The Rochester Americans are on their way to the North Division Finals of the Calder Cup Playoffs after beating Syracuse 4-0 Thursday night. The Americans earned a sweep over the Crunch in a series in which they dominated.
Syracuse scored the first two goals of the series, going up 2-0 in the second period of game one. From there, Rochester outscored the Americans 11-0 the rest of the series. Rochester scored two in the second, with Kale Clague scoring the game-winner in the third period of game one.
Rochester dominated games two and three behind the play of Devon Levi. Levi held Syracuse off the board for the final 156 minutes and 31 seconds of the series. Levi, who led the AHL with seven shutouts during the regular season, is the third Rochester goaltender to post back-to-back shutouts in the Calder Cup Playoffs, following Bobby Perreault (1957) and Mika Noronen, who did it twice in 2000.
Rochester also had a dominant penalty kill in the series, where they went 8/8. Their powerplay was decent as they were 2/7 in the series, as that will have to be an area of improvement in the next round.
Who will the Amerks play next?
Rochester will await the winner of the Cleveland and Laval series, in which Laval currently leads 1-0. My prediction is that they will meet Laval in the North Division Finals, as Laval has not only been the best team in the Eastern Conference, but the best team in the league as well.
Led by Alex Barre-Boulet and NHL veteran Laurent Dauphin, Laval has given itself home ice throughout the playoffs.
They arguably have the best goalie in the league as well in Cayden Primeau, who totaled a record of 21-2-2 on the season with a 1.96 goals against average. We will most likely see the top two goalies in the league go head-to-head.
Rochester will have some extra rest before taking on their next opponent. Until then, they will look to prepare to and execute a game plan, as this next series could be their toughest challenge yet.