Laval ended Friday night on an extremely high note, trouncing the rival Toronto Marlies on the back of a Sean Farrell hat trick to become the top team in the entire AHL. Ahead of them on Saturday afternoon was a rematch with Toronto that was almost assuredly going to be a heated and testy affair. Laval was without both Luke Tuch and Vincent Arseneau. who were banged up in the win on Friday.
Alex Beaucage drew in to give the Rocket 11 healthy forwards for the game, and Chris Jandric was inserted as a seventh defenceman to give the Rocket as close to a full lineup as possible. Connor Hughes was given the nod as the starter after Cayden Primeau notched his 10th win of the year on Friday.
Heated was certainly the temperature as the game kicked off, and clearly some bad blood remained from the previous day’s relatively normal clash. Just over two minutes into the game, Zach Solow and Florian Xhekaj decided to let their fists do the talking as they threw down to set the tone of the contest early on.
The Marlies clearly still had something stuck in their craw as Kyle Clifford decided he also needed to throw the gloves off as he engaged Zack Hayes behind the play just 20 seconds after the first fight.
The fight didn’t seem to do much to spur the Marlies as the following shifts were all Rocket inside the offensive zone. Laurent Dauphin was robbed first by a lunging save by Artur Akhtyamov, and then shortly after it was Jared Davidson clanging a shot off the outside of the post.
A big save at one end by Connor Hughes on Joseph Blandisi set the stage for Laval to open the scoring. Jared Davidson broke up the play at one end, allowing Xhekaj to skate the puck in deep, taking a hit to pass the puck off. Noel Hoefenmayer fed it back to Davidson who sent it across the crease to Xhekaj, who slammed it home for his 11th goal of the year.
The lead had the Rocket in a great spot as they continued to hold off the Marlies. Unfortunately it was sloppy play by the Rocket in their own end that resulted in the game being tied late in the first period. Just after killing off a high-sticking penalty, Hoefenmayer set up behind his own net and prepared to exit the zone. He flubbed his pass off the heel of his stick, right into Hughes’s crease, allowing Solow to sweep it into the net to tie the game with 3:31 to play.
Laval wasn’t going to let that score stay tied for long as their pressure inside the offensive zone continued to fluster the Marlies and led to another goal. A turnover popped up to Hayes at the point, and the gritty defenceman managed to put a perfect shot on net. The rebound bounced to Lucas Condotta whose shot trickled through the crease and right to Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, who swatted it home to give the Rocket the lead back heading into the first intermission.
Laval looked primed to start pushing for the weekend sweep and a seventh straight win as they worked through the second period. Hughes was keeping the Marlies at bay as the period ticked on, but eventually an old nemesis of the Rocket popped up as they began a parade to the penalty box.
Alex Barré-Boulet got tackled in front of the Marlies’ net, and despite multiple Toronto players jumping into the scrum it was just Barré-Boulet heading to the box. Pascal Vincent’s protests fell on deaf ears, and it took 13 seconds for the Marlies to again tie the game. Hughes made a great first save on a shot by Alex Nylander, but the rebound spilled out to Jacob Quillan, who roofed it by a diving Hughes to knot things up 2-2.
Laval’s frustrations at the officiating resulted in a pair of penalties in rapid succession, first with William Trudeau heading to the box for cross-checking, resulting in a big penalty kill for the Rocket. As Trudeau exited the box, he was shortly replaced by Dauphin who tripped up a Marlies player in the neutral zone. Dauphin was able to escape the box with the Rocket still unscathed after their penalty issues
The mental mistakes were having an adverse effect on the Rocket’s offensive play, allowing the Marlies to start taking over the shot counter, but Hughes remained a steadying presence. Despite the power-play disparity, his calm goaltending allowed Laval to enter the second intermission still tied with Toronto, seeking to keep their winning streak alive.
The third period was a big one for both goalies as Hughes and Akhtyamov battled at both ends of the ice. Neither side seemed to be content with the idea of earning just one point as they fought for every puck and every chance, but neither of the two Canadian clubs could find a break as the frame wore on. When it looked like overtime was an inevitability, a delay of game penalty on Mešár put the Rocket penalty kill into yet another high-leverage situation.
After allowing the early power-play goal in the second period, the Rocket penalty-killers were outstanding as they fended off the Marlies’ aggressive power play, and in doing so secured one point by forcing the game into overtime.
Laval decided to make the extra period difficult on themselves as well with Lindström taking a slashing penalty just under two minutes in, leaving the three-man penalty-killing unit with a monumental task. The trio of Condotta, Hayes, and Tyler Wotherspoon did a fantastic job at keeping the Marlies to the periphery of the zone, and limiting the pucks that got close to Hughes as Lindström stepped out of the box.
That kill was enough for the Rocket to keep their winning streak alive heading into the shootout, and with Akhtyamov being the only obstacle still in their way, Laval bulldozed him to claim a second point. Hughes turned away Nylander with the blocker first, before Jared Davidson came in and blew one through the five-hole on Akhtyamov to give Laval the advantage.
Next up was Alex Steeves on Hughes, and despite the deliberate approach, the Marlies’ leading scoring could only fire one right into the chest of the Rocket netminder. With a chance to end things Joshua Roy stepped over the boards, and calmly waited before firing another low shot by Akhtyamov to seal both points for the Rocket.
Final Score: Laval 3, Toronto 2 (SO)
Laval now has a bit of time off, with just one game on the schedule next week. They’ll head to Belleville for a Wednesday night meeting with the Senators.
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