Gabriel Bourque scored 10:13 into overtime to send the Laval Rocket into the North Division Finals with a 3-2 victory over the Syracuse Crunch on Tuesday night.
Laval advances to face the winner of Thursday’s Utica-Rochester game in the next round.
Danick Martel collected the puck off a Crunch turnover behind the net and sent a pass in front to Bourque, whose shot knuckled over the head of Max Lagace and in for the series-clinching goal.
The Rocket trailed by two goals before rallying to force overtime, getting the equalizer from former Syracuse forward Cédric Paquette with 38.7 seconds to go in regulation.
Alex Belzile’s power-play goal at 11:24 of the second period got Laval on the board, their first goal since late in Game 3.
Anthony Richard opened the scoring for the Crunch with his fourth goal of the series, converting on a shorthanded breakaway at 15:31 of the first period. Ryan Jones gave Syracuse a 2-0 lead at 7:16 of the second, but Cayden Primeau (3-1) kept the puck out of the net the rest of the way, finishing with 32 saves.
Max Lagace (2-3), back in the Crunch net after leaving Game 4 in the first period with an injury, made 33 saves in Game 5.
North Division Semifinals – Series “K” (best-of-5)
N2-Syracuse Crunch vs. N3-Laval Rocket
Game 1 – Fri., May 6 – SYRACUSE 5, Laval 3
Game 2 – Sat., May 7 – Laval 3, SYRACUSE 2
Game 3 – Thu., May 12 – LAVAL 4, Syracuse 1
Game 4 – Sat., May 14 – Syracuse 3, LAVAL 0
Game 5 – Tue., May 17 – Laval 3, SYRACUSE 2 (OT)