Laval came into Friday night’s matchup against the Rochester Americans looking to take advantage of a divisional matchup and rebound from last week’s loss. Laval faced an opportunity and a challenge on Friday, missing key forwards, but with an opportunity to increase its lead over Rochester in the standings.
With Laurent Dauphin out with an illness and Joshua Roy out four to six weeks, Jared Davidson got the nod on the first line next to Alex Belzile and Sean Farrell. The Rocket’s third line of Xavier Simoneau, Lucas Condotta, and Filip Mešár was moved up to the top six, and the third line was restructured with Florian Xhekaj centring Tyler Thorpe and Alex Tuch. Finally, Will Dineen centred Vincent Arseneau and Joe Dunlap on the fourth.
There were changes on defence as well, with Adam Engstrom returning to the top pair next to William Trudeau. David Reinbacher moved down to the second and joined Tobie Bisson, and Marc Del Gaizo and Josiah Didier finished the third pairing. Kaapo Kähkönen got the start in net.
The first period started with an acceptable pace, but neither team looked to be playing with much sense of urgency. Rochester had a flurry of chances early on, and Kähkönen was forced to make four stops fairly quickly. Laval responded with two strong rushes of its own, with Belzile nearly setting up a goal from behind the net. Eventually, the Rocket’s quick transition play drew a penalty, a holding call committed against Belzile.
Laval’s power play looked alright, with the second unit getting more chances than the first, but both cycling the puck fairly successfully. Devon Levi was a positive factor early on, but the Rochester penalty-killers were the highlight, blocking shots and clogging passing lanes.
Laval used the momentum from the man advantage, dominating the offensive zone and forcing long shifts on defenders. Unfortunately, the momentum was blinding, and Dunlap became overzealous on the forecheck and was charged with two minutes for holding with 4:20 left in the first.
The Amerks’ power play was effective, but Kähkönen was fantastic, making three huge saves during the five-on-four. He carried Laval through the final two minutes of the period. With Rochester dominating, shots finished 15-8 in their favour.
Laval needed to change momentum after a lacklustre ending to the first, and would do just that, scoring just a minute-and-a-half into the period. It was Trudeau who put the Rocket ahead, ripping a shot from the high slot.
The Rocket doubled down almost exactly a minute later, with Mešár flipping a knucklepuck over the left shoulder of Levi.
Rochester handed Laval another opportunity just 15 seconds later by taking a penalty. It immediately paid off for the Rocket, scoring yet again. This time, it was Sean Farrell deflecting a shot in the slot.
Not to be outdone, the Americans scored just a minute later, with Zac Jones ripping a shot from the point past Kähkönen. With the Rocket scoring thrice in 1:54, and then Rochester scoring a minute later, we had four goals in 2:54 to start the period. To say things had gotten out of hand would be an understatement.
Luckily, things were fairly normal through the final stretch of the period. Somehow, it was Rochester who got all the momentum from the four-goal frenzy, but after a couple of long shifts in Laval’s zone, the game devolved into sloppier back-and-forth hockey, and other than a Trudeau slashing call, the period would end without anything else of note.
The goaltenders got their chance to shine in the third period. There was end-to-end action during the opening minutes of the final frame, and both Kähkönen and Levi made a handful of clutch saves. Rochester was dominating by the midway point of the third, and Laval was struggling to connect in any zone.
After being on their heels for so long, the Rocket were bound to concede at some point, and a penalty to Belzile gave Rochester the opportunity it needed, with Isak Rosen getting the Americans to within one.
With Rochester closing in on 50 shots on net, the Rocket were playing to protect a Kähkönen masterclass. Thankfully, they did, and Laval closed it out to win 3-2, with Kähkönen finishing with 47 saves.
Final score: Laval 3, Rochester 2
What’s next?
The Rocket will travel to Syracuse to take on the Crunch on Saturday for the second game of the back-to-back. Facing another divisional opponent sitting close behind the Rocket, it will be an important game. Puck drop is scheduled for 5:00 PM ET.
