Laval entered Friday night’s rematch with Rochester still searching for their first win of the season, and had plenty of motivation to do so. They had stormed back on Wednesday night from a three-goal deficit to force overtime, but one error cost them a chance at victory.
As has been the case all year, the lineup saw a handful of changes from the previous game. Jakub Dobeš got his second start of the year. Drawing back in were Jan Mysak and Gustav Lindstrom, while Riley McKay made his season debut.
Laval jumped out of the gate quickly, drawing a penalty just 25 seconds into the game thanks to the hustle of Xavier Simoneau. They weren’t able to convert on the man advantage, but it wasn’t without some great puck distribution from Mattias Norlinder and Sean Farrell around the net.
The Rocket’s fast start kept Rochester back on its heels, and eventually led to another penalty on the Amerks and another power play for Laval. This time the advantage cashed in on their opportunity. A shot from William Trudeau at the point bounced off Mitchell Stephens in front of goal, and Lias Andersson cashed in on the loose puck to open the scoring in Friday’s game.
Then, the inexperience of the Rocket reared its head again as the Americans found a tying goal quickly. A puck circled behind the net with Farrell and Norlinder pursuing it, leaving Logan Mailloux on an island in front of goal. Mason Jobst got the puck to Brendan Warren, who clanged a shot off the crossbar and in.
Laval then quickly surrendered another goal as Jeremy Davies took a pass from Linus Weissbach and floated a shot by the blocker of Dobeš to make it a 2-1 game.
Rochester continued to give Laval power-play opportunities in the opening period with Davies taking a slashing call and an unsportsmanlike penalty in protest of the call. Laval continued to also not take full advantage of those opportunities as Rochester fended off the four-minute power play.
However, the Rocket found a second goal before long, thanks in part to another young prospect stepping up in a big way. Filip Mesar was along the boards and fired a pass diagonally to Brandon Gignac in the faceoff dot. Gignac in turn put a low shot toward the net that a charging McKay deflected by Michael Houser to tie the game at two goals apiece.
A penalty kill wasn’t enough to slow down the Rocket offensive push as they escaped a Joshua Roy penalty without any real difficulty. Then with just mere seconds to play, it was the creative playmaking of Roy cutting through the defence like a knife through butter that earned Laval a lead. As Roy drew in three defenders, he put a pass on net for Lucas Condotta, and Condotta had little issue jamming it home to give Laval a lead to end the first period.
Roy continued to be a nuisance for Rochester as period two started, this time with a healthy dose of Farrell, too. Farrell swiped a puck off Ryan Johnson at the blue line and started an odd-man rush down the ice. Farrell fed Roy, and Roy returned the puck for Farrell to rifle his first AHL goal past Houser and making it a two-goal lead for Laval.
Rochester’s inability to stay out of the penalty box helped Laval eat up minutes and keep their lead safe through the second period. The best scoring chance on their back-to-back power plays was Farrell wiring his shot off the post behind Houser.
As they exited their power play time, McKay was whistled for slashing in the offensive zone, and Laval found itself in a crucial penalty-killing situation. Some fantastic positional work from Jayden Struble allowed Laval to keep the lead intact and resume their punishing offensive push at even strength.
Before the period was up, it was a lack of discipline opening the door for a Rocket offence that was cooking all night. Joseph Cecconi went off for elbowing Joel Armia on the draw, and the Rocket power play made this chance count. Stephens worked below the goal line, circling back and firing a pass to Roy at the top of the circle. Roy made no mistake as he buried his third goal of the year to give the Rocket a 5-2 lead.
Rochester did everything its could to stem the tide of the Rocket attack at the end of the second period, and it was all for nothing. Dobeš locked the net down, and then it was the Joshua Roy show again.
First was Farrell breaking out with Roy trailing him, Farrell fed a centring pass to Roy, and Roy calmly roofed a backhand shot for his second goal of the evening.
Roy wasn’t finished there, as he added his hat-trick goal just 32 seconds later. Struble stepped up and swatted a puck up to Lucas Condotta in the offensive zone. Condotta found Joshua Roy cutting to the slot and Roy fired his third of the night by Houser to start the rain of hats at Place Bell.
Laval was content to sit back and weather the waves of attack from the Americans, even if it meant a few minor penalties in the defensive zone. For the most part it was working just fine, but with around five minutes left, Rochester cashed in twice in quick succession. First was Aleksandr Kisakov in close to the net on the power play, and then Kale Clague scoring on a failed clearing chance with Dobeš having no chance to get across his crease for the save.
Laval managed to get the clamps back on after the two goals, even with the Americans having the extra attacker with their goalie on the bench. Jan Mysak fought to get a puck clear, and graciously fed it to Joel Armia for the veteran to bury it into the empty net.
The Rocket came out of the offensive eruption with their first win of the season, and with an offence that seemed to be fully engaged. It was a night of firsts capped off with Dobeš earning his first professional win in addition to Roy’s first professional hat trick.
Final Score: Laval 8, Rochester 4
Despite the big win, the Rocket have to keep the energy going tomorrow night when they take to the road for a showdown with the always pesky Belleville Senators.
