The Laval Rocket rolled into Belleville for a two-game stint with the Senators in the midst of a seven-game win streak. The Senators presented a test for the Rocket as they have been a frequent thorn in the side for Laval in recent years, with the games always being chippy affairs.
The Rocket received a huge boost with Alex Barré-Boulet returning to the lineup after recovering from a lower-body injury. Jakub Dobeš was also healthy enough to jump into the fray, but he served as Connor Hughes’s backup on Friday, with Hughes going for another win after collecting a pair last weekend.
A mostly uneventful start was a surprise given the nature of this rivalry, with both the Rocket and Sens generating just a handful of low-danger opportunities. Belleville began to find its legs quicker than the Rocket, resulting in longer defensive-zone shifts for Laval. Eventually, Angus Crookshank snuck around the Rocket defence, allowing Cole Reinhardt to feed him a pass at the back post to give Belleville an early 1-0 lead.
Laval pushed back on the next few shifts with strong intent, including Alex Beaucage missing a tying goal by inches on a long-range one-timer. Florian Xhekaj brought that momentum to a stop as he was called for slashing while battling for a puck at centre ice. A continued strong showing by the Rocket penalty-killers gave the Senators just a pair of shots on goal, while keeping their deficit at just one goal.
The Rocket continued to claw back into the game, creating chances and beginning to look more like their usual selves as the first period ticked down. Then Xhekaj buried Jamieson Rees with a hit from behind, drawing another penalty. Xhekaj then decided to toss his gloves off as Jake Chiasson came over to grab him and he was handed a double roughing penalty in addition to boarding.
Laval again fought off an aggressive power play from the Senators, but the Rocket were struggling to get off the back foot afterward as the Senators kept them pinned in deep. A 15-5 shot disadvantage loomed in front of the Rocket as they found themselves lucky to enter the first intermission trailing by just one goal.
After a first period that was not up to their usual standards, the Rocket made sure to start the second period on the right foot. Twenty-six seconds in, Barré-Boulet and Joshua Roy had a nice bit of passing between them, allowing Barré-Boulet to cut to the net and tuck a low shot home to tie the game.
Instead of continuing that momentum, Beaucage took an offensive-zone slashing call and put the Rocket on their third penalty kill. After a strong showing on the first two kills, the Senators managed to wear down the Rocket and finally break down the strong defensive front. Stephen Halliday found enough empty space and fired a shot through Hughes’s five-hole to restore the Senators’ one-goal lead.
Laurent Dauphin managed to draw the Rocket’s first power play of the evening, and it came when the Rocket desperately needed to get some momentum in their favour. Roy was all over the offensive zone, creating rebounds and jumping on loose pucks, but Levi Merilainen was a brick wall as the Senators killed off the Laval man advantage.
That ended up being the biggest theme of the period: the Rocket working hard and drawing calls, but the Senators’ netminder stonewalling them. Laval had two more power-play opportunities as the second period wore down, but Merilainen continued to yield nothing, keeping the Rocket deficit at one goal. That was quickly becoming a major issue for Pascal Vincent’s side as their even-strength play was struggling mightily compared to its usual form heading into the second intermission.
It was again a fast start for the Rocket in the third period, as they found another tying goal in under a minute. A desperation keep at the blue line saw the puck thrown in deep where Roy was able to grab it. With his head up below the goal line, Roy picked out Brandon Gignac in the slot, and the Rocket veteran buried his first goal of the season to tie the game at two goals apiece.
Also following the blueprint of the previous period, just as the Rocket were seemingly getting back into the game, they promptly took a penalty with Xavier Simoneau taking a seat for tripping. The Rocket penalty-killers bounced back after allowing their earlier goal, with the speed of Gignac keeping the Senators on the back foot and keeping the game level.
As Simoneau exited the box, he was taken down as he went to retrieve a puck, putting the Rocket on a potential game-shifting power play with 12 minutes left in regulation. With just 53 seconds gone in the advantage, Logan Mailloux drew a call and earned the Rocket a two-man advantage for 63 seconds. Laval again put a number of chances on net, but Merilainen was quick with his glove to deny them yet again as the two-man advantage passed with the game still tied.
To make matters more frustrating, on the following shift the officials went out of their way to even things up as Simoneau shoved someone from behind and promptly was whistled for cross-checking. Before the Senators power play kicked off, Merilainen headed off the ice and was replaced by Malcolm Subban for an unknown reason. The officials continued their march to even up the penalties, and a dubious call on Laurent Dauphin put the Senators on a two-man advantage of their own.
With two Rocket penalty-killers in the box, the Senators dragged Hughes out of position and Crookshank put the home side back in the lead.
With the final two minutes approaching, the Rocket pulled Hughes to try to find another game-tying goal with an extra attacker. It was a pair of rookies who made it all happen as Owen Beck took a feed along the goal line and put a pass right into the crease for Luke Tuch to jam in.
A stunning glove save from Malcolm Subban on a Gignac backhand shot with 10 seconds left allowed the Senators and Rocket to each claim a point before heading into overtime.
The Rocket nearly struck immediately, with Barré-Boulet cutting in on net instantly but being denied by Subban, quickly followed by Beck having a chance of his own denied. The Senators wouldn’t be ignored and kept the Rocket hemmed in for the following minutes, requiring some luck on the part of Hughes to keep the game from ending.
Barré-Boulet then put two more chances wide in the dying seconds of the overtime period, and pushed the game into the shootout. The Senators went up quickly as Joshua Roy was stopped while Stephen Halliday scored. Barré-Boulet responded while Hughes slammed the door shut, meaning the game went to sudden death. Logan Mailloux blistered a shot by Subban while Cole Reinhardt fell over on his attempt which handed the Rocket an eighth straight win.
Final Score: Laval 4, Belleville 3 (Shootout)
These two sides will face each other again on Saturday evening in Belleville with puck drop scheduled for 7:00 PM. Gustav Lindström and Jakub Dobeš will likely draw into the lineup as Pascal Vincent looks to make it nine straight wins for his side.
