Coming off a disastrous weekend at Place Bell against the Toronto Marlies, the Laval Rocket went on the road for another trip to the Atlantic coast of the United States. First up on their three-game trip was a rematch with the Bridgeport Islanders. The Islanders snuck by Laval in overtime in their last meeting, leaving the Rocket with plenty to prove in Wednesday’s game.
Head coach J.-F. Houle was also feeling the same, with Riley Kidney being a healthy scratch in the midst of a long scoreless drought. Nathan Légaré replaced him in the lineup, while Mattias Norlinder drew back in after missing the last week of games with an injury. Jakub Dobeš got the nod again in net, with Strauss Mann serving as his backup.
To say it was an inconsequential first period would almost be overselling the amount of action between the Islanders and Rocket through 20 minutes. Both sides struggled to put together consistent pressure, while Dobeš and Ken Appleby refused to allow any second chances on the few shots they did face.
It was Laval that ended up taking the game’s first penalty, with Sean Farrell getting his stick caught between an Islanders player’s skates and getting dinged for tripping late in the first period. The Rocket penalty-killers put in a strong shift to end the frame, pushing the Islanders back while generating a few short-handed rushes of their own.
Ending the first period with a strong penalty kill should have given the Rocket a boost heading into the second. Instead, the Islanders started the period off by dictating the play on every inch of the ice, not allowing the Rocket any space to break out or to set up in the offensive zone. The result was another penalty on the Rocket, and another penalty kill.
On this power play, the Islanders came out much more aggressive and the Rocket penalty-killers were struggling to keep up. It looked like Tyce Thompson had finally broken the scoreless tie, but the official waved the goal off saying they had blown the whistle already.
Laval managed to survive the final moments of the man advantage and then broke the game open in their favour. Farrell worked down below the goal line, spinning off his defender and putting a pass right on the tape of Philippe Maillet. The veteran forward stepped in and ripped a shot into the far corner behind Appleby to give Laval the game’s first goal.
Just 34 seconds later, the Rocket doubled their advantage and put the Islanders back on their heels. Tobie Paquette-Bisson fired a hard shot from the point, forcing Appleby to kick out a rebound, and Jared Davidson jumped all over it, firing home his 10th goal of the year.
The Rocket drew a penalty of their own, giving them a chance to break the game open even further. The closest the Rocket did get was Mattias Norlinder ringing a shot off the crossbar as he cut through the slot.
The failed advantage did little actually slow down Laval however. With just under five minutes left to play in the period, the Rocket again put together two quick-strike goals. The first belonged to Filip Cederqvist stepping into a one-time feed from Jan Mysak to run the score to 3-0.
Twenty seconds later, the Rocket ended the night of goaltender Appleby as Emil Heineman buried the fourth straight goal. Xavier Simoneau collected a pass just inside the offensive zone, and fired a pass to Heineman. The Swede cut through the middle of the Islanders’ defence, and roofed his shot to chase the netminder.
A late penalty kill was fended off by the Rocket, and they entered the second intermission with a commanding grip on the game, and just 20 minutes left to play.
With a massive lead heading into the third period, the Rocket were content to slowly grind the clock out as the Islanders tried whatever they could manage to break through the Laval defence. Even when Bridgeport found time and space inside the offensive zone, Dobeš yielded nothing to them, lunging across his crease to make pad saves or denying them with the poke-check at every turn.
The Rocket kept the game locked down as the minutes melted off the clock, and in the end the Islanders had no answer for the Rocket defensive plan. Laval ran out the remaining minutes, securing a huge rebound win and a first professional shutout for Jakub Dobeš.
Final Score: Laval 4, Bridgeport 0
The Rocket now continue their trek, heading to Hartford for a clash with the Wolf Pack on Friday March 1, with puck drop set for 7:05 PM.
