With the NHL on break for the 4 Nations tournament, the focus for many fans shifted to the Laval Rocket as they rolled into Ottawa for special showdown with the Belleville Senators. The Rocket entered Wednesday night as the hottest team in the AHL having won their last seven games, including a weekend sweep over Toronto.
Against the Senators it would be an uphill battle as Gustav Lindström, Luke Tuch, and Vincent Arseneau were all set to miss not just this game, but multiple weeks with injuries sustained in recent matches. Laurent Dauphin was a late addition to the injury report as well, leaving the Rocket with just 11 forwards, forcing them to play with seven defencemen for the evening. Owen Beck and Logan Mailloux returned to the lineup after their most recent NHL stay, while Cayden Primeau got the start in net once more.
Some of the issues that had plagued the Rocket in recent games came back to roost again as their passes were missing the mark and they were struggling to put shots through on net. Belleville eventually capitalized on these missed passes as Sam Gagner grabbed a loose puck and started an odd-man rush the other way. Gagner passed off to Donovan Sebrango, who snapped one by Primeau to give the Senators an early advantage in Ottawa.
The goal from the Senators seemed to clear some of the cobwebs off the Rocket, who started attacking with much more authority as they looked to respond. Adam Engström’s well-worked solo effort in the offensive zone came close, and with the pressure growing, Wyatt Wylie took a penalty that gave Laval the game’s first power play. Despite the return of both Beck and Mailloux, Laval’s power-play inconsistencies continued to hound them as they managed just a few shots on Leevi Merilainen on the advantage.
Then, as things often do in this rivalry, it got very dangerous and stupid very quickly. Joshua Roy pivoted to throw a pass back toward his defencemen in the neutral zone. With the puck long gone and his back turned, Djibril Toure threw a hit that launched Roy head-first into the boards. Lucas Condotta engaged Toure immediately in a fight. Toure was also promptly slapped with a major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct.
Mailloux almost instantly cancelled out part of the Rocket’s five-minute advantage as he was called for tripping right off the draw, and again it was the Senators hounding the Rocket for the mistake. With the extra ice, the Senators made the most of the space, eventually freeing up Stephen Halliday to cut behind William Trudeau and converted a Jorian Donovan pass into a second goal.
Despite all of the available firepower for the Rocket and their current winning ways, the power play failed to do much of anything, creating just two shots on goal as the Senators survived Toure’s five minute major. While the Senators managed only one more shot on goal than the Rocket, it felt like a mountain of difference as the Rocket headed into the first intermission needing to find their offence quickly.
The second period start was much better for the Rocket as they came out with the intention of holding the Senators deep in their own zone as they circled looking for opportunities. While the Rocket had held onto the puck for most of the first period, they managed just one actual shot on goal and the frustrations began to boil over for the Laval players. In a scrum in front of Primeau every player had grabbed ahold of someone else, yet it was Mailloux who was hit with the only penalty.
In what continued an odd trend for Laval, their penalty kill was dialed in immediately, giving the Senators nothing in terms of space, and surrendering a single shot on goal before Mailloux exited the box with no harm done.
However, after Cole Reinhardt and Trudeau got into another kerfuffle after a whistle, the play moved back to four-on-four, and the Senators again took advantage. The puck cycled through the Rocket zone uncontested to Maxence Guenette at the point. Guenette fired a shot through a screen, fooling Primeau entirely and making it a 3-0 Senators lead.
Three goals became four goals before the period was over as the Senators refused to give the Rocket a chance to reset their footing, and the home side again took advantage of what was a lazy effort from Laval. While the Rocket struggled to keep pace, a quick passing play allowed Angus Crookshank to get a shot through Primeau and Jamieson Rees swept it in to seemingly put a lid on the game as the second period came to an end.
Much like the second period, the Rocket came out firing immediately as Roy and Alex Barré-Boulet had great looks on net that they just couldn’t finish. However, when the Senators made their first real counter-attack, Filip Mešár was called for hooking and put the Rocket back on the penalty kill. This time the penalty-killers weren’t able to close out the Senators advantage as Stephen Halliday found a soft spot behind Barré-Boulet and beat Primeau clean to well and truly put the game out of reach.
Even with the game all but over, a select few Rocket players continued to try to, at the very least, break the shutout against them on the scoreboard. Yet every single chance was swallowed up by Merilainen, allowing them no chances to cut into the deficit. Eventually it was clear that both teams wanted to just wind the clock down and get out of the building. The Rocket had their looks, still Merilainen claimed the shutout while snapping Laval’s winning streak.
Final Score: Belleville 5, Laval 0
Laval now looks ahead to next week when they have a chaotic five-games-in-seven-nights schedule, starting with a Sunday afternoon showdown with the Americans in Rochester.
