ROCHESTER, NY--- The Rochester Americans are headed to the North Division Final to take on the Laval Rocket following a 4-2 game five win over the Utica Comets. The first two games will take place in Laval, back to back on May 22nd and 23rd. They will come to Rochester for games three and four of the best of five series, starting Wednesday.
The Amerks tally three of the top four point scorers in the Calder Cup playoffs. Arttu Ruotsalainen has scored 11 points in seven games including a streak of a point a game. JJ Peterka has scored nine in just as many including a hat trick against Utica last Saturday including the OT game winner. And Peyton Krebs' visionary passing has led to nine assists.
Brockport came into Utica with a fiery underdog spirit that was abruptly snapped in game one following a 6-3 loss. Game two was a bit different though, that was due to Peterka and a dominating hat-trick. Game three came to Rochester and and they took it to overtime for the fourth time in the playoffs, and Mr. Inevitable, Arttu Ruotsalainen scored the OT winner. The Comets sealed another game at home when they shut down the Amerks in game four.
Game five was a roller coaster, starting with a beautiful outside goal from Casey Fitzgerald 9:10 into the first period, assisted by Lukas Rousek. It was followed up by a one-two punch of Fabian Zetterlund and Alexander Holtz within two minutes of that. Following a scoreless second period, The Amerks went into the third period down 2-1.
Despite being down a goal, the momentum was with Rochester heading into the third. An early shot chance for Nick Boka led to a power play, that's when it broke open. Arttu Ruotsalainen scored 3:21 into the period, just three minutes later Sean Malone put in a cross goalie shot off a beautiful assist from Rousek for his sixth point of the playoffs. The Amerks proceeded to dominate possession for the remainder of the game and with 1:01 left Mark Jankowski sealed the win with an empty netter.
Laval took down Syracuse in overtime of game five 3-2 to advance them to the North Division Final. Rochester had a 2-3-2-1 record against Laval over the season, the losses coming in the back half of the season. Game one is Sunday May 22, puck drop is 7:00 p.m.
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