Oliver Kapanen scored his first North American pro goal with 4:38 left in regulation to send Laval to a 5-4 road win over Rochester in a back-and-forth Game 1 of the teams’ North Division Finals on Wednesday night.
Game 2 is Friday in Rochester before the series shifts to Laval.
Kapanen, a second-round pick by Montreal in the 2021 NHL Draft, deflected a point shot by Logan Mailloux past Devon Levi for the final goal in a game that saw both teams come back from one-goal deficits on two different occasions.
Kapanen and Mailloux each finished with a goal and an assist in the contest. David Reinbacher, Brandon Gignac and Alex Barré-Boulet also scored for the Rocket, and Owen Beck and Sean Farrell notched two assists apiece.
Defenseman Kale Clague scored for the fourth consecutive game for Rochester, and also picked up an assist to give him seven points this postseason. Konsta Helenius, Josh Dunne and Isak Rosén also scored, and the Amerks got two assists each from Lukáš Rousek and Jiří Kulich.
Cayden Primeau (1-1) made 23 saves for Laval. Levi (3-1) stopped 29 of 34 shots while suffering his first loss of the postseason for Rochester.
The Rocket have won all five of their visits to Blue Cross Arena this season.
(Laval leads series, 1-0)
Game 1 – Wed., May 14 – Laval 5, ROCHESTER 4
Game 2 – Fri., May 16 – Laval at Rochester, 7:05
Game 3 – Wed., May 21 – Rochester at Laval, 7:00
*Game 4 – Fri., May 23 – Rochester at Laval, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sun., May 25 – Rochester at Laval, 4:30
*if necessary… All times Eastern
