Sean Farrell scored two goals late in the second period and Jacob Fowler made 23 saves in his postseason debut to lead Laval to a 3-2 win over Cleveland in the opener of their North Division semifinal series on Wednesday night.
Game 2 is in Cleveland on Friday before the best-of-five wraps up in Laval.
After a scoreless first period, Joseph LaBate gave the Monsters a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 12:07 of the second.
Farrell, who finished with 20 goals in the regular season, tied the game at 16:09 before redirecting home a feed from Alex Barré-Boulet with 36 seconds left before intermission. The second-year pro now has seven goals in his last 10 contests.
Owen Beck scored an insurance goal at 5:11 of the third period to make it 3-1 in favor of the Rocket.
Denton Mateychuk netted his third goal in as many playoff games during a six-on-four power-play advantage with 2:24 remaining but the Monsters could not find the equalizer.
Fowler, who joined the Rocket earlier this month after finishing his sophomore season at Boston College, got the start with Cayden Primeau on recall to Montreal. The 20-year-old Fowler was the Canadiens’ third-round draft pick in 2023.
Jet Greaves (2-1) made 29 saves in the Monsters cage.
Attendance was 9,076 at Rocket Arena in Cleveland.
(Laval leads series, 1-0)
Game 1 – Wed., Apr. 30 – Laval 3, CLEVELAND 2
Game 2 – Fri., May 2 – Laval at Cleveland, 7:00
Game 3 – Sun., May 4 – Cleveland at Laval, 3:00
*Game 4 – Tue., May 6 – Cleveland at Laval, 7:00
*Game 5 – Fri., May 9 – Cleveland at Laval, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern
