Wednesday morning at the conclusion of the Rochester Amerks’ game-day skate, coach Seth Appert felt the need to point out to his players that come Wednesday night, they had a game to play.

“The message I sent this morning is it’s May 25th and we’re still playing hockey; like how great is that?” Appert said. “That’s what you dream about as a kid. You grew up watching playoff games, the Stanley Cup in late May and June, and we’re still playing hockey on May 25th and that’s awesome.”

Unfortunately, May 25 is also the last day the Amerks will play in 2021-22 as Laval - after blowing a 4-2 lead by giving up three third-period goals - tied the game with 1:07 left in regulation and then survived two tense overtime periods before winning 6-5 on ex-Amerk Jean-Sebastien Dea’s power-play goal at 1:51 of the third overtime.

“That’s the playoffs,” Appert said. “They always seem to end abrupt, or you win it all. It’s obviously more fun to win it all, but when you don’t, they always seem to end abruptly.”

In what was without question one of the most exciting games all season at Blue Cross Arena, a crowd of 10,662 was certainly put through an emotional ringer, though several thousand weren’t there by the time game ended 4 1/2 hours after it started.

Rochester had scored two goals in the first eight minutes of the game and was still leading midway through the second period when the Rocket exploded for four goals in a span of 3:56 to take a 4-2 lead and it looked like the Amerks were done.

Instead, facing the final 20 minutes of their season, the Amerks roared to life and scored three times in the first 8:35 of the third to take a 5-4 lead, only to give up the tying goal when Jesse Ylonen scored on a Rocket power play.

“I thought tonight was fitting, down 4-2 in the third, no quit, put ourselves in position to win and probably should have closed that out but we didn't so credit Laval,” Appert said.

Finally, the Rocket silenced the crowd one last time and thus completed their three-game sweep of the AHL North Division finals.

And so a season that saw so much development for the young Amerks, and included two playoff series victories over Belleville and Utica, comes to an end at the hands of a supremely talented Laval team that moves on to the Eastern Conference finals.

Here’s how it went down in Game 3:

Game 1:Amerks' second-period meltdown costs them playoff opener against Laval

Game 2:Laval goalie Cayden Primeau frustrates Amerks, pushes them to brink of elimination

The Amerks caught a huge break just 64 seconds into the game and it resulted in the first goal of the night. From the left corner, the Rocket tried to play the puck behind the net but it hit a crease in the boards and caromed directly out front.

Rochester’s Mark Jankowski was right there to corral it and he quickly wristed one over Cayden Primeau’s glove for a 1-0 lead. You would have thought that would have energized the Amerks, but the Rocket proceeded to spend most of the next five minutes buzzing in the Rochester end and peppering goalie Aaron Dell with seven shots, all of which he stopped.

That extended flurry ended when Laval’s Xavier Ouellet took a cross-checking penalty and JJ Peterka needed just 27 seconds to cash in on the power play to make it 2-0. Taking a pass from Oskari Laaksonen, Peterka ripped a wrist shot from the slot over Primeau’s blocker.

Thus, in a matter of 7:01, the Amerks matched their combined goal total from the first two games. Over the final 12 minutes, Laval continued to have the better of the offensive zone play, and each side killed off a penalty.

Dell continued to do a very nice impression of how Primeau played in the first two games for Laval, stopping everything the Rocket fired his way, and that was plenty.

But it was only a matter of time before he wasn’t going to be able to withstand the onslaught, and when it happened, he and the Amerks impersonated the bug on the windshield as Laval scored four goals in a span of 3:56 to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 4-2 lead. 

You could see it coming during a brutal shift where the Amerks were hemmed in their own zone for about 90 seconds, and they somehow survived. But after an icing call stopped play, the Rocket scored moments later when Brandon Gignac was able to get a deflection on a point shot by Corey Schueneman at 13:52.

And then the roof caved in as 55 seconds later, Gabriel Bourque set up behind the net and fed a pass out front to Danick Martel who was all alone to pump a quick shot past Dell to tie it.

Ouellet put Laval ahead at 16:03 as his shot from the left point sailed past Dell’s left shoulder, and the avalanche ended at 17:48 when Dea dunked one into an open net as Dell was caught out of position on a rebound.

Whatever Appert said between periods, it worked because within the first 1:32 the Amerks tied the game and what had been a sullen arena was suddenly on fire. Brett Murray cut the deficit to 4-3 just 13 seconds in as he was allowed to come out from the right corner unchallenged and beat Primeau to the short side.

Then, with the teams skating four aside, the Amerks rushed in and Peyton Krebs made a dazzling pass across the crease to set up Peterka for a tap in.

Rochester continued its amazing turnaround with further pressure, and at 8:35 it was inexplicably back in front as Murray got his stick on a shot from Ethan Prow and tipped it past Primeau.

The Amerks then protected the lead until Murray took a penalty with 2:04 left, and on the resulting power play, Ylonen was able to beat Dell to tie the game and force overtime.

“It’s a resilient group, a group that’s got a lot of fight and a lot of love for each other and a lot of belief in each other,” Appert. “We just re-gathered in the third and got our focus back on what we need to do on the attack. Obviously, Brett Murray had a huge goal to start the third to get the crowd going and ignite that comeback.”

The Amerks began the first extra period on a carryover power play from the third but were unable to score, and then they were awarded another man advantage at 8:44. Despite good zone time, they couldn’t get one through on Primeau.

The Rocket didn’t need power plays to put more heat on Dell and they finished the first overtime with a 12-6 advantage in shots, continuing the trend that had gone on most of the night.

About nine minutes into the second OT, Brendan Warren of the Amerks rang a shot off the crossbar and shooting that puck about one inch too high ultimately proved costly.

At 1:20 of the third OT, Brandon Davidson inadvertently shot the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty - which Appert thought was a bad call by the official - and 31 seconds later, the game was over as Dea rifled one from the right side past Dell.

► Only three times in the Amerks’ 66-year history have they rallied to win a playoff series after dropping the first two games. On one of those occasions, they actually lost the first three games in the 1960 Calder Cup semifinals to Cleveland and rallied to win the next four, only to lose in the finals to to Springfield.

► The Amerks are now 29-39 all-time in elimination games.

►This was just the third time in franchise history that the Amerks have played a triple overtime game. The last was June 9, 1999 in Game 3 of the Calder Cup Finals against Providence.

► Dell, who started all 10 postseason games, set a new career high with 54 saves.

► Jack Quinn had 12 shots on goal in the final two games, but again, did not score, leaving him without a goal in the postseason.

► Appert on the finality of the loss: “I said to the group, certainly disappointing with the loss and probably more choked up and disappointed that I won't get to coach this group again. This a great group that went through so much adversity and never gave up on each other. So, probably more disappointed that this particular group of men will never get to be a team again.”

► Peterka on the end of the season: “Overall it was a great experience for all of us … but, yeah, it still sucks. You don’t have that many chances to play in playoffs and win a couple rounds so you just soak it in. I think that’s what makes everything even worse. We had so many chances to win it."

► Dell on the team: “We have such a great group here, it was fun to be here every day. I think that’s a big part of it. When you’re excited to be here, you come in, do your work and you don't want to let the guys down.”

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana.