Dea completes the sweep in the third overtime!

RESUME

A goal by Jean-Sébastien Dea in the third period of overtime against his former club allowed the Laval Rocket to triumph and advance to the conference final of the American Hockey League.

Laval’s team defeated the Rochester Americans 6-5 on Wednesday night and swept the series 3-0.

Dea’s net was made possible by a late goal from Jesse Ylönen in the third period.

Xavier Ouellet, Brandon Gignac, Danick Martel, and Dea were the scorers in regulation time for the Rocket.

JJ Peterka and Brett Murray hit twice for the Americans. Mark Jankowski also hit the mark for the Buffalo Sabers farm club.

Cayden Primeau, who allowed just two goals in the first two games, stopped 34 shots in the victory. He improved his record to 6-1.

Jean-François Houle’s men won 3-1 and 6-1 in the first two games, played at Place Bell.

Aaron Dell allowed six goals on 60 shots.

In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Rocket will face the series winner between the Charlotte Checkers and the Springfield Thunderbirds in a best-of-7 series. The Checkers took a 2-0 series lead on Wednesday night.

Rocket defenseman Mattias Norlander has missed the second game in a row. He was injured in the closing moments of the first match by a blow to the head from Ben Holmstrom.

The meeting started badly for Jean-François Houle’s company. A poor throw-in by Ouellet bounced off the net and allowed Jankowski to shoot from the box without pressure. It was the first shot of the game and it flashed the red light.

A few minutes later, on the power play, Peterka doubled his team’s lead with an undershot shot. It’s the second goal by the Sabers’ top prospect in this series.

Rocket captain Ouellet came close to recovering from his mistake late in the period, but his shot hit the horizontal bar head-on. The Americans did the same thing a little later.

Dell’s miraculous and sometimes lucky saves ended at 1:52 of the second period.

Gignac’s redirection of Corey Schueneman’s shot bounced the puck off the ice, then sailed over Dell before finding the back of the net.

Less than a minute later, Martel completed the play of Gabriel Bourque and Peter Abbandonato when he beat the American goalie on the short side.

With lift and everything working for the Rocket, Ouellet decided to shoot from the nose. His wrist shot found its way into the net and rattled the ropes.

Dea made it 4-2 when he bounced off Louie Belpedio’s shot and shoved the puck into an empty net. It was three minutes and 56 seconds after Gignac’s net.

Thirteen seconds after returning from the locker room, Murray cut in front of the net before finishing his maneuver and cutting the Rockets’ lead to one goal.

Just a minute later, in a four-on-four, Peyton Krebbs’ caviar allowed Peterka to score his second of the night and tie the game. This is the German’s seventh goal in the playoffs.

After instigating the comeback, Murray deflected Ethan Prow’s blue line shot between Primeau’s pads. The Americans regained the lead in the game.

Jankowski came close to destroying Laval’s chances at the end of the third period. After beating Primeau, his shot hit the post and he failed to cross the red line.

On the power play and with a sixth skater on the ice, the Rocket managed to force overtime. With one minute and seven seconds remaining, Ylönen scored with a wrist shot into the slot.

The first minutes of extra time was for Jean-François Houle. Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and then Lucas Condotta had excellent opportunities to end the debate but without success.

At the start of the second overtime, Gignac used his trademark, his speed, to escape. He managed to beat Dell, but his backhand grazed the horizontal bar.

Dea hit the red light for the second time in the game when he hit a shot from the top of the slot. The Rocket was playing with a one-man lead when Brandon Davidson threw the puck into the stands.

JS Dea! The local hero!
Hometown hero! #GoRocket pic.twitter.com/F5YOFaVDOc

— x — Rocket Laval (@RocketLaval) May 26, 2022