Danick Martel scored a franchise-record four goals to lead the Laval Rocket past Rochester, 6-1, in the opener of the North Division Finals at a sold-out Place Bell on Sunday evening.
With a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series, Laval hosts Game 2 on Monday.
The Rocket spotted the Amerks a 1-0 lead before Martel scored once late in the first period and twice in the second to complete his fourth career AHL hat trick.
Martel then tacked on his fourth of the night at 6:49 of the third period, becoming the first AHL skater to score four goals in a Calder Cup Playoff game since Apr. 27, 2013, when Greg Scott did it for the Toronto Marlies in a 6-3 win, also against Rochester.
Cédric Paquette and Nate Schnarr also scored for the Rocket, and Sami Niku recorded his sixth and seventh assists of the postseason.
JJ Peterka scored for Rochester, his fifth goal of the playoffs.
Cayden Primeau (4-1) made 31 saves to earn the win in net. Aaron Dell (5-3) allowed four goals on 20 shots before being replaced by Michael Houser, who also finished with 16 saves.
Attendance was 10,043.
North Division Finals (best-of-5)
N3-Laval Rocket vs. N5-Rochester Americans
Game 1 – Sun., May 22 – LAVAL 6, Rochester 1
Game 2 – Mon., May 23 – Rochester at Laval, 7:00
Game 3 – Wed., May 25 – Laval at Rochester, 7:05
*Game 4 – Fri., May 27 – Laval at Rochester, 7:05
*Game 5 – Sun., May 29 – Rochester at Laval, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern