With the Olympics still in full swing, the Laval Rocket continued their busy end-of-February schedule as their road trip through North Division rivals continued. After their winning streak was snapped in a shootout on Monday against the Toronto Marlies, the Rocket headed across the border to Rochester for a showdown with the Americans who sat 12 points behind Laval in the standings. While Laval had a bit of breathing room at the top of the division, the Syracuse Crunch remained five points behind with a game in hand, making all of these divisional games even more crucial.
Pascal Vincent shuffled his lineup slightly from Monday’s loss, with Marc Del Gaizo sliding up to the top pair with Adam Engström while William Trudeau and David Reinbacher reunited on the second. Luke Tuch drew back in on the fourth line for Vincent Arseneau, alongside Florian Xhekaj and Tyler Thorpe. With three games in three days it was the veteran Kaapo Kähkönen getting the start for the Rocket last night.
The opening minutes were all Rochester as the home side pummelled the Rocket inside the offensive zone, taking advantage of multiple Rocket turnovers to create chances. Kähkönen had to be extremely sharp as the Amerks’ top six put multiple chances toward the net, some going just wide and others forcing the Rocket netminder into freezing the puck amidst the chaos. The few looks the Rocket did get had to be taken from distance as the Americans built a strong defence in front of Devon Levi.
While the Rocket continued to just try to survive, they were handed a chance to get a goal against the run of play as Olivier Nadeau took an interference penalty deep inside the offensive zone. The sleepy start continued as the Rocket power play went to work for the first time, with the Amerks’ penalty-killers smothering every lane the Rocket attempted to attack. With just one shot on net, the Rocket had an uphill battle ahead of them as the first period ticked on.
Despite Rochester carrying the flow of play, the Rocket finally found a gap to exploit late in the period. Owen Beck drew in multiple defenders before sending pass across the zone to a wide-open Tobie Bisson who was pinching from the point. Bisson took the feed in stride and wired a shot off the far post and in to put the Rocket on top 1-0.
The Rocket followed up their goal with a penalty of their own, as Laurent Dauphin was called for holding the stick behind his own net. Laval did a good job keeping a dangerous top unit quiet, with Isak Rosen having little space to work with. However, with four seconds left on Dauphin’s penalty, a long-range shot by Carson Meyer took a bounce off David Reinbacher’s stick and through Kähkönen’s legs to tie the game.
Laval grabbed the lead back in the dying seconds of the first period, with a rare mistake from Levi turning into a goal. A long wrist shot from the point was spilled to Luke Tuch who put his first shot into Levi’s pads. As the Rochester goalie tried to get back to his net, Tuch fired a second shot low and into his skates, which trickled in just over the line to put the Rocket back in front.
Some big feelings between Tuch and Ryan Johnson meant the first period would end in a stretch of four-on-four, but the Rocket, even with their less than desirable start, headed to the intermission up by a goal.
The chances were flying at both ends as the extra ice opened up multiple new looks. The Rocket misfired on an odd-man rush with Alex Belzile’s shot soaring high over the net and off the glass. That sent the Amerks in the other direction, but Konsta Helenius heeled his shot just slightly which pushed the chance wide of Kähkönen.
After a rough first period, the Rocket seemingly had found their legs as the second period marched on, with more chances on Levi and not allowing the Americans to do much inside their own zone. As always, Levi remained a stubborn obstacle as he stonewalled Beck and Jared Davidson in short order while Laval piled up chances.
After Jagger Joshua and half the Rocket team exchanged some pleasantries, the play moved back to four-on-four as Florian Xhekaj joined him in the penalty box. The speed of the Rocket’s top line along with Marc Del Gaizo put the Amerks’ defence on its heels, and a fantastic backdoor save by Levi robbed the Rocket of a sure goal. Going the other way Helenius finally found a bit of soft ice, but clanged his best chance of the night off the crossbar.
As Xhekaj exited the box he took a clean feed and put a shot on net that Levi knocked up into the air and Xhekaj was first to the rebound. The Rocket forward drop it down to the ice and tried to sweep it into the net, seemingly scoring. But before he could celebrate, Mason Geertsen was right in his face. Xhekaj responded by promptly punching him in the face, earning another two minute minor, while his attempted goal was also disallowed for being tossed into the net.
The play then again shifted back to four-on-four for the third time and the North Division rivals were making the goaltenders work. Helenius again proved himself to be a nuisance as he sped through the zone. before centring a feed that forced Kähkönen into a desperation pad save from less than two feet away. That save ended up being crucial as the Rocket were on the back foot, but as Xhekaj barrelled out of the zone he broke the cycle and the pressure Rochester was applying.
With Kähkönen making a big save, Devon Levi responded in kind with a trio of massive saves. Adam Engström sped in on an odd-man rush with Dauphin, waiting a touch too long to feed a pass across to the AHL’s leading forward. Dauphin couldn’t jam the puck in, then on the follow-up Sean Farrell also could not get the puck by a sprawling Levi. On the next shift it was Levi then stonewalling William Trudeau as he cut across net uncontested, leaving Laval frustrated as the final minutes approached in the period.
The period ended on a slightly chaotic note as William Trudeau buried Helenius in front of the Rocket net without a call being made, leading to the Rocket to momentarily stop play as they assumed a penalty was coming while they had the puck. However, the Amerks didn’t press them in the final seconds and the two sides left the ice with the Rocket still on top by a goal.
Nursing a one-goal lead, the Rocket took a penalty on their first shift of the third period after Sammy Blais landed a hit just a touch late inside the offensive zone. Laval came out much more aggressively on the penalty kill this time and it paid off big time as the best scoring chance on Rochester’s power play fell to Dauphin short-handed. A strong kill freed Blais from the box and sent the Rocket offence back to work.
However, the Rocket failing to capitalize on a strong second period and early third-period chances came back to bite them. The Americans parked Joshua right in front of Kähkönen as they quickly sent a pass across the zone to Rosen. The Swedish sniper got all of the pass from Gavin Bayreuther and buried his 25th goal of the year to tie the game at two goals apiece.
After a strong shift by Blais and Lucas Condotta, the Rocket managed to draw their second power play of the game, giving them a chance to stem the tide and regain the lead. The Rocket nearly found their goal, but a few too many passes allowed Levi to get back to his posts and take away the short angles from the Rocket shooters. As their man advantage came to a close, it was easy to see the frustration rising in the Rocket as they failed to take the lead back again.
The Rocket’s top line tried to dig out of the slump as the third period neared its end, with Belzile and Farrell moving in small spaces to generate chances. Again it was Levi acting as the obstacle as the final 90 seconds approached. A nervy clear by Kähkönen nearly turned into an own goal in the final 15 seconds, but Nate Clurman was able to rescue the puck as the horn sounded to send the two rivals to overtime.
It didn’t take long for the Rocket to claim their second point of the night as Kähkonen settled a puck behind his net on a dump-in for Marc Del Gaizo to claim. Del Gaizo took off down ice, going coast to coast and then ripping his seventh goal of the year by Levi to give the Rocket a huge divisional win.
Final Score: Laval 3, Rochester 2 (OT)
With two points in their back pocket, the Rocket head down the 90 to Utica for a pair of games on Saturday and Sunday. Puck drop on Saturday is set for 6 PM ET. It is unclear who will be in net for the Rocket as Jacob Fowler was under the weather in Rochester on Friday.
