Laval Rocket shut out Rochester to advance to AHL's Eastern Conference Final
Joshua Roy had a goal and two assists and Cayden Primeau stopped 27 shots as the Laval Rocket shut out the Rochester Americans 5-0 to advance to the Eastern Conference Final of the American Hockey League.
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Article content Following a turnover-prone 5-2 loss to the Texas Stars in Game 3 of the Western Conference final on Monday, Wouters must be at his motivational best tonight in Cedar Park to keep the hosts from evening the best-of-seven series at two games apiece. It's a 5 p.m. start (Pacific). The winner will face the Charlotte Checkers, who swept the Laval Rocket in the Eastern Conference final, for the league championship. Wouters is a third-line grinder and knows a lack of goal production to support winger Linus Karlsson is a problem. The Swedish winger has eight goals to share the playoff lead with former Canucks winger Kole Lind, and is also third in points with 15. Rookie winger Jonathan Lekkerimaki hasn't scored in six games and has just one in 12 playoff outings after striking for 19 goals in 36 regular-season games. Centre Max Sasson is goalless in eight games, despite leading the post-season with 45 shots, after collecting 13 goals in 41 games during the season.
CTV News
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Laval Rocket head coach Pascal Vincent watches play during third period AHL hockey action in Laval, Que., on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press) The Laval Rocket saved their best for last, but the last goal they allowed was a big part of what went wrong in the Eastern Conference Final. Jesse Puljujarvi broke the deadlock late in the third period, and the Charlotte Checkers beat the Rocket 3-2 on Tuesday night to advance to the Calder Cup final. The Montreal Canadiens' secondary team could be blamed for letting a 2-0 lead slip in the second period, but they looked much more structured in the final third. As the minutes ticked away, extra time seemed inevitable. Then came the fatal error with 2:04 remaining. The game did not go to plan. Puljujarvi deflected a pass from Rasmus Asplund into the neutral zone and outran Brandon Gignac into enemy territory. The puck was out of his reach when goalkeeper Jacob Fowler and defenceman Zack Hayes were caught in the middle. Hayes dived and pushed the disc onto the blade of the Finn's stick, who sent it into a net abandoned by Fowler's exit. Two minutes later, the Rocket's season was over, swept aside in four games. 'I have to read up on him (Hayes). When you're trying to get back into a series, I have to be better at it. I want to learn from that and not make that mistake again,' said Fowler, who got his first start in this series after two appearances replacing Cayden Primeau. In front of the media, the 20-year-old admirably took the blame for the goal, but head coach Pascal Vincent was far from pointing the finger. 'It's a game of mistakes. These things happen, and it happens so quickly. It's easy to look at a goalkeeper or a defender who's made a mistake, or the combination of the two, but how many mistakes have been made in front of them, and we don't talk about it because it doesn't end in a goal. I'm proud of Jacob tonight,' said Vincent. It was a sentiment shared by the players in the dressing room. 'This is a team sport and everyone makes mistakes. You can't point the finger at anyone. I'm proud of this group,' said striker Joshua Roy. On the brink of the abyss, the team played the best game of the final but once again fell victim to turnovers that slowed their momentum, suffering the consequences of the Checkers' opportunism. Although the defeat was difficult to digest, Vincent preferred to keep his men's last public performance in mind rather than look back on the three previous under-performances. 'We asked the lads to keep believing, and they did. We asked them to empty their tanks, and they did. I think we deserved a better fate tonight,' he said. 'It was our best game of the series, and it's going to take a bit of time to digest because we've had such a great season, but when we take stock, there are going to be a lot of positives. That was our identity tonight.' With their eighth consecutive win, the Checkers will be in the American League Final for the first time since 2019. That year, they lifted the Calder Cup. The Florida Panthers' farm club now awaits the winner of the Western Association final, between the Texas Stars and the Abbotsford Canucks. Roy and Owen Beck threaded the needle in defeat, while Fowler made 23 saves. Justin Sourdif and MacKenzie Entwistle also got things moving for the Checkers, who were coming off a sweep at the expense of the Hershey Bears, two-time defending Calder Cup champions. Kaapo Kahkonen turned away 23 pucks. Unable to close the books Nobody was surprised to see the Rocket playing with a lot of energy at the start of the first period. The Checkers, however, resisted well. The two teams then played a real game of chess, during which there weren't many chances to score. Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and Lucas Condotta were denied by Kahkonen in quick succession, while Puljujarvi was denied by Fowler in the enclave. Then, during a numerical disadvantage, Alex Barré-Boulet took advantage of a miscalculated rebound from the boards by defender Trevor Carrick to break free, but he was unable to open the scoring. The Rocket finally found a way to take the lead for the first time in this series, with Roy winning his battle in the enclave and deflecting a shot from Gustav Lindstrom's point to hit the target with just 45 seconds remaining. Momentum was often the issue during the series, and the Rocket maintained it early in the second period. Sustained pressure from Roy and Gignac allowed Beck to accept a pass from Noel Hoefenmayer to double his side's lead. Unfortunately for Pascal Vincent's team, they shot themselves in the foot. Just 1:40 after Beck's goal, Harvey-Pinard allowed a turnover in the attacking zone, and Sourdif came in overtime. Sourdif made the right decision and fired home to cut the deficit to 2-1. The Rocket was able to work for five minutes with an extra man after Riley Bezeau was awarded a major penalty for checking Lindstrom in the head, but his lack of execution hurt them. Sean Farrell committed a turnover in the centre, and on a two-on-one build-up, Entwistle deceived Fowler in the same way as Sourdif. The Checkers gave their opponents a little warning in the fifth minute of the final third, but Wilmer Skoog's shot hit the post to Fowler's right. As the pressure mounted, caution was the order of the day, although some attacks ended up close to the net of both goalkeepers. The score remained unchanged until Puljujarvi's heartbreaking goal. – This report by The Canadian Press was first published on June 3, 2024.
