Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Options Author
Get the cut up on the highway and go dwelling.
That’s a typical want for a crew opening a playoff sequence on the highway.
It may be much more useful in a best-of-five playoff sequence during which the remaining video games will all be performed on dwelling ice.
When the Laval Rocket, the AHL’s regular-season champion, pulled out of Rochester and hit the freeway for the journey again dwelling final Friday evening, it was the final of the Blue Cross Enviornment that they might be seeing for this season. They usually had their cut up, heading again to Place Bell tied at one sport apiece.
However the first two video games had been very a lot a battle. After scratching out a 5-4 comeback win in Recreation 1 final Wednesday, the Rocket had been overcome by a relentless Amerks crew, outshot 36-19 in Recreation 2. The groups mixed for 17 targets within the first two contests, however the one time both crew had a lead of a couple of aim was the ultimate 9 seconds of Recreation 2 when Isak Rosén’s empty-net aim capped Rochester’s 5-3 win.
Rosén has three targets within the first two video games. Jiří Kulich, down for the Calder Cup Playoffs from the Buffalo Sabres, scored the profitable tally in Recreation 2 and likewise has three assists within the sequence. Rochester’s pace and relentless puck-tracking has triggered issues for loads of groups this season, and it is going to be one thing that the Rocket must comprise.
“Right now of the 12 months, you want canines,” Amerks head coach Michael Leone mentioned following Recreation 2. “You actually need canines. You want players.”
Though the Rocket have been capable of rating eight targets in two video games towards Devon Levi, Rochester’s standout goaltender, a number of of them got here off defensive-zone breakdowns. If Rochester can clear up these errors – one thing that they did higher in Recreation 2 – the Rocket might have extra issue making an attempt to unravel one of many AHL’s high goaltenders as this sequence progresses as effectively. And the Amerks are not any pushovers on the highway, both; they went 23-9-2-2, tying for second-best within the league.
Nonetheless, the Rocket have lots going for them as they put together for Wednesday’s Recreation 3. They’ll be again dwelling at Place Bell, the place they had been 24-9-2-1 throughout the common season. It’s usually a loud, rambunctious, disruptive setting for opponents, and that chaos solely intensifies within the postseason, one thing that guests realized fairly effectively throughout Laval’s run to Recreation 7 of the Jap Convention Finals three years in the past.
Pascal Vincent, the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award winner because the AHL’s most excellent coach this season, has needed to stability a big query in web. Go together with veteran Cayden Primeau, who backstopped the Rocket to 21 wins in his 26 regular-season appearances? Or flip to rookie Jacob Fowler, a 2023 third-round select of Boston School who turned professional in April and has shortly adjusted to the AHL.
Or why not each? Vincent went with Primeau in Recreation 1, then opted for Fowler in Recreation 2. Each goaltenders gave the Rocket an opportunity to win a sport. Primeau bought the victory within the opener, and Fowler supplied 31 saves towards a harmful Amerks offense. Whereas Laval might generally overwhelm groups this season, Rochester actually is feeling assured going into this week.
“I’m actually pleased with the blokes,” mentioned Leone, who had acknowledged how vital it was to take Recreation 2 earlier than happening the highway. “Now it’s a best-of-three, no matter the place we play… We play with lots of poise and composure. We’ve performed that crew a bunch, and we’ve performed actually good hockey. I do know folks have a look at the file and stuff, however we imagine in ourselves big-time.”
All indicators level to this persevering with to be a back-and-forth sequence between these two evenly matched groups. Laval held a 4-3 lead into the third interval’s midpoint in Recreation 1, withstood a Rochester tying aim, after which put away the win on Oliver Kapanen’s aim with 4:38 to go. However in Recreation 2, the Rocket noticed their 3-2 second-period lead dissolve with three unanswered Rochester targets.
Each groups have a full-on combat on their palms. The Amerks have their “canines.” So do the Rocket. And Wednesday is Laval’s likelihood to push again.
“They’re an excellent hockey crew,” Rocket captain Lucas Condotta mentioned after Recreation 2. “We all know they’re going to carry it.”
On the American Hockey League beat for twenty years, TheAHL.com options author Patrick Williams additionally at present covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is an everyday contributor on SiriusXM NHL Community Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his excellent protection of the league in 2016.
