The Laval Rocket once again entered Place Bell on a Friday night with a chance to close out a North Division playoff series, this time against the Rochester Americans. The Rocket thumped the Amerks on Wednesday night 4-1, with Laval scoring three goals in just over five minutes to stun their rivals from New York and to take a 2-1 series lead.
Laval would have to contend with a major lineup shuffle heading into Game 4, however, as for the first time all year they would be without veteran defenceman Tyler Wotherspoon, who left Game 3 with an injury. Luckily, veteran Noel Hoefenmayer was set to slide right into his spot next to Gustav Lindström on the third pair for the night. The forward lines remained the same after all four managed a goal in Wednesday night’s win. In net, Pascal Vincent rotated in Jacob Fowler as his starter despite Cayden Primeau having won both his starts in the series thus far.
There wasn’t a goal 15 seconds into this game like Game 3, but things started with quite a bang as Owen Beck and Florian Xhekaj combined to erase Ryan Johnson along the boards. Johnson was left rattled, and eventually departed the game with the Rochester training staff, leaving the Americans short on defence early in the contest. Laval then continued to get the better chances out of their breakouts, but only one shot made it through to Devon Levi.
For contrast, on one of the first real threats that the Americans generated, Logan Mailloux was called for slashing in front of his net, while William Trudeau scrambled to pick up his stick that he had lost behind the net. Laval did well to handle the first wave of the power play, but a failed clearing attempt allowed Rochester to stay inside the offensive zone. That allowed Lukas Rousek to feed Josh Dunne alone in the slot, and Dunne fired it through Fowler for a Rochester lead.
As they had all series, Laval came storming back on the very next shift to pester the Americans and try to level the game quickly. Joshua Roy bombed into the zone, missing Oliver Kapanen with a one-timer by inches while Sean Farrell and Alex Barré-Boulet each had their chances denied by Levi’s scrambles. While the Rocket were controlling the puck and the flow of play, Levi continued to be a stubborn obstacle and frustration was showing a bit for a normally composed Rocket side.
As they continued to throw whatever they could at net, the Americans made one counter-attack and doubled their advantage. It was Josh Dunne who took advantage of a turnover, and his shot on net was tipped past Fowler by Tyson Kozak suddenly putting Laval in a deep hole.
Things only got worse for Laval from there as Laurent Dauphin was called for a hold right off the faceoff, but before Laval could touch the puck, Alex Barré-Boulet made enough contact with Levi to also be whistled for a penalty. Piling on the fact that Logan Mailloux also got into a roughing match with a Rochester defender, Laval found itself killing a five-on-three power play without three of its regular penalty-killers. Fowler came up with a big glove save to end the period, but heading into the first intermission the Rocket had plenty of work cut out for them.
It took Rochester all of 43 seconds to extend their lead even further as Dunne collected his third point of the game, feeding Isak Rosen in the slot to run the score up to 3-0.
The Rocket stuck with Fowler, who then almost instantly had to face another breakaway after Mailloux flubbed the puck in the neutral zone. Fowler turned away Kozak’s chance, and at the other end of the ice it was Beck trying to dig his team out of the hole, but Levi’s glove stopped him once again.
Laval finally managed to get on the board, thanks to the offensive-zone heroics of Adam Engström. The rookie defenceman took the puck around the zone once, then as he began a second lap he cut back to the centre of the ice to put a shot on net. Levi made the first save, but Roy was on the spot to slam home the rebound to breathe some life back into the Rocket’s chances.
It looked like Laval was going to claw its way back into the game, however their continued insistence on playing poorly in the defensive zone changed that feeling very quickly. A broken stick and a failed clearing attempt opened up enough space for Dunne to bury his second goal of the night, chasing Fowler from the game as Rochester made it 4-1.
Cayden Primeau entered the fray looking to stanch the bleeding while the Rocket offence tried to force another puck by Levi before the period ended. Luke Tuch saw his breakaway chance denied by a quick glove, and the fourth line had its looks, but Levi remained steadfast.
Rochester was smothering the Rocket push right out of the gates in the third period, giving the offence zero space and forcing Laval to just harmlessly dump the puck in to try and create chances. When Laval did finally manage to gain the zone, they also drew their first power play of the night with a chance to make the game competitive again.
To say that the ensuing power play was disappointing would be underselling it by several scores, with the Rocket barely being able to get set up, let alone able to trouble Levi. To compound matters, as the play returned to even strength, Xhekaj found himself taking a seat as Dunne suckered him into taking a cross-checking penalty.
Laval’s penalty-killers stood tall, fending off the Rochester power play to keep themselves in the faintest range of mounting a comeback, but with under 10 minutes left to play it was a monumental task. The speed of Brandon Gignac drew another penalty for the Rocket, putting them on a firmly must-score power play.
There was a goal, but not in the direction the Rocket might hoped. Roy bailed out on competing for a loose puck, allowing Rochester to break out short-handed, and Nikita Novikov was able to feed Konsta Helenius who all but ended the Rocket’s chances at a comeback with six minutes left to play.
Tempers finally boiled over after the fifth goal with Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Tuch, and Lucas Condotta all getting an early trip to the showers for their roles in a kerfuffle in the Rochester zone. However, when the penalties were all dished out it was again the Rocket killing a penalty, which they did without much issue as they tried to just reach the end of the game.
The end would not come quickly as the officials also had to send Hoefenmayer and Jared Davidson off the ice as well after Konsta Helenius started a scrum after the whistle, with Noah Ostlund also sent off for the Americans. On the next faceoff it was Xhekaj being sent off for barking at Novikov, and soon after that Mailloux, Roy, Mason Jobst and Zach Metsa joined them as they all came together after the whistle. Somehow, Helenius escaped any sort of penalty during this, and was out there to kill off the final minutes as Rochester secured a 5-1 win, forcing a winner-take-all contest in Game 5.
Final Score: Rochester 5, Laval 1
Series is tied 2-2
Game 5 is set for Sunday at Place Bell, with puck drop scheduled for 4:30 PM ET. It should be Primeau in net for Laval as the Rocket try to punch their ticket to the Conference Final against the Charlotte Checkers.
