Fresh off their epic comeback against the Belleville Senators on Wednesday night, the Laval Rocket played host to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Friday at Place Bell. Looking to stretch their winning streak to four games, they’d be hoping to do so without having to overcome a four-goal deficit as they had two nights prior. Jakub Dobes, who was chased from the previous game after allowing four goals in the first period, got the nod again to start for Laval.
The good news for Dobes and the Rocket was that they didn’t allow four goals in the first period this time, in fact they allowed none. The bad news; they failed on three power play attempts in that same period, squandering a chance to begin the night with a lead of their own. Though they looked like the better team at five-on-five, they went into the intermission hoping that those missed opportunities with the man advantage wouldn’t come back to bite them.
Sure enough, the first penalty of the second period went against Xavier Simoneau, but the Rocket were able to kill that off. Their real problem was that Phillippe Maillet and Mitchell Stephens were both ruled out of the game before the midway point with respective lower and upper-body injuries, meaning they’d have a very short bench for more than half the game.
Simoneau would take another minor for accidentally tripping Phantoms’ goaltender Cal Petersen later in the frame, and that one ended up hurting. Tanner Laczynski simply threw a puck into the slot from the outside hash-mark, and it deflected off a skate and past Dobes to give the Phantoms the opening goal of the game, with four minutes and change left in the second period.
The Phantoms really took control of the game in the second, with the Rocket managing just one shot on goal. The loss of two forwards in the period clearly took every last ounce of energy from Laval, who had entered the period leading the shot count 11-5, but left it trailing 16-12. They needed a rest, and a better game plan heading into the third period still with only 10 forwards.
They came out considerably harder to start the third period, tripling their second-period shot total inside of two minutes. Unfortunately, the first shot for the Phantoms ended up paying dividends. Laczynski threw a puck on net, and Olle Lycksell put the rebound through to give the Phantoms a 2-0 lead just over three minutes into the period. An empty netter from Lycksell later in the frame would make it 3-0, all but sealing the fate of the Rocket.
After a major penalty to Rhett Gardner for running Dobes, the Rocket would get the final three minutes of the game on the power play. Joshua Roy threw a puck into the slot, taking a double deflection off Sean Farrell and Brandon Gignac, finally giving a goal to the Rocket late in the game.
Riley Kidney would add one more, pouncing on a blocked point shot to make it 3-2, but unfortunately doing so with only five seconds remaining on the clock.
Thoughts
- Losing two forwards in the second was the kiss of death for the Rocket. They went from being the better team by a sight, to looking utterly exasperated on every shift. They’ll hope to have both Stephens and Maillet back in short order, but if not will need to consider some changes to the lineup.
- Still, their mettle to put up two late goals was impressive. This is a very young team without an ounce of quit in their DNA. We saw them two nights ago erase a four-goal deficit, and nearly do the same against three goals in this game. They’re a heck of a team to watch right now, and hopefully thanks to a few future Canadiens.
- The Rocket seem to struggle far less with zone exits than the Montreal Canadiens. They have more forward support when they gain possession in their zone, and thus have more outlet options to structure their breakout. Notwithstanding the fact that the AHL is a completely different league, the big club could perhaps take a page from their affiliate’s book on that front.
The Rocket will have little time to figure out their injury woes, as they’ll hit the road and face the Utica Comets tonight in New York.
