After dominant showing in Game 3 and a completely lacklustre effort in Game 4, the Laval Rocket found themselves in a do-or-die match on Sunday against the Rochester Americans with a trip to the Eastern Conference Final on the line. After getting played off the ice and having their tempers boil over on Friday night, the Rocket were in need of a huge response in front of their home fans.
The contest came with a new rash of injury news for the Rocket, with William Trudeau joining Tyler Wotherspoon on the injured list. That meant Pascal Vincent shuffled his defensive pairings with Noel Hoefenmayer and Logan Mailloux making up the second pair, Zack Hayes and David Reinbacher lined up as the first, and Gustav Lindström and Adam Engström united on the third duo.
Xavier Simoneau drew back in for Luke Tuch on the third line. The first line also received a bit of shuffling as Sean Farrell and Brandon Gignac switched lines to try to spark the top six. In net, it was the veteran Cayden Primeau getting the nod, and with two wins against Rochester already it was up to him to earn a third.
Both teams came out of the gate ready to put their stamp on the flow of the game early, with the Rocket managing some odd-man rushes, and the Americans matching them back on the same shift. Both Devon Levi and Primeau were busy through the opening minutes, with the pair of Northeastern alumni having to be sharp.
The speed of Gignac helped make the early difference for Laval as he cut through the offensive zone and drew a tripping call to give the Rocket the game’s first power play. Laval’s first unit took a few moments to get into gear, but once they began cycling it was clear they had the Amerks on the back foot. Joshua Roy in particular looked strong as his feed to Farrell at the back post just went wide.
Laval’s pressure didn’t let up back at even strength, and after a lengthy shift by the third line, Laurent Dauphin drew another power play as he was clotheslined along the boards by Lukas Rousek.
Laval got a small bit of luck as Josh Dunne snapped his stick on the draw, effectively turning their advantage into a five-on-three. Alex Barré-Boulet fed a pass to Roy across the zone, with Roy clanging his shot off the pipe behind Levi. Roy calmly collected the loose puck, feeding it back to Farrell, who found Barré-Boulet open in space. Barré-Boulet got absolutely all of his shot, beating Levi high and opening the scoring.
Laval continued to press, playing with a confidence that was entirely lacking on Friday night and it was rattling what had been a very confident Rochester team. Rochester was trying to just clear the zone, and on one attempt it was saved at the last moment by Zack Hayes. He kept the puck just barely inside the offensive zone, then fired a wrister on net. Levi never got a chance to stop the puck as Farrell stuck his stick out, deflecting the shot under Levi’s arms and doubling the Rocket advantage.
With a two-goal cushion, Primeau kept the door firmly shut as the opening period came to a close. While the Rocket carried a lead into the first intermission, the Americans were far from out of the contest with 40 minutes of regulation left to play.
It took all of 24 seconds for the Rocket to push that lead even further as the most consistent trio got on the scoreboard. A zone entry turned into a bit of a comedy of errors as Xavier Simoneau and Rafaël Harvey-Pinard ran into each other while they entered the offensive zone. Simoneau didn’t panic however, swatting a pass into open ice for Lucas Condotta who cleanly beat Levi to make it a 3-0 game.
It looked like Laval had added to their already comfortable advantage as Gignac snuck a shot around Dauphin in front of net, but the officials emphatically waved it off. A brief review showed that Levi and Dauphin had made brief contact in the crease initiated by the Rochester netminder, and the goal was waved off much to the chagrin of the fans at Place Bell.
That no-goal call almost became extremely important on the following shift as the Americans tried to push back against the waves of Rocket attacks. Konsta Helenius broke contain around the Rocket defence, opening up a breakaway lane right to Primeau. Helenius tried to dangle around the Rocket netminder, but plowed right through him, with the puck going just wide off the dislodged net.
The officials were pretty content to let the two sides play, but with a puck loose around the Rochester net late in the period, Florian Xhekaj earned a two-minute stay for taking one whack too many after the whistle. For their first penalty kill of the night, the Rocket made it look easy as they smothered a potent Rochester advantage and kept the lead intact.
Rochester was not as lucky when Jiri Kulich launched a puck out of play and put the Rocket advantage on the ice late in the period. Farrell found a streaking Roy inside the offensive zone, with Roy slamming on the brakes to open up a shooting lane. With that space, Roy buried a fourth Laval goal and sent the team into the second intermission with a massive lead, 20 minutes away from the conference final.
Laval did not have the smoothest start in the third period as Lindström took a cross-checking penalty just 21 seconds in. Laval’s penalty killers were much busier than before as the Amerks desperately tried to get on the board and mount a comeback. They nearly did, with Brett Murray collecting a Primeau rebound with an open net, but the goaltender dove back to rob him with the glove, and then a pileup ensued as the officials believed the puck to still be loose.
Laval killed off the penalty and began to coast toward the final goal, but was still managing to fluster Rochester at every turn. That in turn became yet another Rocket goal. Engström made an aggressive play to keep the puck in the offensive zone and Roy again went to work as a facilitator. He pivoted to find Oliver Kapanen ready for a one-time feed, Kapanen’s shot hit Levi, and slowly trickled into the net to put some definite finality on this game.
Despite there being over 10 minutes left in regulation, Kapanen’s goal deflated any hopes that the Amerks might have still had, and it became a slow march to the end of the period and the handshake line. Laval, while trying to not be unsporting, continued to just push Rochester back on every shift as they entered the final minutes.
There were no shenanigans as the final moments ticked away, and Laval left no doubt as they closed out a 5-0 shutout win and advanced to the Eastern Conference Final.
Final Score: Laval 5, Rochester 0
Laval wins series 3-2
Now waiting ahead of the Rocket is a meeting with the Charlotte Checkers, with a trip to the Calder Cup Final on the line. The best-of-seven series will kick off on Wednesday, with a 2-3-2 travel format.
