The Rochester Americans had their backs against the wall and faced elimination after the Laval Rocket took the lead in their best-of-five AHL North second-round series with a 4-1 victory on Wednesday, but responded with a dominating 5-1 victory at Place Bell on Friday, setting up a fifth and deciding game on Sunday afternoon.
Josh Dunne was the scoring hero for the Amerks with four points (two goals, two assists), opening the scoring midway through the first period and breaking any momentum derived from Joshua Roy’s goal in the second with his second of the game, less than two minutes after Laval got on the board.
Tyson Kozak, Isak Rosen, and Konsta Helenius also scored for Rochester, and Devon Levi made 22 saves for his fifth playoff victory.
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Rocket rookie netminder Jacob Fowler allowed four goals on 14 shots in the game and was pulled in the second period in favor of Cayden Primeau.
“We managed the game really well,” Amerks head coach Michael Leone said. “That’s three games in a row that we’re under 22 shots a game. Anytime you have that, you have a chance to win and I thought our guys checked really well……we live to fight another day.
How other Ex-Sabres did in the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Friday:
Ilya Lyubushkin(DAL) Did Not Play
Evander Kane (EDM) +1, 13:48 TOI, 3 SOG, 5 Hits
Jeff Skinner(EDM) Did Not Play
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