After starting their 2025 off with a pair of wins over the Abbotsford Canucks, the Laval Rocket headed on the road for a match with a division rival, the Cleveland Monsters. The Rocket trailed the Monsters by two points in the AHL North Division, with two games in hand as well.
The trip was not going to be an easy one as the Monsters are one of the AHL’s top scoring teams. It was made more difficult with the absences of Brandon Gignac and Josh Jacobs, both of whom are week to week with lower-body injuries. William Trudeau and Adam Engström re-formed the top pair, while Noel Hoefenmayer and Logan Mailloux lined up on the second. Riley Kidney remained a healthy scratch while Cayden Primeau got his second start after clearing waivers.
The game got off to a quick start, with the Monsters controlling the puck while the Rocket were struggling to gain the offensive zone for a serious attack. Despite the Monsters’ pressure, the Rocket were the ones who were able to pile up the early shots on Daniil Tarasov, however the Russian netminder was up to the challenge.
Vincent Arseneau, while trying to ramp up the physical play, put the Rocket on their first penalty kill of the night as he sat for elbowing. Cleveland possesses one of the AHL’s top power plays, and even with that fact it was the Rocket penalty-killers limiting them to just a single shot on Primeau and keeping the game scoreless as the first period trudged on.
The Rocket weren’t able to put many shots on Tarasov in the final minutes, let alone any that would trouble him. Meanwhile, the Monsters didn’t threaten Primeau much either, with their best chance being a shot rung off the post behind him without a follow-up chance.
The second period continued the trend of the opening frame, with clear-cut scoring chances being at a massive premium for both sides in the opening minutes. Despite the lack of action, the Rocket did have an immediate moment of concern when Vincent Arseneau collided knee-first with the head of a tripped Luke Tuch, leaving the Rocket’s pugilist struggling to get to the bench.
While Arseneau was tended to, the youth of the Rocket continued to shine and create opportunities inside the offensive zone. Filip Mešár picked off a puck along the boards, and fed it to Laurent Dauphin, who was wide-open in the slot. Dauphin didn’t catch the puck clean, causing it to flutter high and over the extended blocker of Tarasov to open the scoring.
The one-goal lead soon became two as the Rocket’s offensive momentum started to roll downhill. Arseneau, recovered from his collision with Tuch, charged in on the forecheck to create havoc. He got control of the puck, flicking a blind pass into the open slot that Jared Davidson stepped right into, and blistered a shot by Tarasov to make it a 2-0 game.
The Rocket continued to pour on the pressure, and were picking apart the Monsters’ defence without any real resistance. Gustav Lindström sent Davidson deep into the offensive zone, then immediately began calling for the puck back. Davidson pivoted and dished it back to Lindström, who in turn blasted it past Tarasov to make it a 3-0 game late in the second period.
Laval’s continued pressure stuck them on the power play as the period marched on towards its end, this time Gavin Brindley took a seat for slashing. It took under a minute for the Rocket to make the Monsters pay for their mistake as Joshua Roy converted an Owen Beck feed to make it a blowout.
Despite the clean and relatively quiet nature of the game between rivals, the period ended on an extremely sour note as Joseph LaBate launched himself at the head of William Trudeau, earning himself a game misconduct in the process.
Laval started the third period with a five-minute power play thanks to LaBate’s major penalty, and while more goals never hurt any team, the Rocket were happy to pick their spots and let the clock bleed down without much pressure.
However, the Rocket were not going to be denied for long as their suddenly high-powered attack went right back to work at even strength. Trudeau knifed into the offensive zone, leaving a pass off for Davidson who was able to spin and dish it off to Tuch. The rookie forward ripped a shot through Tarasov, and it just slowly trickled over the line to make it a 5-0 game.
Tuch’s goal took the last bit of wind out of the sails of the Monsters and both teams started playing to just wind the clock down and start to prepare for the rematch on Saturday. While Mešár did his best to try to set up another Dauphin goal, Tarasov had one last big save in his arsenal.
When the final horn sounded Primeau had notched a 16-save shutout, while both Davidson and Alex Barré-Boulet recorded three-point nights.
Final Score: Laval 5, Cleveland 0
These same sides will line up for the rematch tomorrow at 7:00 PM in Cleveland. It is likely that Connor Hughes will get the start in net for the Rocket who will try to win a fourth straight game.
