team that’s built to score by committee more than score by a first line. When we’re playing our best hockey, we’re getting contributions up and down the lineup and from our defensive core and that certainly was the case this weekend.”

After opening the weekend with an 8-4 win over Laval on Friday, Rochester scored seven straight unanswered goals, including three on the power-play, on their way to a dominating 7-1 win over Springfield on Saturday. The Amerks then put the finishing touches on the 20-goal weekend by scoring four first-period goals and never looking back on their way to a decisive 5-1 win at Providence on Sunday.

When the Amerks are amid a span of six games over nine days, it’s not shocking that both goaltenders are going to be used as much as possible and its certainly nothing that Rochester netminders Malcolm Subban and Michael Houser aren’t used to.

While Houser started two of the three games last weekend, it was Subban who was in-between the pipes for two of the three matchups this past weekend.

“They were both excellent,” started Appert when asked about the goaltending tandem he has in…