Montreal Gazette
a day ago
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‘Our best game by far' against Charlotte not enough as Laval Rocket swept from Eastern Conference final
Laval Rocket After finishing first overall in the AHL this season, the Laval Rocket entered the playoffs like lions. Following an opening-round bye, Laval won the first two games at Cleveland before defeating the Monsters in four games. And while the Rocket required the maximum five contests, it still outlasted Rochester in the North Division final. But Laval exited the post-season like lambs, swept by the vastly superior Charlotte Checkers in the Eastern Conference final. The last blow came Tuesday night, with Charlotte edging the visiting Rocket 3-2 before 7,317 spectators at Bojangles Coliseum. While it was Laval's most competitive game of the series, it nonetheless found a new way to lose, squandering a 2-0 lead. With the teams apparently headed to overtime for the first time in the series, Jesse Puljujarvi scored the winning goal with 2:03 remaining in regulation time. THE GOAL THAT SENT US TO THE FINALS — Charlotte Checkers (@CheckersHockey) June 4, 2025 There appeared to be indecision on the play between defenceman Zack Hayes and rookie goaltender Jacob Fowler, making his first start against the Checkers after Cayden Primeau was removed in the second period of each of the last two games. Fowler hesitated coming out of his net in an attempt to clear the puck, forcing Hayes to make an errant dive. The puck went directly onto Puljujarvi's stick. With Fowler now far removed from his crease, Puljujarvi scored easily into the empty net for his second goal of the playoffs. 'It really hurts to give up that one,' Fowler told the media in Charlotte. 'The boys played so good in front of me all night. It was just one of those plays. We knew it was going to be a sloppy break like that. I have to make the read off him. When you want to get back in the series that's something I've got to be better on, learn from it and hopefully not make that mistake again. 'It hurts to lose but I'm really proud to have been a small impact on this group,' added Fowler, a late-season addition from Boston College. 'Being down 3-0 on the road, it's hard. We were 2½ minutes away from maybe going to overtime or scoring late. I wish I could have given them a better last 2½ minutes.' Puljujarvi, selected fourth overall by Edmonton in 2016, has 387 NHL games to his credit between the Oilers, Carolina, Pittsburgh and Florida. The Finnish winger played 31 games in the NHL this season, including 26 with the Penguins. It was Charlotte's eighth consecutive playoff victory, while Laval limped to the finish line with a 2-6 record in its last eight playoff games and 6-7 overall. Laval played a strong first period and had a 6-3 edge in shots through 10 minutes. The visitors nearly took the lead in the 13th minute, while short-handed. For the second consecutive game, Alex Barré-Boulet had a breakaway. And for the second consecutive game, he couldn't beat goalie Kaapo Kahkonen. On Sunday, Barré-Boulet's shot hit the post. This time he deked and went to his forehand, but Kahkonen made the save with his left pad. Kahkonen spent four seasons in the NHL, between 2020-24, with Minnesota and San Jose. He now has allowed two goals or fewer in nine of 12 games. Laval nonetheless scored the opening goal for the first time in the series in the final minute of the opening period, when Joshua Roy deflected Gustav Lindstrom's shot from the point. It was Roy's fourth goal of the playoffs and he arguably played his strongest game. Roy was involved and had a team-leading four shots. Barré-Boulet drew the second assist on the goal — his first point of the series. Owen Beck gave the Rocket a two-goal advantage before the second period was three minutes old, converting a pass from Noel Hoefenmayer, and all things seemed possible. But Laval's euphoria was short-lived. Only 1:40 later, Justin Sourdif converted a two-on-one break, beating Fowler to the stick side. Only defenceman David Reinbacher, a Canadiens first-round (fifth overall) draft choice in 2023, was back on the play after both Lucas Condotta and Rafael Harvey-Pinard were caught up ice. Two minutes later, Charlotte forward Riley Bezeau received a five-minute major and game misconduct for his illegal hit to the head of Lindstrom, who didn't return, forcing Laval to play with only five defencemen. And the team already was missing injured blueliners William Trudeau and Tyler Wotherspoon. Not only did Laval fail to capitalize on the power play, MacKenzie Entwistle tied the score with a short-handed goal, converting yet another two-on-one break — following a turnover by Sean Farrell — and beating Fowler again to the stick side. It was Charlotte's third short-handed goal of the series. 'That was our best game by far this series,' defenceman Logan Mailloux told the media in Charlotte. 'I think we deserved to win that one. It stings a little more. We really emptied the tanks. Obviously not the result we wanted but I thought we deserved better. Everybody stepped up. I was really proud of everyone. 'Tonight we showed what we could have done. I wish we'd have done that three games ago.' While both teams took a tentative approach to the third period, Laval failed to generate any serious scoring opportunities. Instead, it was Wilmer Skoog who hit the post in the fifth minute. Charlotte, which last won the Calder Cup in 2019, defeating Chicago in five games, will meet either Abbotsford or Texas in the championship round. Abbotsford leads that best-of-seven Western Conference final series 2-1. Charlotte is the AHL affiliate of the defending Stanley Cup-champion Florida Panthers. The Panthers will attempt to defend their title in a rematch against the Edmonton Oilers. The Cup final begins Wednesday night at Edmonton (8 p.m., CBC, SN, TVA Sports). The Canadiens, in 1993, were the last Canadian team to capture the NHL title.
