Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
Get the split on the road and go home.
That’s a typical wish for a team opening a playoff series on the road.
It can be even more beneficial in a best-of-five playoff series in which the remaining games will all be played on home ice.
When the Laval Rocket, the AHL’s regular-season champion, pulled out of Rochester and hit the highway for the trip back home last Friday night, it was the last of the Blue Cross Arena that they would be seeing for this season. And they had their split, heading back to Place Bell tied at one game apiece.
But the first two games were very much a battle. After scratching out a 5-4 comeback win in Game 1 last Wednesday, the Rocket were overcome by a relentless Amerks team, outshot 36-19 in Game 2. The teams combined for 17 goals in the first two contests, but the only time either team had a lead of more than one goal was the final nine seconds of Game 2 when Isak Rosén’s empty-net goal capped Rochester’s 5-3 win.
Rosén has three goals in the first two games. Jiří Kulich, down for the Calder Cup Playoffs from the Buffalo Sabres, scored the winning tally in Game 2 and also has three assists in the series. Rochester’s speed and relentless puck-tracking has caused problems for plenty of teams this season, and it will be something that the Rocket have to contain.
“At this time of the year, you need dogs,” Amerks head coach Michael Leone said following Game 2. “You really need dogs. You need gamers.”
Although the Rocket have been able to score eight goals in two games against Devon Levi, Rochester’s standout goaltender, several of them came off defensive-zone breakdowns. If Rochester can clean up those mistakes – something that they did better in Game 2 – the Rocket could have more difficulty trying to solve one of the AHL’s top goaltenders as this series progresses as well. And the Amerks are no pushovers on the road, either; they went 23-9-2-2, tying for second-best in the league.
Still, the Rocket have a lot going for them as they prepare for Wednesday’s Game 3. They’ll be back home at Place Bell, where they were 24-9-2-1 during the regular season. It’s normally a noisy, rambunctious, disruptive environment for opponents, and that chaos only intensifies in the postseason, something that visitors learned quite well during Laval’s run to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals three years ago.
Pascal Vincent, the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award winner as the AHL’s most outstanding coach this season, has had to balance a significant question in net. Go with veteran Cayden Primeau, who backstopped the Rocket to 21 wins in his 26 regular-season appearances? Or turn to rookie Jacob Fowler, a 2023 third-round pick out of Boston College who turned pro in April and has quickly adjusted to the AHL.
Or why not both? Vincent went with Primeau in Game 1, then opted for Fowler in Game 2. Both goaltenders gave the Rocket a chance to win a game. Primeau got the victory in the opener, and Fowler provided 31 saves against a dangerous Amerks offense. While Laval could sometimes overwhelm teams this season, Rochester certainly is feeling confident going into this week.
“I am really proud of the guys,” said Leone, who had acknowledged how important it was to take Game 2 before going on the road. “Now it’s a best-of-three, regardless of where we play… We play with a lot of poise and composure. We’ve played that team a bunch, and we’ve played really good hockey. I know people look at the record and stuff, but we believe in ourselves big-time.”
All signs point to this continuing to be a back-and-forth series between these two evenly matched teams. Laval held a 4-3 lead into the third period’s midpoint in Game 1, withstood a Rochester tying goal, and then put away the win on Oliver Kapanen’s goal with 4:38 to go. But in Game 2, the Rocket saw their 3-2 second-period lead dissolve with three unanswered Rochester goals.
Both teams have a full-on fight on their hands. The Amerks have their “dogs.” So do the Rocket. And Wednesday is Laval’s chance to push back.
“They’re a good hockey team,” Rocket captain Lucas Condotta said after Game 2. “We know they’re going to bring it.”
On the American Hockey League beat for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding coverage of the league in 2016.
