The AHL North Division Finals kicks off tonight with the Laval Rocket hosting the Rochester Americans.
The Rocket won the Mcgregor Kilpatrick Trophy as the team with the best record in the AHL for the first time in franchise history this season. The Americans finished second in the North Division with 92 points, both teams earned first round bye.
Laval dispatched a talented Cleveland Monsters team in four games on the back of rookie goaltender Jacob Fowler who had made just three professional starts before the playoffs. He finished the series with a 3-0 record, .953 SP, 1.00 GAA and one shutout.
Fowler won the Mike Richter Award as the NCAA's Top Goaltender this season and will have to outduel 2022 and 2023 Mike Richter Award Winner Devon Levi in order to advance to the Conference Finals.
The Rocket were led by their top line of Laurent Dauphin, Alex Barre-Boulet, and Sean Farrell against Cleveland.
Dauphin and Barre-Boulet each recorded six points in the four game series, Dauphin led the team with three goals while Farrell added two goals and four points.
Logan Mailloux led rocket defensemen with three goals from the back-end. Gustav Lindstrom and Tyler Wotherspoon will likely be tasked with shutting down Rochester's top line of Jiri Kulich, Isak Rosen, and Brett Murray.
Rochester made quick work of the Syracuse Crunch in the North Division Semifinals, sweeping the series and shutting out the Crunch in games two and three.
The Americans have not played a game since May 1st so it will be interesting to see if there is any rust in the opening period of game one.
Levi has been exceptional for Rochester, he is currently on a 156 minute and 31 second shutout streak. He finished the series against Syracuse with a 3-0 record, two shutouts and a .978 SP.
Rochester's leading scorer in the playoffs in defenseman Kale Clague who recorded three goals and five points in three games. Centermen Jiri Kulich and Konsta Helenius each posted three points.
Kulich spent most of the season in the NHL and Rosen led the Amerks with 28 goals and 55 points in the regular season, shutting down these two will be the biggest test for Laval.
Rochester's powerplay went a solid 2/7 against Syracuse and their penalty kill was a perfect 8/8. Laval went 4/18 against Cleveland and will have to win the special teams battle to come out on top in this series.
Game one will be free to watch on all of FloHockey's social media channels.
Keep an eye on The Hockey News' Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens team sites for more updates on both teams.
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