A rough run for the Laval Rocket continued on Saturday night in Hartford, dropping to 3-6-1 in their last 10 games played and causing the team to meekly walk into Bridgeport for a showdown with the last-place Islanders.
Pascal Vincent wasn’t without issues heading into the game as Josh Jacobs missed out due to an injury suffered against Hartford. Drawing in was Gustav Lindström, and also Noel Hoefenmayer, on defence, with Hoefenmayer making his debut as the Rocket shifted to an 11/7 alignment. Vincent Arseneau was clearly not ready to play after being sick earlier in the week, and Vincent chose to scratch Riley Kidney as well.
In need of a strong start, the Rocket seemed to slow things down and pick their spots to start chipping away at the Islanders. A strong forecheck from the fourth line allowed the Rocket to retain possession inside the Islanders’ zone, creating a mountain of space for them to operate in. Florian Xhekaj grabbed the pass from Adam Engström, feeding it to the slot for Laurent Dauphin. The veteran forward had no problem firing it over the shoulder of Henrik Tikkanen to give Laval a much-needed opening goal.
After the Rocket opened the scoring, the game stayed mostly quiet for both sides, something Laval needed after so many games of chaotic defensive-zone issues. The Rocket were content to slow the play down and build up their attack steadily with numbers before pushing into Islanders territory.
It made things easy for goaltender Luke Cavallin as well in his first start of the season. He finished the first period with just six saves and none of them of the overly difficult variety.
Out of nowhere at the end of the first period, Travis Mitchell leveled Dauphin with a check, drawing the ire of Xavier Simoneau and resulting in the second period starting at four-on-four.
The Islanders began the second frame on the front foot as the Rocket struggled to keep the same composure they started the game with. Cavallin found himself fighting through bodies and sticks to continue his strong start, but the Bridgeport forecheck was beginning to force Laval into more errors around its net.
Just as Laval was beginning to right the ship and get its own offensive push under way, the newly acquired Hoefenmayer was called for holding Matthew Maggio, giving Bridgeport the game’s first power play. The Rocket’s penalty-killing woes reared their ugly head, with William Dufour grabbing a puck in the high slot and wiring it through traffic to tie things up with just over half the game gone.
The goal against seemed to shake the cage of the Rocket, and the mistakes continued to mount for them. A batted puck hit off Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, who in turn flung it out of play and sent Laval back to the penalty kill. The penalty kill continued its horrid form, with the Islanders taking the lead on the advantage through a long-range wrist shot from Calle Odelius that was deflected in.
Bridgeport’s second goal got the Rocket slightly out of their funk, but the second period came to a close with Laval again needing a big third period to salvage a win against one of the AHL’s worst teams.
The Rocket clearly learned a lot from the second period as they came out strongly to start the third, with Lucas Condotta and Rafaël Harvey-Pinard hounding the Islanders at every turn. While there were good chances with clean looks at net, it was a broken play that got Laval back in the game. Adam Engström, down on one knee, kept the puck just barely in the offensive zone and fired a low shot on net. Sean Farrell caught a small piece of the puck, and then Florian Xhekaj redirected it beyond Tikkanen to tie the game.
Laval continued to pour on the pressure, forcing the Islanders to make the same mistakes the Rocket had made in the previous period. The heavy forecheck from Xhekaj allowed him to keep an offensive-zone shift alive, and Xhekaj found William Trudeau sneaking up the back side. Trudeau took the feed, walked in and snapped a third Rocket goal past Tikkanen.
Trudeau’s goal sent the Islanders into a massive spiral, starting with a delay of game penalty and putting a suddenly resurgent Rocket on the power play. Xhekaj continued his incredible day as he battled to the net-front and swept home a redirected Dauphin shot to make it a 4-2 contest.
Just 34 seconds later, the Rocket fourth line struck again with Farrell keeping a puck alive at the line and feeding it over to Luke Tuch. The rookie forward hammered a shot off Tikkanen’s pads and Xhekaj was right there to slam home the rebound for his hat-trick goal.
For good measure, the Rocket continued their onslaught with Logan Mailloux drawing a penalty as he dangled through the Islanders’ defence. To pile onto the misery, Hoefenmayer teed up Davidson for a sixth goal to put the game to bed.
As the final horn sounded, the Rocket had scored five goals in the period while allowing just one Islanders shot on goal.
Final Score: Laval 6, Bridgeport 2
It was a sorely needed win for the Rocket who had fallen down to third in the AHL’s North Division, and they’ll have a chance to build on it with an upcoming homestand. Their next game will be on Friday night at Place Bell when the Belleville Senators come to town.
