After earning a split on the road in Rochester last week, the Laval Rocket returned home for the final three games of their series with the Americans looking to bounce back following a tough loss on Friday. While the Rocket had no issue piling up goals against Devon Levi on the road, their inability to contend with the dangerous Rochester power play bit them in a bad way in a 5-3 loss, with Jacob Fowler suffering his first playoff loss.
Pascal Vincent stuck to his word as he continued his rotation in net, with Cayden Primeau getting the nod as the starter for the first home game of the series. The lineup also saw a small shuffle with Luke Tuch moving up to the third line alongside Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and Lucas Condotta. That meant Owen Beck returned to centring a strong fourth-line group with Jared Davidson and Florian Xhekaj. Adam Engström and David Reinbacher returned as the top defensive pairing, while William Trudeau and Logan Mailloux slid down to the third unit for the night.
There was no slow start to be seen for the Rocket as they scored on their first shot of the game, just 15 seconds after puck drop. The new-look third line went right to work, testing Levi quickly with Condotta corralling a blocked shot and firing it across the zone to a waiting David Reinbacher on the half-boards. Reinbacher paused and threw a shot on net, and at the last second it was Tuch getting a small piece of the shot, deflecting it by Levi and putting the Rocket on top almost instantly.
The Rocket were flying on every single shift, throwing the body at everyone wearing a white uniform and making sure that Rochester had zero space or time to make plays. However, a Condotta slashing penalty threatened to derail what was looking like a potential dream start for Laval as a red-hot Rochester power play took the ice.
With a roaring crowd at their backs, the Rocket allowed zero shots on Primeau, thanks in part to many active sticks and a desperation block in the slot by Harvey-Pinard that denied Anton Wahlberg a sure goal as Condotta exited the box. While the Amerks still had zero shots on net, they were beginning to find their legs and clogging up some of the lanes that were open early along the boards for the Rocket.
Laval’s constant pressure eventually allowed Condotta to draw a penalty of his own as Isak Rosen dragged him down heading into the offensive zone. Rochester’s penalty kill had honed in on Logan Mailloux as the top unit took the ice, pressuring the Rocket defenceman along the blue line and giving him no time to uncork his heavy shot. Laval’s second unit had a few looks, including Davidson ringing the outside of the post, but Rosen exited the box with Rochester unscathed.
The next shift it was nearly the new third line striking again with Gustav Lindström firing a low shot toward the net, and Condotta deflected it up Levi’s shoulder. Levi recovered instantly, spinning in his crease and sweeping the loose puck away from the goalmouth before it could cross the line.
The Americans pushed back on a lengthy shift during which the Rocket were unable to clear their lines and the Rochester attack pushed time and time again. Some strong saves from Primeau and a timely bit of patience from Sean Farrell allowed the Rocket to escape with their lead intact. That little bit of patience from Farrell eventually turned into another long offensive shift from the third line to end the period, but there wasn’t another goal for the Rocket.
Tuch’s opening goal sent the home side into the first intermission with the lead having controlled most of the opening period.
Right out of the gate in the second, the Rocket used their speed to force the Americans into taking a penalty, with Reinbacher’s slick feed freeing up Owen Beck and making Kale Clague take a slashing call. The top unit nearly doubled the lead as Joshua Roy rounded a defender and put a puck into the crease where Laurent Dauphin shovelled it forward. Levi remained steadfast, pinching his pads together on the goal line and denying the Rocket a second goal.
Rochester survived an intense Rocket power play, but Laval was still pushing full speed ahead while Levi was doing everything in his power to hold the dam back. A smooth transition from Roy opened up space for Gustav Lindström in tight on goal, with Lindström opting to try the wraparound while dragging Levi out of his net. As the Rocket defenceman circled the net, the puck just slipped off his stick, and was swallowed up by Levi to keep it a one-goal game.
That save ended up being a bit of a turning point as the Amerks began to claw their way back into the game. Primeau was doing incredible work to keep Rochester off the board, but it was clear that momentum was beginning to shift. The Rocket were getting a bit of a hand as Rochester continued to jump offside, but every shift was suddenly much more dangerous with the Americans on the puck.
As the period was winding down it looked as though Laval was going to get to the second intermission with only a few bumps in the road. However, Mason Jobst beat Mailloux around the back of the net and Mailloux responded with a cross-check and penalty. While Primeau was doing well holding the fort, the Amerks would start the third period with 1:26 of power play time, and the Rocket barely holding on to their one-goal lead.
A strong penalty-killing shift by Xhekaj and Condotta allowed Mailloux to exit the box with the Rocket’s lead intact. That lead soon evaporated as Rochester finally found enough of a gap in the Rocket defence to level the score. As Tuch stepped up to deliver a hit in the neutral zone, suddenly the Amerks were in the offensive zone with time and space. Engström tried to get back to his coverage, but Lukas Rousek had plenty of time to rip his shot by Primeau and tie the game.
The Rocket took that goal against personally as they came storming right back to restore their lead on the following shift, with Xhekaj again at the centre of everything. Davidson batted down a puck at centre ice, then dropped it off for Xhekaj, who sped into the offensive zone. Xhekaj beat his man around the edge and on his backhand roofed a shot over Levi to put Laval back on top barely two minutes after Rousek’s goal.
Laval’s offence wasn’t done there as it doubled down just over a minute later and left the Americans suddenly reeling. Alex Barré-Boulet wisely dished a puck off to William Trudeau at the opposite corner of the offensive zone, and Trudeau took off toward the net. The Rocket blue-liner rounded a sliding block, and threw a pass to the crease for Dauphin to tap in for his fifth playoff goal.
The onslaught continued as the Rocket piled on a third straight goal to suddenly put the Amerks on the back foot in a big way. A puck was rimmed around the boards and onto the stick of Reinbacher, who calmly collected it and threw a shot on net. Levi kicked out a rebound and an attempted clear fell to Roy, who slid it past Levi to give the Rocket a sudden three-goal lead.
With the cushion, the Rocket began to lock things down and gave the Americans absolutely nothing to work to launch a comeback bid. The defence cleared pucks away from the net, and the forwards kept their counterparts under pressure as the final minutes ticked away.
Laval managed to close out those final few moments, and did so with few post-whistle shenanigans, sealing a 4-1 win and standing on the verge of advancing to the AHL conference finals.
Final Score: Laval 4, Rochester 1
Laval leads best-of-five series 2-1
Game 4 is set to take place on Friday night at Place Bell, with puck drop set for 7 PM ET. While Pascal Vincent has rotated his goaltenders, he may stick with Primeau who has won both of his starts in this series so far.
