Fresh off a massive shutout victory on Monday night, the Laval Rocket were back in action against the Toronto Marlies on Wednesday. With just one game remaining after the contest, and a playoff berth just out of their grasp, it was another gigantic test for the Rocket.
The Montreal Canadiens had recalled Joël Teasdale and Frederic Allard from the team, leaving Jesse Ylönen, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Corey Schueneman, and Cayden Primeau in place for the key game. Missing were Nicolas Beaudin, who was ruled out for the rest of the year, and Danick Martel, who was swapped out for Riley McKay on the fourth line.
As many games between these two sides do, the goals were flowing early and often. Harvey-Pinard kept his incredible year going when he sent Anthony Richard in on a breakaway opportunity, Richard had little difficulty wiring it by Erik Kallgren to open up the scoring.
The Marlies didn’t let that lead last for long, however, as they stormed back on the following shift. A long cycle in the Rocket zone eventually freed up Semyon Der-Arguchintsev in front of goal, and Radim Zohorna teed him up perfectly for the tying goal.
Laval continued to push for chances to break the deadlock as the period trudged on, but the crossbar and Kallgren kept them from doing so. It ended up being the Marlies patient attack that broke the tie as Xavier Simoneau’s attempted clear fell to Logan Shaw and the Marlies’ captain buried it.
Laval’s top line wasn’t going to sit around and let that lead stand. Tory Dello flicked a pass to centre ice where Harvey-Pinard poked it into the offensive zone. Richard turned on the jets for another breakaway, and another lethal snipe for his second goal of the night.
A late penalty threatened to knock the Rocket off-stride, but they escaped the first period tied up and with just over a minute of penalty left to kill.
After fending off the first Marlies power play to start the second period, the Rocket found themselves facing down a second one with Lucas Condotta headed to the box for hooking. Primeau and the penalty-killers again stood tall, keeping the score tied against a dangerous Marlies power play.
The Rocket drew back-to-back power plays, but missed passes resulted in the man advantage generating little as the Marlies were swarming all over. After a pair of roughing penalties moved the game to four-on-four, the Rocket drew a call in their own zone to put another golden opportunity in front of them.
Richard looked to have given his team the edge in the game, but his shot hit the crossbar and deflected into the air. It was gloved down by Mitchell Stephens, who cycled it to Ylönen, and then Harvey-Pinard, which had the Marlies scrambling. Harvey-Pinard fired a perfect shot-pass to Stephens at the side of the goal and Stephens saw his first shot hit the post before he tucked the rebound home to give Laval the lead.
Period three was much less a game of hockey, and more a battle in the trenches. Every inch of ice was covered with tight-checking defensive efforts as the Marlies tried to tie the game and the Rocket looked to increase their lead.
It was the Rocket who snapped that defensive stalemate thanks to another great effort around goal from Stephens. Stephens first saw his initial shot on goal blocked, but he scooped up the rebound and circled the net, neatly tucking the wraparound by Kallgren.
Much like the first period, the Marlies spoiled the good feelings almost immediately as Pontus Holmberg found a soft spot in the defence and cut the Laval lead to just one.
The Marlies drew a power play with five minutes left to play when Schueneman was given the gate for hooking, a call he made sure to let the officials know he disagreed with. However, with just over a minute gone, the penalties were evened up when Zohorna slashed Stephens’s stick into two pieces.
That power play came through again as Richard broke into the Marlies’ zone off a turnover. Richard found Ylönen alone in space, and the Finn blasted his shot past Erik Kallgren to restore the two-goal advantage.
Richard capped off a massive night for himself with a hat-trick goal into the empty net, giving him five total points in the crucial game.
That was all Laval needed as they keep their march toward a playoff berth alive.
Final Score: Laval 6, Toronto 3
Laval has just one game remaining, Friday night at Place Bell against the Syracuse Crunch, while the team chasing them, the Cleveland Monsters, has three left, on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
As of right now, the Rocket have given themselves some space, but still need the Cleveland Monsters to drop at least one point along the way.
