The Laval Rocket did not have long to lick their wounds after a shootout loss to the Abbotsford Canucks on Saturday night, with their rematch taking place at 7 PM on Sunday. A win for the Rocket would allow them to secure a winning record on their western Canadian trip and set them up for a week in New York.
After a scary incident on Saturday night that resulted in a hospital stay, Noel Hoefenmayer returned to the Rocket lineup on Sunday, eliminating the need for Conner McDonald who was signed to a tryout contract earlier in the day. Riley Kidney drew back into the lineup in place of Will Dineen on the third line, while Connor Hughes got the nod as the starting goaltender for the night.
Laval was hoping to avoid the slow start that hampered them on Saturday night where the Canucks ran rampant on the Rocket defensive structure. They did not manage that feat as Phil Di Giuseppe wove through the defence off a failed clearing attempt and just 32 seconds in he was able to jam it behind Hughes to give the home side a very early lead.
Things didn’t exactly improve in the following minutes as the Canucks continued to smother a tired-looking Rocket team and denied them any offensive pressure. It looked like Abbotsford had taken a quick two-goal lead, but Arshdeep Bains had dragged Hughes out of position in his crease, wiping out the goal in a bit of a break for the Rocket.
The next shift found Owen Beck taking a holding call, putting their penalty kill to the test. Laval’s penalty-killers put in the best effort of the game to that point, denying the Canucks any real chances to extend their lead, and pushing the game back to even strength. Beck did make up for his penalty as he quickly drew a penalty of his own to give the Rocket a chance to get on the scoreboard. Instead, Lucas Condotta took a penalty on the advantage, wiping out the Rocket power play.
The Canucks took that extra space on the ice and just continued to hammer the Rocket in the defensive zone shift after shift while giving Laval no chance to even swap their lines out. As the Rocket scrambled to try to help out Hughes in his crease, their defensive structure melted around them. With four Rocket players around the crease, there was no one left to defend Cole McWard at the point and his open shot trickled through Hughes, allowing Tristan Nielsen to sweep it in the rest of the way.
The exhaustion and short-handed defence began to show as the period wound down, with the Canucks hemming in the fourth line, needing a huge glove save from Hughes to slow play down. Before the two sides could head to the intermission however, Florian Xhekaj got in the face of Jett Woo and the veteran got Xhekaj into the penalty box to start the second period.
Laval’s penalty-killers again came out strong, giving the Canucks no real opportunity to advance their lead any further. As Xhekaj exited the box, the effort from Laurent Dauphin drew a penalty for the Rocket and presented them a major opportunity to cut into the Abbotsford lead. Laval’s power play finally began to click, pressuring the Canucks and resulting in Woo taking another penalty to give the Rocket a two-man advantage.
It looked like the steadfast goaltending of Nikita Tolopilo was going to deny the Rocket any sort of marker on the power play as he swallowed up every chance thrown his way. However, with the final seconds of the power play ticking down, William Trudeau curled back to the point and let a wrist shot fly. Filip Mesar might have gotten a piece of it on its way to the net, but it fooled Tolopilo and got the Rocket on the board.
Laval then collapsed and handed the two-goal lead back to the Canucks as they got stuck in the same defensive nightmare they suffered through in the first period. With chaos around the net, the Rocket weren’t able to clear the pucks out of the dangerous areas and Ty Mueller was able to tuck a close-range chance through Hughes to make it a 3-1 game.
To the credit of the Rocket, they finally began to find their legs as the period neared its end, but their final touch was absent as their shots were blocked or pushed wide as the two-goal lead still stood in front of them. The game wasn’t quite out of reach for the Rocket with one period left to play, but they would need a trademark third period for the ages to get at least a point in this contest.
Instead, just 51 seconds into the third they allowed a fourth goal for the first time in several weeks. Mueller broke in down the wing, and while Tyler Wotherspoon had him covered well, Mueller threw a rising shot that Hughes had no chance on as the deficit grew to three goals.
Riley Kidney looked like he had cut the lead down once again, but his shot clanged off the inside of the post and Tolopilo’s skate, trickling away from the line harmlessly.
Then the Rocket ended up taking another poorly timed penalty and risked the game turning into a rout as their penalty kill took the ice. Once again, the players stood tall to kill off Kidney’s minor penalty and on the ensuing shift they drew a power play of their own.
Laval’s power play was about as close to a full disaster as it could be, with a turnover at the blue line turning into an odd-man rush that forced Hughes into a desperation save that ended up removing him from the game with an injury. As the penalty expired, the Rocket found the back of the net once more with the young line of prospects striking back. Filip Mesar curled back near the point, throwing a puck on net that Jared Davidson redirected past Tolopilo to cut into the lead.
A late power play failed to convert once again, not without effort however, and the Rocket found themselves very short on time with a two-goal deficit to erase. After an Abbotsford timeout, the Rocket opted to pull Primeau, and drew another power play.
On that man advantage the Rocket finally managed to score a goal. Logan Mailloux fed Dauphin, who in turn found Beck waiting along the goal line. Beck waited for a moment, then picked the short-side corner of the net and turned it into a one-goal game again.
There sadly was not another Rocket goal to be found, with Tolopilo giving Laval nothing in terms of rebounds, and a few desperate clears killed off the rest of the clock, sending the Rocket to a second straight loss.
Final Score: Abbotsford 4, Laval 3
The Rocket will travel back to Place Bell for practice this week and have Jacob Fowler join them on Wednesday ahead of a two-game trip to New York. Up next on the schedule is a North Division title fight with the Rochester Americans on Friday evening.
