The post-Christmas blues hadn’t hit the Laval Rocket last week as they powered to a pair of wins over the Syracuse Crunch, ensuring that the team would end 2025 in first place in the AHL’s North Division. On Wednesday, the Rocket could increase that lead to five points over the Crunch; all they had to do was defeat the Belleville Senators.
The Rocket received a huge boost heading into the game, with defenceman Marc Del Gaizo returning to the lineup after being concussed by Michael Pezzetta at the start of the month. Del Gaizo slid in next to Josh Jacobs on the third pair while David Reinbacher and Tobie Bisson continued to anchor the top pair. The forward lines remained the same for the Rocket after a two-game sweep, and in net it was Kaapo Kähkönen as expected.
The opening minutes of the contest were all Laval, as all four lines smothered the Belleville attack at every single turn, allowing just one shot on goal through the first seven minutes. At the other end of the ice it was the forwards creating chance after chance, with Alex Belzile and Filip Mešár creating havoc in front of Mads Søgaard in net. Laval was just lacking the final touch needed to open the scoring.
Despite the Rocket’s hot start, they also took the game’s first penalty which sent Del Gaizo to the box for holding. Laurent Dauphin nearly turned it into a positive as he broke free on a short-handed rush, and despite being held back got a close chance on net that Søgaard denied. Dauphin’s missed chance immediately went in the other direction where Ollie Lycksell put a chance on net, and Xavier Bourgault cashed in on the rebound to give Belleville the lead.
The Rocket did come right back down the ice, immediately looking for an answer and it appeared that they found it. Jacobs rotated the puck up to Roy, who fired a shot on net that was blocked. The loose puck fell to Dauphin, who directed the puck into the net, but after a brief review it was deemed to be a kicking motion, and the goal waved off.
The Senators, in the fashion they normally do, turned the game into a mess following the disallowed goal. Hayden Hodgson came through the neutral zone, throwing an obvious knee out on Joshua Roy that left the Rocket star slow to get up. Hodgson instantly had to contend with William Trudeau, who beat Florian Xhekaj to the punch.
With Hodgson in the box, the vaunted Rocket power play went to work, and in 33 seconds the Rocket buried a goal that counted. Roy, working off the half-boards, stuck a pass right on the stick of Alex Belzile at the side of the net, with Belzile then pivoting and neatly tucking in his 15th goal of the season to tie the game.
Laval didn’t have to wait long for another opportunity to take the lead on the power play as Garrett Pilon was called for a late high stick in the offensive zone. The man advantage came out aggressive once again, peppering Søgaard with multiple chances, including a Reinbacher slapshot that deflected off his glove. The Rocket were unable to cash in on this advantage, but they were clearly controlling the flow of play headed toward the intermission.
An unexpected fight between Jorian Donovan and Rocket captain Lucas Condotta capped what ended up being an eventful first period, the Rocket led in shots 19-11, but the game remained tied 1-1.
Out of the gate in the second period it was all Rocket inside the offensive zone again as they continued to roll over the Senators’ defence. Reinbacher put a puck right in the slot for Dauphin, but the Rocket forward struggled to get a clean shot off as the Senators cleared their lines. Before long, the top line struck as Dauphin spun off his defender and gave Belzile a clean feed to finish in the slot to put Laval in the lead.
After a hit along the boards on the ensuing shift, Luke Tuch and Dennis Gilbert dropped the gloves for the third fight of the game. Tuch getting one of the Senators’ veteran defenders off the ice wasn’t the worst idea, but the Senators were beginning to find their legs again as the Rocket struggled to clear the zone.
That pressure continued to force the Rocket out of their gameplan, and eventually Sean Farrell was caught chasing the play and took a tripping penalty. The penalty ended up being costly as the Senators took full advantage of the extra ice to compact the Rocket penalty-killers down low, opening up a plethora of shooting options. With Belzile trying to scramble back to his feet and into position, Philippe Daoust waited a moment, then wired a seeing-eye shot by Kähkönen to tie the game at two goals apiece.
Following Daoust’s goal, the Rocket attack seemed to lose some of its teeth as they tried to get a third goal on the board. While the Senators weren’t generating much in attack either, it felt much more like the Rocket were playing in desperation mode.
Despite the uneven end of the second period, the Rocket came out strong to start the final frame. Dauphin chipped a puck in, then took a late hit from Wyatt Bongiovanni that wiped him out of the play. The puck stayed in motion as Farrell stuck with it and then flicked a pass backward into the slot where a returning Dauphin buried it to restore the Rocket lead.
The Senators presented Laval with a chance to double the lead as Keean Washkurak was sent off for slashing. The Rocket man advantage did everything but put a puck past Søgaard as the Belleville netminder kept the Laval lead at just one goal. The Rocket, then feeling generous put the red-hot Belleville power play back on the ice as Josiah Didier went off for tripping.
Even with Belzile playing on one foot due to an issue with his skate guard, the Rocket and especially Kähkönen came up with a strong kill in a high-leverage situation to keep the lead intact.
The parade of penalties between the two sides continued, as Hodgson continued to be a nuisance as he threw an elbow at Roy, sending Laval back to the power play. It was again a high-quality power play for the Rocket as they fired everything they had on net, with Xhekaj just barely missing a tally as he clanged a shot off the inside of the post. After that it was Davidson firing three different one-timers on net, with Søgaard proving to be a stubborn obstacle. As the power play came to a close, Davidson took one last pass from Trudeau and loaded up a wristshot that finally found the back of the net.
With a two-goal cushion, the Rocket defence locked things down as the final minutes approached, they stymied the Senators attacks and quickly transitioned the puck out of the zone as they tried to wrap up a win to end 2025.
With just under 90 seconds left, the Rocket had to contend with the extra attacker with Søgaard on the bench. It took a fluke bounce to finally break down the Rocket defence as a shot from Bourgault caught Kähkönen up high. The Rocket netminder made the save, but the puck took an odd hop over his shoulder and into the net to make it a one-goal contest.
It was a nervy final minute for the Rocket, as the puck refused to bounce in their favour with Kähkönen making a number of scrambling saves down the stretch. A last second faceoff win by Xhekaj saw out the end of the game, bringing a pair of hard-earned points for Laval.
Final Score: Laval 4, Belleville 3
The Rocket will now head home to ring in the new year, and then open up a two-game set at Place Bell. They’ll square off with the Utica Comets on Friday and Saturday.
