DUFFER: Rosen has fueled Amerks' power play during playoff run

Jiri Kulich has goals in every game he has played this postseason.

Five in five games.

Four of them on the power play.

But another first-year Rochester American has arguably been the catalyst for the man-advantage success which has fueled a five-game winning streak and a 2-0 series lead vs. Toronto in the AHL's North Division Finals.

Twenty-year-old Isak Rosen has factored in on more than half of the Amerks' power-play goals in a 9-for-19 (47.3 percent) run since he scored the game-opening goal early in a must-win Game 3 matchup vs. Syracuse.

In the third period of that same game, he was part of a five-forward configuration on a critical 5-on-3, drawing a secondary assist on the go-ahead goal by Kulich.

He had the primary power-play assist on the series-deciding overtime goal by Lawrence Pilut in Game 5.

Thursday, his one-timer from the right dot gave the Amerks their first two-goal lead in Game 1 vs. the Marlies.

And in the third period on Saturday it was his positioning, vision, and confidence that found Sean Malone, who gifted the captain Micheal Mersch an open net for a 6-3 Rochester lead en route to a 7-4 win.

Rosen has a team-leading five power-play points (2+3) this spring, building upon a rookie campaign that saw him trail only Lukas Rousek in power-play assists among Amerks forwards.

After starting the playoffs 0-for-7 over consecutive losses, Rochester is leading the AHL (among teams advancing beyond the first round) at 34.6 percent with the extra man.

Of course, they didn't have Jiri Kulich for the first two games against Syracuse.

And they presumably wouldn't be where they are now - one win away from the Eastern Conference Final - without Kulich AND Isak Rosen.