Rattle the Amerks goalie? Bring it on, Levi says

By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA

Since the first shift of Game 1 in this Calder Cup North Division finals series, the Laval Rocket have barged, barreled and banged their way into Devon Levi’s goal crease whenever possible – and sometimes when it wasn’t possible, or legal.

For the Rocket, rattling Levi seems to be Priority 1 in the best-of-five playoff showdown with the Rochester Americans.

The strategy doesn’t seem to be working, however. While not necessarily in peak All-Star form in the first three games, Levi was stellar in Game 4 on Friday, when the Amerks throttled the Rocket 5-1 and forced a deciding fifth game (4:30 p.m. on Sunday at Bell Place in Laval, Quebec).

“It’s fun to see them try to get into my head,” Levi said after that 20-save performance. “It means you’re doing something right.”

The second-year goaltender has done a whole lot right all season. Levi played an integral role as the Amerks finished the regular season 42-22-5-3 with 92 points, and again in the division semifinals when they swept Syracuse (shutouts in Games 2 and 3).

He went 25-13-4 in the regular season, posting the American Hockey League’s sixth-best goals-against average (2.20) and save percentage (.919).

The regular-season champion Rocket (48-19-3-2, 101 points) clearly believe he stands between them and a possible Calder Cup championship.

So, since the first puck-drop in Game 1, the Rocket have employed Operation Disrupt.

After stoppages in play, they have bumped Levi on his frequent skates to the corner and back, as winger Florian Xhekaj did 12 minutes into the first period of the series opener.

After he has smothered pucks for faceoffs, they have invaded his airspace and pawed at his mask, as Luke Tuch did two minutes into Game 2 and as Xhekaj did 6 ½ minutes into that same game.

“They’ve tried everything and it doesn’t seem to get to him,” Amerks forward Tyson Kozak said.

The Rocket also have tested the limits of what referees will allow on their goal-crease fly-bys, and on one occasion foolishly exceeded that limit.

In Game 2, Xhekaj bowled over Levi at 10:59 of the third period when the score was tied 3-3. Jiri Kulich scored on the ensuing power play just 68 seconds later and the Amerks evened the series 1-1 with a 5-3 victory.

“Technically it cost them the game,” Leone said afterward.

In Game 4, Alex Barre-Boulet brushed Levi at the edge of the crease in the waning seconds of the second period. His penalty, coupled with a tackle of Mason Jobst by Lucas Condotta, gave the Amerks a five-on-three power play that turned into the game-breaking third goal.

“It’s playoff hockey and guys are going to try to get him off his game,” Amerks coach Michael Leone said. “I think Dev’s just ultra-competitive, ultra-focused, I don’t think that stuff fazes him.”

The Rocket keep trying, though. Since it has been Levi’s custom during second-period promotional timeouts to crouch along the boards on the half wall, gather his thoughts and stay in the moment, Laval has tried to claim those spaces as their own.

They’ve sent players to each side of the rink to plant their flag and make Levi post up elsewhere. On Friday during a second-period timeout, Jared Davidson knelt in that spot on the right wing and Condotta on the left wing.

No biggie, Levi said, and instead crouched between the hash marks in the slot.

“Honestly I love that stuff,” Levi said. “I think it gets me more into the game. I don’t really see it as mind games. I’m not really playing any mind games, so I just let them do their stuff, let them think it’s working, and I just stick to my game and do what I’m doing out there.”

The intimidation tactics by Laval haven’t been limited only to Levi. The Rocket seem to believe they can dissuade the Amerks through physicality. But they just keep pushing back, which is why there were 154 minutes in penalties on Friday (no fighting majors and 130 of those minutes were from 10-minute misconducts).

“It was really physical and I think we stood our ground really well, didn’t give in to their after-the-whistle stuff,” Levi said. “We just stayed dialed-in solid.

“Mentally our group knows what we have to do to win.”

Said Leone: “There are some things on the ice that we’re doing as well. It’s just a fearless group.”

So now it comes down to Game 5 on Sunday as to whether the Amerks advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the second time in three years or if their season ends. Leone said his club will be ready.

“When it’s go-time, they’ve responded all year,” he said.

Laval’s goaltending musical chairs

The Rocket have rotated between regular-season mainstay Cayden Primeau and newcomer Jacob Fowler since midway through the division semifinals, when Primeau returned from a recall to the parent Montreal Canadiens.

Primeau was 21-2-2 with a 1.96 GAA and .927 save percentage during the regular season while Fowler joined the Rocket out of Boston College on April 4 and went 2-1 in three regular-season starts, allowing seven goals.

He went 3-0 against Cleveland in the division semifinals (winning Games 1, 2 and 4). Though he didn’t play well in a Game 2 loss to the Amerks (four goals on 35 shots), he was given the Game 4 start by AHL Coach of the Year Pascal Vincent.

Since Vincent has chosen to rotate, Primeau is the likely starter on Sunday.

This new-goalie-to-the-forefront scenario is somewhat of a tradition for the Canadiens AHL affiliate. Granted, the previous two times, that new goalie was a Hall of Famer or soon-to-be Hall of Famer.

In 1985, Patrick Roy joined the Sherbrooke Canadiens at the conclusion of his junior season with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Granby Bison and backstopped the club to Calder Cup.

In 2007, Carey Price joined the Hamilton Bulldogs after his junior season with the Tri-City Americans of the Western Hockey League and carried them to the Cup, eliminating the Amerks along the way in a six-game division semifinal series.

Recent history

Laval is attempting to become the fifth regular-season champion in the past six playoff seasons to win the Calder Cup.

The others: Hershey in 2024, Chicago in 2022, Charlotte in 2019 and Toronto in 2018 (no Calder Cup was awarded in 2020 or 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic).