After a dominant win on the road in Rockford on Friday night, the Laval Rocket rolled into Milwaukee to finish off their crucial road trip against the Admirals.
There were two major changes for J.-F. Houle’s squad, the first being Brandon Gignac withdrawing as he continued to battle his lower-body injury, replaced by Jan Mysak. On defence, Jayden Struble was given a night off after playing in four straight, and Olivier Galipeau was re-inserted. In net, Cayden Primeau was handed the start as he continued to drag Laval toward a playoff berth.
The opening 10 minutes were frenetic as the Admirals came on hard before the Rocket turning things around into an 0dd-man rush … that resulted in William Trudeau being called for high-sticking. Laval’s penalty-killers made easy work of the Milwaukee advantage, and as Trudeau sprang out of the box he was sent in on a breakaway. Devin Cooley was up to the task, blockering away the backhand shot to keep the game level.
The two sides continued to trade chances, but a failed clear along the boards by Galipeau set off a chain of unfortunate events for Laval. With the puck coming back in, Peter Abbandonato was tripped up trying to cover defensively and Cole Schneider found Anthony Angello for an easy opening goal.
With Laval trailing, Xavier Simoneau did what he does best: getting under the skin of the best player on the opposing team. Isaac Ratcliffe ended up taking a double-minor and giving the Rocket a power play.
On that advantage, Pierrick Dubé (our AHL player of March) took a spinning feed from Lucas Condotta in front of the net, ringing the shot off the crossbar. Emil Heineman darted for the rebound and wheeled back into the circle to fire a heavy wristshot past Cooley to tie the game up.
The tie was short-lived as a rare defensive miscue from Corey Schueneman allowed Tommy Apap to get a clean shot past Primeau to give Milwaukee the lead heading into the first intermission.
The second period took on a physical, chippy tone in the opening minutes after Nolan Yaremko collided with Cooley around the Admirals’ net. Despite getting a power play out of it, Laval struggled to get much of anything going as they still trailed by a goal.
As the physicality built, the Rocket were able to keep their composure as the Admirals kept marching themselves to the box. With another power play opportunity, the Rocket made it count. Simoneau cut deep into the offensive zone, and fired a perfect cross to Emil Heineman. The Swedish forward uncorked a blistering shot by Cooley to tie the game at two goals apiece.
Another defensive miscue gave the lead right back to Milwaukee as Joakim Kemell beat Mattias Norlinder to the net on a breakaway, and Narvin Mutter poked the rebound home to make it 3-2.
Laval kept its pressure up throughout the rest of the period, but Cooley continued to frustrate them with a number of big saves. Despite the shot advantage, Laval needed another huge third period to keep their winning streak going.
Just 25 seconds into the third period, the Rocket found a tying goal thanks to a fortunate bounce and Dubé. Mitchell Stephens battled in the corner, firing a centring pass that was deflected into the slot, and Dubé stepped into his shot, beating Cooley clean.
A Rocket penalty kill put them in a tough spot with the Admirals mounting a strong counter offensive after Dubé’s goal. However, Yaremko made a brilliant read along the boards, kicking off a two-on-zero rush for Laval. Yaremko dished off to Anthony Richard, who calmly tucked the shot five-hole to give Laval the lead.
The goal parade continued for the Rocket, as they pressured the Admirals into making mistakes. In the offensive zone, Trudeau walked the puck to the slot, waiting for an opening. He found one, with Dubé sitting unmarked at the side of the net, and Trudeau fed him perfectly for a second goal of the night.
The Rocket made things difficult on themselves down the stretch as Riley McKay was called for tripping, puting the Admirals on a late power play. With Cooley on the bench for the extra attacker, Milwaukee drew a goal back to make it 5-4.
However, Stephens continued his incredible run of form, grabbing an empty-net goal to seal the win for the Rocket to end their road trip.
Final Score: Laval 6, Milwaukee 4
Not only was this road trip a huge success for the Rocket as they finished it on a four-game winning streak, putting them ahead of Belleville in the battle for the final playoff spot, the Monsters lost earlier on Saturday, placing them at nearly identical points percentages.
Coming up next for the Rocket is their biggest game of the year: at home against Cleveland on Friday night at 7 PM.
