While the Montreal Canadiens lost in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, their farm team, the Laval Rocket, qualified for the third round of the Calder Cup playoffs on Tuesday night.
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After missing their first chance to eliminate the Columbus Blue Jackets affiliates, the Cleveland Monsters on Sunday, Pascal Vincent’s men came out strong. If they didn’t match their opponent’s desperation on the weekend, they certainly did in game 4.
With Jacob Fowler back in the net, the Rocket played a near-perfect first frame, allowing only four shots on goal in the first 20 minutes while scoring three goals, two of which were on the power play.
Xavier Simoneau, Laurent Dauphin, and Logan Mailloux scored in the first 13 minutes to give the host a stronghold on the game. The sophomore defenseman also collected an assist on Dauphin’s power play goal, giving him two points on the man advantage.
Cleveland tried to claw its way back into the game in the middle frame, testing Fowler with 10 shots, but only one got by him in the 18th minute; it was the visitors' only occasion to celebrate as Fowler shut the door for the rest of the night. The young netminder made 18 saves on 19 shots for a .950 save percentage and remained perfect in the playoffs with three wins in as many starts.
Laval added a fourth goal in the final frame, another man-advantage marker from Dauphin, who was named first star of the game. The Rocket had three power play goals on eight opportunities for a 38% success rate. Before that game, they had only scored one goal on 10 opportunities. Oliver Kapanen had another strong game, winning key faceoffs and again demonstrating his readiness for the big league.
With this win, the Rocket moves on to the division final, where they will take on the Rochester Americans in another best-of-five series starting next week. The Rocket won five of the seven duels between the two sides in the regular season, outscoring the Amerks 20-14.
The Buffalo Sabers' farm team swept the Syracuse Crunch in their division semifinal, led by Dollard-des-Ormeaux native Devon Levi. The netminder allowed only two goals in three games for a 0.67 goals-against average and a .978 SP. Laval will have to solve him if they want to advance to the conference final.
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