As in the previous series, the Laval Rocket will find some pretty tough and well-organized rivals to put them in their final entrenchments at the Place Bell on Sunday.
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The Montreal Canadiens affiliate was less than 40 seconds from being eliminated against the Syracuse Crunch before leveling the tie and winning the deciding game in overtime. Now they face the Rochester Americans in the North Division Finals, a team that also came from behind in the third third of the latter part of their second-round game. Farm Club Buffalo Sabers defeated the Utica Comets by three unanswered goals to triumph 4-2 on Thursday to set a date with the Rocket.
Head coach Jean-François Houle is also expecting hard-fought duels. The two teams present shared the honor of eight duels in the regular season and fought for a place in the playoffs until the very end. Despite Rochester finishing fifth in the division, Laval is taking his next record very seriously.
“They are a great team with a lot of pace and skill. It’s got very good youngsters that we’ve seen throughout the season and they’re doing very well in the playoffs, he admitted in a press conference after Friday’s practice session. I think we’re going to have five games in eight days and we need to manage our energy levels, see if we have enough depth to use all of our players and allow them to have fresh legs.
difficult mission
In fact, the task in front of the rocket is not obvious, even if in this new confrontation 3 out of 5 he has the advantage of the ice. The Americans he faced in mid-April are very different from those today, especially since the end of the Sabers’ campaign has since provided them with additional ammunition. In the 2022 playoffs, Arttu Ruotsalainen stands out with his eight goals and three assists for 11 points in seven games. However, he’s not the only one who excels. Teammate JJ Peterka had nine points while Peyton Krebs had nine assists. Aaron Dell has a harder time in goal with 3.29 goals against the average and 0.882 percent in saves.
Still, Houle’s men want to focus on their game and, according to their driver, have learned more about themselves in recent days.
“I think the last lap allowed us to assess ourselves well as a team. We showed a lot of character in the last game coming from behind, he said. We’ve had our ups and downs, but we have to learn from those mistakes in the playoffs and we hope so [les leçons] will be carried over to the next games.”
Laval hosts the Americans on Sunday and Monday before heading to New York State for Game 3 on Wednesday. If a fourth matchup is required, it will be held in Rochester on May 27th. The Rocket will be playing at home on May 29 if the series ever hits the limit.