The Laval Rocket kicked off their 2025 with an overtime victory over Abbotsford on Friday night, with Laurent Dauphin playing the hero as he started the new year off on the right foot for a struggling Rocket team. Ahead of them on Saturday was a rematch with the Canucks and the opportunity to move back within a point of first place in the division with a win.
There were not many changes for Pascal Vincent’s side after their win, with just Noel Hoefenmayer drawing in for Adam Engström on the Rocket second pair. Connor Hughes also got the nod in net with Cayden Primeau serving as his backup after a successful AHL return on Friday.
Slow starts have not been out of the ordinary for the Rocket lately, and they kicked off their Saturday contest with Gustav Lindström taking a penalty just 31 seconds into the game, putting the penalty-killers to the test immediately. The penalty kill made it just 27 seconds before Laurent Dauphin was also called for a hold, putting the Rocket down two men inside the opening minute. The Rocket’s strong form carried over from last game, allowing zero shots on goal as they fought off both minor penalties.
Coming off the kill, the Rocket were all over the Canucks, pushing hard to open the scoring for a second straight night, and thanks to Sammy Blais playing with a broken stick they had a power-play opportunity to do so. While the first chance didn’t amount to much of anything, the continued hard work of Owen Beck immediately drew a second power play for Laval as their first expired.
Their second attempt went much better than the first as the second unit made quick work of the Canucks’ penalty-killers. Dauphin fed a puck to Logan Mailloux at the point, with Mailloux quickly sliding it along to Sean Farrell. The Rocket forward continued his strong run of play as he walked in and ripped a long-range wrister by Nikita Tolopilo to open the scoring.
Laval’s continued offensive-zone pressure was a nuisance that the Canucks were struggling to deal with as Mark Friedman took a third straight penalty. There wasn’t any man-advantage magic this time, while the Rocket power play did its best to direct any and all of its chances towards Tolopilo.
The Rocket were content to let the Canucks try to solve their defence at the blue line, something Abbotsford was unable to do as the period wore on. With the Canucks struggling to gain ground, the Rocket took advantage as Dauphin’s forechecking caused all sorts of issues inside the offensive zone. Eventually he picked out Filip Mešár in the slot all alone, and the rookie Slovak buried his second goal of the year to double the Rocket lead.
A fight between Chase Wouters and William Trudeau came up out of nowhere on the next shift with Trudeau taking the decision. The Rocket did make life slightly harder on themselves to end the period as Hoefenmayer took a seat for interference, but thankfully for him the Rocket penalty kill remained steadfast.
After a slow start last night, the Rocket jumping out to a two-goal lead heading into the first intermission was a welcome sight, even more so with the fact they limited the Canucks to just four shots on net.
As strong as the first period was for the Rocket, the second period started as the opposite end of the scale as the Canucks cut into the Rocket lead quickly. A turnover by Josh Jacobs along the wall resulted in Jonathan Lekkerimäki feeding Tristan Nielsen for a one-time goal to cut the Rocket lead in half just 97 seconds into the period.
The Canucks’ goal appeared to snap the Rocket back to reality as Mešár teed up Beck on a following shift, with Tolopilo having to make a massive save to keep the Rocket lead at just one goal. Shortly after that it was Xavier Simoneau battling through cross-checks to give Farrell a prime opportunity that was again closed down at the last moment.
Laval and Abbotsford then seemed locked into a war of attrition, battling for every loose puck and allowing little to reach their goaltenders as the period wore on. However, a moment of magic allowed the Rocket to restore their two-goal lead, thanks in part to the strong play of Dauphin. The veteran forward barrelled into the zone, leaving a puck for Trudeau on the boards, Trudeau put the shot on net and Rafaël Harvey-Pinard managed to catch a piece of it to deflect it by the goalie.
Harvey-Pinard’s goal shifted the control of the game back to the Rocket, who, for a second period in a row, would head to the locker room with a two-goal cushion.
Laval clearly learned plenty from some of their December losses, and didn’t sit back on their lead in the third period. Instead, they began pushing to increase it further. The new-look fourth line managed to find the next goal, with Jared Davidson’s timely interception breaking open the Canucks defence. Davidson picked off a clearing attempt, then put a shot toward goal for Vincent Arseneau to deflect by Tolopilo to make it a 4-1 game.
While the Rocket were controlling the play and keeping the Canucks at bay, some bad luck still found them as the third period progressed. Jacobs got locked up heading into the corner for a loose puck, and then his knee appeared to give way, and he required help from the training staff to get off the ice. That injury to Jacobs left the Rocket with just five defencemen for the rest of the game, and a three-goal lead to protect in the final 12-and-a-half minutes.
Thankfully, the Rocket pressure refused to yield and they continued to find contributions from all throughout the lineup. Lucas Condotta kept a puck alive inside the offensive zone, circling toward the back of the net and flicking a pass across the front of goal. His pass found a wide-open Joshua Roy, who had no trouble burying his opportunity.
After their goal, the Rocket then were finally happy to grind out the remaining handful of minutes, even if Davidson drew the ire of Friedman by chasing down a loose puck, and eventually threw off his gloves in a fight.
While the Canucks added a consolation goal with two-and-a-half minutes to play, it mattered little as Lindström buried an empty-net goal to make it a 6-2 final, and allowed the Rocket to kick of 2025 with back-to-back wins.
Final Score: Laval 6, Abbotsford 2
After kicking off 2025 with a strong pair of wins, the Rocket will head on the road next Friday as they clash with Cleveland for the first time this year.
