It was yet another big weekend ahead of the Laval Rocket as they welcomed the Cleveland Monsters to Place Bell for a two-game series. With their magic number at 12 to clinch a playoff spot, the Rocket had a chance to drop that down to eight points versus the division’s fifth-place team. The Monsters were barely clinging to the last playoff spot in the North after nipping at the Rocket’s heels in the first half of the season.
Friday also marked another Rocket debut as Will Dineen, having just signed a PTO, made his first start for the Rocket, slotting in on the fourth line with Vincent Arseneau and Florian Xhekaj. The defensive structure remained the same, but David Reinbacher and Adam Engström were swapped down to the third pairing, likely to set up Reinbacher for his first back-to-back situation this season. Fresh off a Wednesday night shutout, Cayden Primeau got the nod, with Connor Hughes set to start on Saturday afternoon.
Despite starting the game with a few very good looks on Zach Sawchenko, Laval found itself in a high-leverage penalty kill as Xhekaj was sent to the box for kneeing. The Rocket’s penalty kill took note of the situation and spent the majority of the kill putting chances on the Monsters’ net instead of defending their own. Laurent Dauphin and Alex Barré-Boulet’s speed frustrated the Cleveland attackers, allowing the Rocket multiple high-danger chances on net, but Sawchenko kept the game level as Xhekaj exited the box.
The stretch after Xhekaj’s penalty expired was all Rocket as they attacked Cleveland in wave after wave, but any rebounds or second chances were blocked or swept aside. While the Rocket were opening up a wide shot advantage, as they failed to get any pucks into the back of the net their play began to get increasingly sloppy. While Primeau was sharp, the passes that were previously connecting tape-to-tape, were being picked off by Monsters players.
The Rocket’s overall pressure did eventually lead to them getting their first power play of the night late in the first period. While they had a few good looks in the early going, the overall advantage fell flat as Cleveland seemed to have recovered from the opening Rocket salvo.
Right from the jump in the second period it was the Rocket once again smothering the Monsters at every turn as they dominated the early minutes. Dineen just missed his first professional goal after being sent in on a breakaway by Arseneau. His shot went wide and the follow-up did not count as the net had come off its moorings. Then came the penalties as both teams seemed to be growing sick of each other, with Xavier Simoneau and Jordan Malatesta taking a seat for roughing. Then Laurent Dauphin got hooked around the mouth, drawing a four-minute double minor in favour of the Rocket.
With a chance to break the game wide-open, the Rocket found themselves getting stonewalled by the theatrics of Sawchenko. A brilliant passing play freed up Sean Farrell at the side of the net, and Farrell let a perfect shot go only for Sawchenko to come across and deny him with a raised pad. That began to lead to the Rocket being less and less patient on the man advantage, and Cleveland’s penalty-killers took advantage to kill off the final minutes of the double-minor to keep the game scoreless still.
It wasn’t long before Cleveland gave Laval a chance to redeem their power play effort. Drew Bavaro got his stick up high on Barré-Boulet and the Rocket headed back to the man advantage. After a solid enough first wave of attack, the Rocket then again struggled to put a regular attack together and the Monsters escaped yet another penalty unscathed. Not long after the penalty expired, Riley Kidney finally announced his presence in the game, taking a tripping penalty in the neutral zone and sending the Rocket to the penalty kill.
Laval’s penalty-killers put in a strong shift, fighting off a fierce-looking power play from the Monsters as the visiting side looked to finally break the deadlock on the scoreboard. Primeau was dialed in, while the defenders in front of him did a fantastic job sweeping away any loose pucks in front of the crease. An odd-man rush developed in the dying seconds of the period, but a strong save again by Primeau ensured the game remained goalless heading into the second intermission.
Tempers continued to run high as the third period got underway, Trey Fix-Wolansky gave Reinbacher a shot after the whistle, drawing quite a crowd along the boards. Former Rocket Madison Bowey choosing to hit Dauphin from behind in that scrum resulted in an extra penalty, and Laval once again heading to the power play.
As it turned out, giving the Rocket a fifth power play chance was a bad idea, especially after trying to rough up Reinbacher on the prior shift. While the top unit struggled to generate looks, the younger second wave finally broke through thanks to some great play from a pair of rookies. Filip Mesar won the puck back in the offensive zone, passing it back to Engström at the blue line. Engström deferred off to Reinbacher, who blistered a slapshot by Sawchenko to finally break the deadlock.
After another scrum in the neutral zone as the two sides traded some big hits, Reinbacher attempted to add a second goal, but the shot sprung a rush the other way, which resulted in Reinbacher taking a hooking penalty.
A broken stick for Lucas Condotta in the four-on-three situation was too much for the Rocket to overcome as he rushed to the bench for a replacement. The extra space gave Rocco Grimaldi all the room he needed to tee up Luca Del Bel Belluz for the game-tying goal.
Matters got much worse on the following shifts as the officials let Bowey wipe out Arseneau with the puck nowhere to be found, creating a scoring chance for Cleveland. A harmless shot toward net was bouncing toward Primeau who was going to glove the puck, when Roman Ahcan slashed down. The action stopped Primeau’s save and deflected the puck into the net to give Cleveland the lead.
After a dubious slashing call on Barré-Boulet, the Rocket penalty kill decided it had enough of the officials attempting to tilt the game, and promptly found a tying goal of its own. Dauphin jostled the puck loose, allowing Xhekaj to speed away uncontested. Xhekaj and Dauphin then completed the perfect tic-tac-toe passing play for Xhekaj to bury his 18th goal of the season … then promptly start another scrum.
Just as it seemed like the Rocket were getting their legs underneath them late in the game, Kidney took a horrifically timed offensive-zone penalty, putting the Rocket back on the penalty killer with under six minutes left to play. They weren’t able to even drop the puck before the officials sent both Lucas Condotta and Joseph LaBate to the box for LaBate instigating contact with the Rocket captain in the dot.
Laval’s penalty-killers, sans their best weapon, battled through the Monsters’ power play, keeping the game level until the officiating again decided to intervene. Farrell was simultaneously cross-checked from behind and hit in the head by a pair of Cleveland players, kicking off yet another scrum that included Roman Ahcan shoving an official while screaming at Farrell. The result of all that chaos was another Rocket penalty kill, much to the anger of coach Pascal Vincent.
The Monsters promptly cancelled out the advantage as Grimaldi whacked Tyler Wotherspoon right in the face on the puck drop, allowing the Rocket to grind out the final minutes of the clock and push the game into overtime.
There was not another moment of magic for Laval in overtime as they struggled to find clean lanes on net to Sawchenko. Owen Beck, trying to weave through defenders, lost the puck that allowed Cleveland to sprint away on an odd-man rush. Grimaldi fed a pass to the back post for Fix-Wolansky to tap behind the leg of Primeau to steal a second point for the Monsters.
Final Score: Cleveland 3, Laval 2
After a wildly testy night at Place Bell, these two sides will square off again on Saturday afternoon with a 3 PM puck drop. Connor Hughes is expected to start and it is likely that Reinbacher will play in his first back-to-back set of the season.
League standings
