After a great run to kick off 2025, the Laval Rocket looked to continue their winning ways in February as they welcomed Hartford back to Place Bell in the final game before the All-Star break. The Rocket came away 3-1 winners on Friday night thanks to a late goal from Florian Xhekaj and an empty-netter by Laurent Dauphin.
It was going to be a big test for the Rockey as they entered the game down a pair of key players in Logan Mailloux and Owen Beck, both of whom were called up to the NHL on Saturday morning. William Trudeau however, was ready to return and slotted in on the top pair alongside Tyler Wotherspoon. There were no forward replacements, meaning Laval was playing one man short on the day, creating a challenge for Cayden Primeau who got the nod for a second start this weekend.
The start for the Rocket was the exact opposite of their one on Friday night, as they struggled to put two passes together in the opening minutes, while Hartford picked apart all the open lanes inside the offensive zone. While Primeau was up to the task, it was an error on his part that led to the game’s opening goal. A long-range shot from the point hit him, but he was unable to seal the puck off, allowing Lucas Edmonds to sweep the puck in behind him.
The Rocket continued to struggle to get into first gear as the first period ticked on. Passes still weren’t connecting, and Florian Xhekaj managed to finish a hit on Matthew Robertson that ended up hitting Luke Tuch in the head and left him shaken up. Following that up, with the puck in their possession, Gustav Lindström was called for interference, putting the Rocket penalty kill to the test. Before they could even kill off a minute of Lindström’s minor, the Rocket were called for too many men on the ice. It didn’t take long for the Wolf Pack, with a two-man advantage to strike as Brennan Othmann buried a rebound chance to make it 2-0.
Things spiralled from there, as Vincent Arseneau took himself out of the play trying to spark his team with a big hit, only to allow a huge gap inside the defensive zone. Edmonds took advantage as he drove to the net to deflect a pass from Chad Ruhwedel past Primeau and ran the score up to 3-0.
As tempers began to boil over, the Rocket finally managed to draw a power play of their own, and needed a huge showing to stem the bleeding. Even without Mailloux and Beck, the Rocket man advantage managed to push back against the tide just a bit as they cut the Wolf Pack lead down to two goals. Noel Hoefenmayer blasted a shot on net that Alex Barré-Boulet caught just a piece of to create a rebound in the slot. Sean Farrell was all over the loose puck as he lifted it by Dylan Garand to make it a 3-1 game.
It was an ugly period by all accounts for the Rocket, but an errant high-stick by Benoit-Olivier Groulx would give Laval a full power play to operate with to start period two, with a chance to turn it back into a competitive game.
After a strong showing on their first advantage, their second attempt seemed to revert back to the form from Friday night where every chance seemed to hit the Wolf Pack players in front of the net, and the power play ended up resulting in nothing. Even the follow-up odd-man rush after the advantage ended wasn’t able to put another puck on net, leaving the Rocket still searching for some semblance of offence in the second period.
Unfortunately for the Rocket, the Wolf Pack had no such issue as Casey Fitzgerald easily rounded Primeau to tuck home a fourth Hartford goal.
While the Rocket continued to dominate control of the puck as the period wore on, they were still struggling to get pucks through to Garand, and the shots they did manage were swallowed up quickly. However, a bit of providence shone on the Rocket after Rafaël Harvey-Pinard clanged his backhand shot off the crossbar. A Wolf Pack player had grabbed the puck and thrown it out of danger, but handed Laval a penalty shot in the process.
Jared Davidson got the nod as the shooter and took full advantage as he flew in down the left side, then blistered a shot through Garand to cut the Hartford lead down to two goals once more.
Davidson’s goal seemingly jump-started a Rocket team that looked totally out of gas just a few minutes earlier, and all of a sudden their opponent was on the back foot. Hartford spent more shifts trying to survive the Rocket instead of trying to score goals, and that played right into the Rocket’s hands.
Laval’s top line kept the Wolf Pack caged in their own end, with Lucas Condotta doing an incredible job battling for pucks along the boards to keep plays alive. The puck trickled out to Alex Barré-Boulet who turned and fed it into the slot. Farrell was in the perfect spot to bury his second of the game and cut the deficit down to a single goal.
As the Rocket grew back into the game, the Wolf Pack began to fall into the same issues that plagued the Rocket, namely a ton of ill-timed penalties. As the second period was coming to a close Anton Blidh swung his stick around and split open the mouth of Laurent Dauphin, drawing a four-minute power play.
It took just 11 seconds for the Rocket advantage to make them pay as Farrell collected another point by slinging a pass across the zone to Alex Barré-Boulet. The veteran winger fired his first shot that Garand saved, but Barré-Boulet grabbed his own rebound and fired it far side to tie the game as the second period came to a close.
The Wolf Pack likely got a dressing down between periods, and it showed as they came out aggressively against the Rocket power play. Laval had to settle for long-range wrist shots only as Blidh exited the box after his double-minor. Worrying for the Rocket was the absence of Laurent Dauphin, who had taken Blidh’s stick to the mouth.
It turned out that Dauphin wasn’t going to return for the Rocket, forcing them to play the remainder of this hotly contested game with just 10 forwards. Barré-Boulet continued to be a menace as he cut through the Wolf Pack defence, registering another prime scoring chance and nearly setting up Farrell for a hat-trick goal as well if not for the quick reactions of Garand.
Both teams were clearly feeling the exhaustion creeping in as the third period wound on, with passes losing a bit of zip and the speed of the game overall slowing significantly. Laval had the better of the chances with Farrell seeing another chance at a hat trick robbed by the glove of Garand, while Filip Mešár’s daring cut through the slot led to a shot that clanged off the crossbar. As the game entered its final six minutes, it felt very much like a “next goal wins” situation for either side.
While it was the Rocket pushing heavily for a late goal, the Wolf Pack had chances as well. If not for some crucial defensive stops from Adam Engström and William Trudeau, they might have been going home empty-handed. Instead, the Rocket managed to secure one point in regulation and headed to overtime looking to complete the full comeback once again.
It was a nervy overtime period, with both sides taking their time to try to pick their spots without opening themselves up too much to a counter-attack. The Rocket however, were the ones holding the puck over and over again, until finally they found the fifth goal they’d been searching for. Engström quickly shifted through the offensive zone, leaving a puck off for Xhekaj at the blue line. Xhekaj took a few strides and put his 10th goal of the season right through Garand to complete the improbable comeback for the Rocket, The Deputy’s second game-winner in as many days.
Final Score: Laval 5, Hartford 4 (OT)
The win pushed Primeau’s record to an incredible 9-0-0 since joining the Rocket, and helped stabilize the Rocket atop the North Division heading into the All-Star Break. Laval now also has a well-deserved break before they travel to Toronto to kick off a two-game series next Friday.