The Laval Rockets head to the Eastern Conference Finals after a savage 6-5 win in overtime over the Rochester Americans on Wednesday night.
The Rocket completed a three-game sweep of the Amerks and will face Charlotte or Springfield in the next round.
Working on a power play after a late penalty kick against Rochester, former Amerk Jean-Sébastien Dea hit a shot that beat Aaron Dell in 1:51 of the third period of OT by give victory to the Rocket. It was Dea’s second goal of the night, and came in Laval’s 60th shot of the night.
Rochester almost escaped with a win in the third game, scoring three goals in the third period to take a 5-4 lead before Jesse Ylönen equalized for the Rocket with 1:07 at the end of regulation.
Back home in front of an energetic crowd of 10,662 Blue Cross Arena fans, the Amerks hit quickly when Mark Jankowski threw himself on a loose record and scored his sixth playoff goal just 1:04 p.m. competition.
JJ Peterka made it 2-0 for Rochester with a power-play goal at 8:05, and that lead was maintained until the end of the second period, when Laval scored four goals in a period of 3: 56 to change the game. his favor.
Brandon Gignac started the comeback with 6:08 for the end of the second period with a good deflection of a shot from Corey Schueneman from the point. Danick Martel equalized 55 seconds later, grabbing Gabriel Bourque’s pass from behind the net and scoring his fifth goal of the series.
Just 76 seconds after that, the Rocket took their first advantage of the night when Xavier Ouellet floated a shot from the left point through the traffic that found the top corner over Aaron Dell’s glove.
And with 2:12 left in the intermission, Dea put Laval ahead of two, knocking an open cage with Dell out of position after a collision with a teammate in front.
Rochester regrouped during the break and only needed 1:32 to tie things. Brett Murray scored 13 seconds in the third period to throw the Amerks 4-3, and Peterka got the second of the night 1:19 later with a good feed from Peyton Krebs.
Murray then scored the second of the period at 8:35, getting a piece of Ethan Prow’s shot from the spot and deflecting it home to put Rochester ahead again.
Laval beat Rochester 24-12 during the sudden death and killed two power plays by the Amerks before becoming alone for the winner.
Cayden Primeau (6-1) made 34 saves and secured his fourth straight win on the net for the Rocket. Dell (5-5) stopped a maximum of 54 shots for Rochester.
Northern Division Finals (Top 5)N3-Laval Rocket vs. N5-Rochester AmericansMatch 1 – Sunday 22nd May – LAVAL 6, Rochester 1 Match 2 – Monday 23rd May – LAVAL 3, Rochester 1 Match 3 – Wednesday 25th May – Laval 6, ROCHESTER 5 (3OT)