By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
It’s amazing how quickly a playoff joyride can be derailed.
In sweeping the Syracuse Crunch in the Calder Cup North Division semifinals, the Rochester Americans were simply the better team.
Better in goal with Devon Levi, better as a team in the defensive zone and far more skilled. Put it all together and you get a three-game sweep.
But the Amerks learned on Wednesday that this North Division Finals matchup against the Laval Rocket will be an entirely different animal. The Rocket have the size and physicality to match – or trump – anything the Crunch brought at the Amerks, and they also have a whole lot of talent.
Despite the Amerks twice building one-goal leads, the Rocket used their up-tempo, hard-charging forechecking game to power past the Amerks 5-4 in Game 1 one of the best-of-five series.
Oliver Kapanen’s mid-air deflection of a Logan Mailloux point shot with 4:38 remaining broke a 4-4 tie and provided Laval with the opening game victory in front of 6,162 fans at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial.
“They have the skill to make you pay when you make mistakes,” said Amerks defenseman Kale Clague, who scored the game’s first goal and set up one by Konsta Helenius.
The Amerks, of course, know just how talented Laval is. In compiling the American Hockey League’s best record during the regular season (48-19-3-2, 101 points), the Rocket won six of eight games against Rochester (42-22-5-3, 92 points). Four games in the regular-season series were decided by one goal, and that theme continued Wednesday.
The winning goal came only 4:04 after Isak Rosen had tied the score. Jiri Kulich worked the puck free on the left wing boards, Noah Ostlund centered and Rosen, from the left hash mark, fired a shot past goalie Cayden Primeau (23 saves on 27 shots).
But the Rocket were able swarm the Amerks to create the winning goal. As Joshua Roy passed to Mailloux at the center point, Kapanen gained position at the top of the crease and, with a mid-air deflection put Laval ahead.
“With five minutes left they make a play,” Amerks coach Michael Leone said. “We don’t get a box out, we don’t get a block and that was it.”
Josh Dunne scored the other goal for the Amerks, who had leads of 1-0 and 3-2 and overcame deficits of 2-1 and 4-3.
“Too much highs and lows, that’s why we lost,” Rosen said.
Rosen had a decent look from the left circle in the final minute after Levi had been pulled for a sixth attacker but couldn’t connect.
“It was rolling a little bit,” Rosen said. “I should have probably shot it; I tried to go backdoor.”
The Amerks now face what common sense would say is a must-win situation on Friday, when Game 2 is played at 7:05 p.m. A victory evens the series heading to Quebec for the final three games. A loss would mean the Amerks need to win three straight on the road against the AHL’s best team.
To avoid that scenario, they know they need to be better in a few areas on Friday. Starting with the D-zone.
“I think we can play faster,” Leone said. “I thought we hung on to the puck a second too long.”
The same applies to the offensive zone, however.
“Countless times we had the puck on the half-wall and were a split second slow,” Leone said. “They’re really good at closing.”
The teams traded power-play goals in the first 10:04. Clague’s one-time rocket from the center point gave the Amerks a 1-0 lead just 4:33 into the game. With Dunne camped out at the top of the crease, Primeau never saw the shot.
Clague has a goal in every playoff game this spring.
“I’m just trying to throw it there,” Clague said. “It’s my job to get it through and on net.”
Laval tied the score at 10:04 when Mailloux boomed home a slap shot from above the slot. Levi complained that Sean Farrell, who posted up at (in?) the left of the crease, had interfered with his ability to make the save but his argument went nowhere.
The Rocket then moved ahead 2-1 with 1:41 left in the period. Owen Beck bodied Anton Wahlberg off the puck in the left corner and moments later David Reinbacher fired home the long rebound of a Florian Xhekaj shot.
Goals by Helenius and Dunne in the first seven minutes of the second period put the Amerks ahead.
Helenius scored at 2:23, firing home a one-timer from above the hash marks off a Clague centering pass.
Dunne then scored on a wraparound at 6:48. His initial shot off a drive down the left of the slot was stopped but he gained control of the rebound, circled behind the net and stuffed it in before Primeau could get back across the crease.
The Rocket again retaliated, however. They tied the score at 14:26 on a power-play goal by Brandon Gignac, then moved ahead 4-3 with 41.2 seconds left in the period when Alex Barre-Boulet converted a quick centering pass by Farrell.
“We need to manage the game a little better,” Clague said.
Lineup notes: Defenseman Vsevolod Komarov (concussion) and winger Lukas Rousek (undisclosed injury) returned to the lineup. Erik Brannstrom and Graham Slaggert sat out.
Defense was awful, but specifically Komarov. Komarov appears very overmatched against Laval, was a turnover machine. If the focus really is winning over development no way can he play on Friday. Obviously inserting Brannstrom instead should be an easy choice but will it be? I do like the offense speed and skill against Laval if the defense can be cleaned up. Even with Levi allowing 5 goals it could have been much worse that’s how much better Laval forwards were over Amerks defense. Also, it’s no coincidence penalty kill struggled so much with Graham Slaggert not playing he definitely has to play! I would even sit Brett Murray to make room he has done nothing in these playoffs and has played like he’s 4’11”.
The score was close but the game wasn’t. Watching Laval do business is a thing of beauty (but as an Amerk fan a thing of total envy and frustration) They had an answer for everything and their ability to score late in a period is their hallmark.
Amerks couldn’t stop their forecheck, at all. While the Rocket would skate the puck into the zone and swarm, the Amerks constantly dumped the puck in from just beyond the red line and had nobody around to retrieve it. They lost every battle against the boards. They constantly failed to take shots, deciding to make that perfect pass, which was always intercepted.
Laval had pressure in the O-Zone for minutes on end. giving them power plays is death. (play with broken stick–weak call; too many men–unacceptable in May. Totally wasting 3 power plays where they could barely break into the zone was total frustration.
Komarov and Murray had miserable games. Murray looks tired, old, and slow and I would actually favor Joshua taking his place Friday. Ostlund and Wahlberg have been no-shows. Kulich was so-so. Levi didn’t have the game we needed. No matter who is at fault, you can’t give the best team in the AHL 5 goals.
Amerks forged two leads and both times built no momentum off of them. I told my buddy when Rosen tied the game in the 3rd…the bad news is we still have to give Laval 6 more minutes to do what they usually do.
Coach and players won’t say it (and they shouldn’t) but Laval is the better team. And they will win this series. They remind me of how dominating our guys were in the 60’s. Nobody could touch us.
the score was 5-4 but the overall game wasn’t that close. You just can’t give an uber-talented machine so many chances and expect to win. It was a very disappointing night. There were glimmers of hope for an upset, but Laval won’t let that happen. Our guys are just not quite good enough to beat them. It would be nice to send our fans home happy Friday, for what will probably be our last home game. We can only hope they can figure things out but the task is monumental. There are no moral victories in a 5 game series. Win or go home.