After sweeping a weekend series over the Utica Comets on Friday and Saturday last week, the Laval Rocket returned to the confines of Place Bell for the start of a five-game homestand. If all went according to plan, and with a bit of luck, the Rocket could end its with a playoff berth locked up. Standing in their way first were the Toronto Marlies, a team that Rocket were finally finding regular success against, with a 4-1-0-1 record against them this year.
The biggest news for the Rocket was the return of David Reinbacher to the lineup after he had sat out a stretch of games with some knee soreness. He immediately slotted in on the second pairing next to Adam Engström while Noel Hoefenmayer and William Trudeau formed the third pair. Jakov Novak took a spot on the fourth line with Florian Xhekaj and Vincent Arseneau while Cayden Primeau got the start in net.
Tempers were running high early on as Riley Kidney landed a huge hit on William Villeneuve in the offensive zone, prompting the Marlies to respond immediately. Just a few shifts later, Arseneau clumsily came to a stop and ran into the pad of Matt Murray in net. In responsem Dakota Mermis openly cross-checked Arseneau in the face and was not assessed a penalty for it. Arseneau, with a mouthful of blood, wasn’t pleased and very likely had taken a number for later in the game.
Laval’s heavy forecheck was flustering the Marlies in the early going with the aforementioned Arseneau being the one to draw a penalty as Reese Johnson tried to slow him down as he pursued a puck. Laval’s first power play was one to forget as Toronto’s penalty-killers kept them to the outside and made life easy for Murray between the pipes.
While the Rocket were not allowing many chances on net, the ones that did get through were of the dangerous variety, created off of mental errors. Simoneau spun at his own blue line and tried to fire a pass back to Reinbacher. The Austrian wasn’t ready for a back pass, and Zach Solow latched onto the loose puck. It took a sprawling pad save by Primeau to keep the game scoreless in the first period.
Those mental mistakes continued to pile up as the first period wore on, with Owen Beck being called for tripping while battling along the boards for a loose puck and giving a dangerous Marlies power play a chance to break the deadlock. Instead, the Marlies took another run at a Rocket player, with Solow burying Simoneau from behind, drawing the ire of Lucas Condotta.
After the officials had sorted everything out, it was a four-on-four stretch of hockey, with Solow getting two penalties and Condotta a matching unsportsmanlike. Toronto then handed the Rocket a power play as Nick Abruzzese barrelled through Primeau, earning him a goaltender interference penalty. Laval’s power play continued to be frustratingly inconsistent as they were looking for perfect passes on the ensuing advantage and struggled to put pucks on net.
The period ended on one last sour note for the Rocket as Robert Mastrosimone drilled Reinbacher from behind, leaving the young defender shaken up as the period came to an end. He was unable to finish his shift and Tyler Wotherspoon took his place on the following icing call. While the shots were in the Rocket’s favour, they were off their game a bit as Toronto ran all over the ice finishing hits both legal and illegal alike.
Laval’s rough end to the first period rolled over into the second period as the team struggled to clear its lines and generate consistent pressure inside the offensive zone. They were handed another huge opportunity however as Jacob Quillan was called for slashing on Jared Davidson inside the defensive zone, putting Laval back on the man advantage. Passes continued to miss their targets as the Rocket power play managed just a single shot on net and the game remained without a goal.
Just as it looked like the Rocket were beginning to right the ship at even strength, Condotta was called for slashing in the offensive zone and put Laval on a penalty kill of its own. The Rocket penalty-killers continued to show how dangerous they were as they took instant advantage of a small error by the Marlies at their blue line. A puck barely left the zone and Laurent Dauphin grabbed it between two opponents and broke in on a clean breakaway. As Dauphin settled the bouncing puck, he tucked it through the five-hole on Murray and the puck just slowly crossed the line to finally give the game a goal.
Dauphin’s goal seemed to be the spark the Rocket needed after a sleepy start in the game, and eventually their team speed and pressure drew another penalty, although the officials also gave Simoneau a roughing call for making Logan Shaw very angry. Again, the Rocket’s power play failed to turn a mountain of quick passes into an actual chance on net, allowing Toronto to escape their penalty issue unscathed late in the second period.
Despite the choppy play, the Rocket continued to use their depth and red-hot top line to increase their lead in the final minutes. Mailloux left a pass off for Sean Farrell near the offensive blue line, allowing Farrell a tight space to pivot toward the net. Farrell, with his head up, turned and fired a low shot toward the net and Dauphin deflected it by Murray to double the Rocket lead.
Laval ended the period with a bit of a fire drill in their own end, with Mailloux taking a one-timer off the skate, leaving him limping to the bench when the Rocket were finally able to freeze the puck. To follow that up, a turnover by Farrell forced Engström into an interference penalty, leaving the Rocket with 90 seconds of penalty-killing in front of them to start the third period.
Strong efforts from Condotta and Florian Xhekaj allowed the Rocket to kill off the remaining time on Engström’s penalty and keep their two-goal lead intact as the third period got under way. A strong kill set the stage for the Rocket to continue attacking in waves at even strength and forcing Murray to make a number of uncomfortable saves all around his net.
Murray continued to hold the line as best he could against the Rocket attack, but the minutes were getting shorter and shorter as the Rocket succeeded in burning more time off the clock. Beck, however, handed Toronto a potential lifeline with just over six minutes left to play as he took as seat for tripping. Laval’s penalty-killers again went back to work at making life miserable for the Marlies’ power play, as Condotta and Xhekaj took turns leading short-handed chances, with Xhekaj just barely missing a chance from the goal line off a Murray rebound.
Laval’s top line continued to grind out the minutes. With just over two minutes left, Toronto opted to pull their goalie to try to pull off a last-gasp comeback. Dauphin had entirely different plans as he picked off a pass at the point and took off down the ice to bury his third goal of the evening to put the game out of reach.
Toronto didn’t have much left in the tank following the third Rocket goal and Laval easily coasted out the final minute on the clock and secured another big win on its march to a playoff berth.
Final Score: Laval 3, Toronto 0
Laval has Thursday off, then will welcome fellow North Division rival the Cleveland Monsters to Place Bell for a two-game series starting on Friday. Thankfully, none of the Rocket players appear to have sustained any serious injuries despite initial appearances, and should be good to go on Friday.
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