Tom Petty famously sang that the waiting is the hardest part. For both the Laval Rocket and Rochester Americans, that turned out to be truer than expected as the North Division Final finally got underway on Wednesday night. Rochester had smothered their thruway rivals, the Syracuse Crunch, over the course of a three-game sweep, including a pair of shutouts from Devon Levi, to seal their opening series. The Rocket also handled their business with relative ease, defeating Cleveland three games to one and setting up a battle between the top two sides in the division.
It was Cayden Primeau who led the Rocket onto the ice in Rochester, squaring off with fellow Northeastern alumnus Levi. This was not Primeau’s first tangle with the Amerks either, having guided the Rocket to a sweep in this same series just three years ago. Laval’s lineup remained the same as their last game against Cleveland, only Adam Engström and David Reinbacher were shifted up to the top pair. It was going to be a big ask of the two rookies, with the Americans sporting the ever-dangerous duo of Isak Rosen and Jiri Kulich.
Right out of the gate it was the stuff of nightmares for the Rocket as Logan Mailloux was called for tripping inside the defensive zone, putting a dangerous Rochester power play on the ice. Right off the drop, the Amerks looked to have scored, but the shot hammered off the crossbar behind Primeau and away.
While Laval survived the first penalty kill, a bad offensive-zone boarding penalty by Joshua Roy put them right back on special teams. This time, Kale Clague stepped into a feed from Lukas Rousek and powered it easily by Primeau to open the scoring.
The crafty veteran knowhow of Alex Barré-Boulet quickly got the Rocket back on even terms as he drew an interference call while chasing down a loose puck in the neutral zone. With the Rocket on the power play, Mailloux looked to make up for his earlier penalty as he began directing traffic from the point. While the Rocket worked pucks along the goal line, the slot opened up for Mailloux and he stepped into a one-time feed that Levi never saw, levelling the game with 10 minutes gone in the first period.
Mailloux’s goal kicked the Rocket instantly out of their slump as they began to dominate control of the puck and the flow of play, leaving Rochester looking like they were out of ideas of how to attack in the offensive zone. Owen Beck’s line continued to reap rewards for Pascal Vincent as the first period ticked down, with Beck swiping a puck and making a daring rush to the net. While Beck’s shot was saved and Florian Xhekaj’s squeaked loose, it was David Reinbacher who stepped up and buried it to give the Rocket a lead.
Some late-period rough stuff from Roy and Riley Fiddler-Schultz shifted the game to four-on-four, and the Rocket continued to make that a problem of their opponents. Engström collected the puck off a faceoff and sped away, leaving the entire Rochester team behind him as he circled through the offensive zone. While the Swedish defenceman dazzled, his scoring attempt was fended off by Levi, leaving the Rocket lead at just one goal heading into the first intermission.
A promising start for Laval ended up spoiled early in the second period as Reinbacher didn’t clear the zone, allowing the Americans to hem the Rocket in for a lengthy shift. Roy’s man shook him along the far boards, opening up a two-on-one lane to the net, and with a quick pass back to Konsta Helenius it was quickly a 2-2 game.
Emboldened by the goal, Rochester took the fight right to the Rocket shift after shift, even if Laval was generating looks of their own as well. After Roy had a pass deflected down the ice, the Rocket were beat back in numbers with Primeau struggling to corral the puck. Fiddler-Schultz boxed out, allowing Josh Dunne to circle the net and barely tuck in the loose puck to put the home side back on top inside the opening seven minutes of the second period.
Laval’s spiral into a one-goal deficit was further churned as Xhekaj took one too many swipes at an Amerks player after the whistle, earning him a two-minute trip to the box. Laval’s penalty-killers fought off the Rochester attack, not letting much through on Primeau to survive the waves of chances. Just as it looked like Rochester was going to break open the dam, they were called for too many men on the ice, and the game suddenly shifted in the other direction.
Laval’s top power play unit couldn’t get much going in terms of offensive chances, but the second wave used its speed to stretch out the Rochester defence and eventually a crack in the armour appeared. Kapanen worked the puck to Beck along the goal line, and Beck waited to draw a defender toward him. With the space open, Beck fed it perfectly to Brandon Gignac in the slot and the Rocket veteran buried his first of the playoffs to tie the game up 3-3.
The late power-play goal set fire to the Rocket’s skates as they spent multiple shifts skating the Americans ragged in the offensive zone, getting a change and continuing to bury them in scoring chances. Just as it looked like the waves of Rocket attacks would let up, Sean Farrell snuck on the ice on a change behind the defence, collecting a leading feed from William Trudeau. Farrell fired off one shot, then bumped his own rebound back to Barré-Boulet, and the Rocket’s star forward bested Levi to make it a 4-3 contest.
A desperate push to end the period was defended well by Primeau, allowing the Rocket to once again enter the intermission break leading by a goal.
It was all Rocket out of the gate to start the final period, with the top line continuing to catch the Amerks’ defence asleep at the wheel. Much like in the previous period, a prime chance turned into an opposing power play as Barré-Boulet caught Ryan Johnson on the follow-through as he attempted to feed Trudeau. Another strong penalty-killing shift kept the momentum in the Rocket’s corner as they kept their lead intact and looked to pile on some insurance.
The Rocket rested a bit too much on their laurels, and the Americans took the few chances they could manage and turned it into a tie game. Kulich finally made his presence known as he flew through the Rocket zone, feeding Noah Ostlund. The rookie then dished it off immediately to Isak Rosen, who fired it right through Primeau to make it a 4-4 contest.
Laval came back instantly, with Kapanen beating Levi to a loose puck, leaving Rochester’s net wide open as Kapanen settled the puck to shoot. He did get a shot off perfectly on target, only to have Vsevolod Komarov come sliding through in desperation, blocking a sure goal for the Rocket and keeping the game still tied.
The tide had once again started turning, and for the Rocket it was perfectly timed.
On another lengthy shift it looked like Levi would again fluster the Rocket and keep the game level. Roy battled through the Amerks’ defence to feed a puck to a screaming Mailloux at the point, with Mailloux uncorking a wicked wrister through traffic. Kapanen deftly tipped it by Levi, restoring the Rocket’s advantage late in the third period.
Despite the Rocket pulling ahead in the game, the Americans didn’t make an immediate push in an attempt to tie the game as Laval had to get the lead back. The minutes drained off the clock as the Rocket were able to keep the puck away from Primeau and even push for a few chances of their own trying to extend the lead further.
Rochester was still having difficulty gaining the blue line, but with 48 seconds to play Levi had no choice but to head to the bench with the puck still contested on his half of the ice. He hesitated once as the puck headed back in his direction, but got to the bench for the sixth skater to enter the fray.
After a few shifts on the perimeter, the Americans were able to get one last faceoff in the offensive zone with just over nine seconds to play, needing a setup to go for the tying goal. Instead, the draw was lost, the puck softly cleared to the neutral zone, and the horn sounded on a win for the visiting Rocket that put them in early command of the North Division Final.
Final score: Rocket 5, Americans 4
LAV leads best-of-five series 1-0
Blue Cross Arena in Rochester will host its final game of this series on Wednesday before the scene shifts to Laval for the finish. The Rocket have already ensured at least a split on the road, but would love to sit at 2-0 for the second consecutive series when they hit home ice for the first time.
