Series Primer: Americans vs Rocket

After taking care of business in their first playoff series against Cleveland, Laval now turns its sights on coming out of the North Division as they get set for a best-of-five series against Rochester, Buffalo’s top affiliate.

Schedule

Game 1: May 14 in Rochester
Game 2: May 16 in Rochester
Game 3: May 21 in Laval
Game 4: May 23 in Laval*
Game 5: May 25 in Laval*

*-if necessary

Regular Season Comparison

Laval
48-19-3-2 record
229 GF
178 GA
18.9% PP
83.2% PK

Rochester
42-22-5-3 record
238 GF
191 GA
18.4% PP
85.2% PK

Season Series

Nov. 13: Laval 3, Rochester 2 (OT)
Nov. 16: Laval 4, Rochester 1
Nov. 20: Rochester 2, Laval 1 (OT)
Dec. 11: Rochester 3, Laval 1
Feb. 16: Laval 5, Rochester 2
Mar. 7: Laval 4, Rochester 3
Mar. 8: Laval 2, Rochester 1
Apr. 11: Laval 4, Rochester 2

Regular Season Leaders

Laval
Goals: Laurent Dauphin (26)
Assists: Alex Barre-Boulet (41)
Points: Alex Barre-Boulet (63)
+/-: Dauphin/Davidson (+25)
PIMS: Florian Xhekaj (175)
Shots: Alex Barre-Boulet (171)

Rochester
Goals: Isak Rosen (28)
Assists: Zach Metsa (39)
Points: Isak Rosen (55)
+/-: Nikita Novikov (+28)
PIMS: Vsevelod Komarov (85)
Shots: Jack Rathbone (174)

Head-To-Head Leaders

Laval
Alex Barre-Boulet (4-5-9)
Laurent Dauphin (4-2-6)
Sean Farrell (2-3-5)
Joshua Roy (2-3-5)
Vincent Arseneau (0-4-4)

Rochester
Lukas Rousek (1-3-4)
Graham Slaggert (3-0-3)
Jack Rathbone/Mason Jobst (2-1-3)
Konsta Helenius/Brett Murray/Anton Walhberg (1-2-3)

Rochester’s Players to Watch

Jiri Kulich: Selected two picks after Filip Mesar, Kulich actually spent the majority of the season with Buffalo, notching 15 goals in 62 games but was papered down at the trade deadline to make him playoff-eligible.  This is likely his swan song at the AHL level as he should be a full-timer with the Sabres next season.

Noah Ostlund: Picked 16th in 2022 (10 spots earlier than Mesar), Ostlund missed a couple of months this season due to injury but was one of Rochester’s top players in points per game.

Isak Rosen: Another first-round pick (14th in 2021), Rosen has back-to-back 20-goal seasons under his belt after leading the team in scoring during the regular season.  He also has a shot at pushing for a full-time spot with the Sabres next season.

Erik Brannstrom/Kale Clague: A pair of offensive blueliners with decent NHL experience (294 games for Brannstrom, 94 for Clague, 25 of which were with the Habs), these two play much bigger roles in Rochester than they did at the top level but help lead a defensive group that has a lot of firepower, much more than Laval has.

Devon Levi: Expected to spend most of the season in Buffalo and a little bit in Rochester, it wound up being the other way around for the 23-year-old.  He was one of the top goalies during the regular season and only allowed two goals on 90 shots in their sweep over Syracuse.

Projected Lines

Laval
Farrell – Dauphin – Barre-Boulet
Gignac – Kapanen – Roy
Harvey-Pinard – Condotta – Simoneau
Davidson – Xhekaj – Beck

Wotherspoon – Lindstrom
Trudeau – Mailloux
Engstrom – Reinbacher

Rochester
Murray – Kulich – Rosen
Jobst – Ostlund – Wahlberg
Fiddler-Schultz – Kozak – Helenius
Slaggert – Dunne – Warren

Clague – Brannstrom
Novikov – Metsa
Johnson – Rathbone