PLAYOFF PREVIEW: AMERKS HOST ROCKET IN GAME 1 OF NORTH DIVISION FINALS
Amerks start best-of-five series with first game in 13 days
May 13, 2025
By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48
Following a sweep of the Syracuse Crunch, the Rochester Americans continue their quest for the Calder Cup as they start a best-of-five series with the Laval Rocket in the North Division Finals. The series begins with Game 1 Wednesday night at Blue Cross Arena.
GAME 1 TICKETS!
The Amerks are in the North Division Finals for the third time in four seasons, having last gone this far in 2023 when the team swept first-place Toronto to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. Laval is back in the third round of the Calder Cup Playoffs for the second time in its franchise history.
“They’ve got a really good defense core,” said Amerks head coach Michael Leone. “They’re a team built on the back end. Their top guys are playing really well. They make it hard on you and their ability to capitalize on turnovers and mistakes on breakouts make it really important for us to avoid those mistakes. It’s going to be a hard-fought series.”
LAST TIME OUT
After surrendering the first two goals of the postseason, the Amerks never looked back in their opening series against Syracuse, scoring 11 straight unanswered goals and earning back-to-back shutouts to sweep the Crunch in the North Division Semifinals.
Kale Clague led the Amerks in scoring through the team’s opening series with three goals, all of which have come in the third period of each game, and five points.
Devon Levi enters the series against Laval having made 78 consecutive saves while not allowing a goal in a span of 156:31 dating back to the playoff opener against Syracuse. The second-year pro blanked Syracuse in both Games 2 and 3, becoming just the third goaltender in franchise history to post back-to-back shutouts in the playoffs and the first since Mika Noronen did it twice in 2000. Levi’s otherworldly .978 save percentage places him first amongst all goaltenders in the Calder Cup Playoffs. Including the regular season, Levi now has an astounding nine shutouts over his last 41 games.
Laval topped Cleveland with a 3-1 series win to advance to the North Division Finals. After taking both games in Cleveland, thanks in part to a 20-save shutout in Game 2 from newcomer Jacob Fowler, Canadiens’ prospect Cayden Primeau returned from Montreal to play Game 3, where the Monsters struck for three goals to pick up a 3-1 win.
Fowler returned to the crease in Game 4, where a pair of goals from Laurent Dauphin helped guide the Rocket past the Monsters with a 4-1 win and three games to one series victory.
SEASON SERIES SNAPSHOT
Despite winning 29 of 48 all-time meetings against the Rocket in the regular season, it was Laval who had the upper hand during the 2024-25 campaign. Rochester pushed a 2-5-1-0 record across eight games against them this past season, with two of those eight contests going beyond regulation.
Lukas Rousek led Rochester in scoring during the season series with four points (1+3), including the overtime winner in Laval back on Nov. 20.
Former Crunch player turned Rocket forward Alex Barre-Boulet amassed nine points (4+5) in seven games against Rochester this season. The seventh-year pro has 365 points, with 71 of them (23+48) coming against the Amerks over 70 games played.
Levi appeared in six of eight games against Laval, earning both of Rochester’s wins this season. The 23-year-old grew up nearby in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec.
Connor Hughes made the bulk of the starts for Laval against the Amerks, posting a 3-1-0 record. Fowler, who appears to be Laval’s starter moving forward after earning his second straight Hockey East Goaltender of the Year honors at Boston College, has yet to face Rochester.
Since the start of the 2017-18 campaign, the Amerks have posted a 15-8-2-0 mark at Blue Cross Arena versus Laval. Rochester won all four meetings against the Rocket in the Flower City last season, but did not secure a home ice victory facing them this past year.
Laval enters the playoffs as regular season champions, earning the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy with 48 wins and 101 standings points.
Rochester’s only playoff meeting with Laval to date came in the 2022 North Division Finals, where the Rocket swept the Amerks, culminating in a triple overtime loss in Game 3 in Rochester.
CAPTAIN OF THIS LAUNCH
Mason Jobst was one of three Amerks to score multiple goals in the team’s first playoff series against the Crunch. The 64th captain in franchise history registered two goals, including the game-winning conversion in the series-clinching Game 3 to help Rochester to its first sweep of Syracuse since 1997.
After 18 goals and a third straight season of 30 or more points, Jobst finds himself back in a round where he produced the best playoff series of his career. In the 2023 North Division Finals against Toronto, the Ohio State University product amassed three straight multi-point outings, stringing together seven assists in three games to aid Rochester in its sweep of the Marlies. The Speedway, Indiana, native has recorded 18 points (6+12) in 22 career AHL postseason contests.
In his career against the Rocket, Jobst has amassed nine goals and 10 assists for 19 points through 25 regular career games.
