After a mid-week hiccup against the Bridgeport Islanders, the Laval Rocket got back to their winning ways against the Utica Comets on Friday night, claiming a 4-1 victory and increasing their lead at the top of the North Division. With Rochester off on Saturday, the Rocket had a chance to increase that gap even further, possibly opening up a five point advantage.
There wasn’t much to change for the Rocket after a winning effort on Friday, Jakov Novak drew in for Alex Beaucage on the fourth line, looking to keep the strong bottom-six effort going this weekend. The defensive alignment remained the same, with David Reinbacher missing a third straight game on this road trip. In net, Connor Hughes got the start after Cayden Primeau locked up his 15th win of the season on Friday.
The Rocket were out of the chute quickly as they looked to take the home side out of the game early on, and that pressure allowed Alex Barré-Boulet to draw a penalty inside the opening five minutes. After scoring a pair on the man advantage on Friday, the Rocket power play found itself struggling to find space to operate in as the Comets killed off the first power play of the game. That strong penalty kill opened up some opportunities for Utica as they found a few odd-man rushes that forced Hughes to be on his toes to keep it a scoreless game.
The response from the Rocket after a strong Comets push was outstanding as well, with the top line continuing to be an absolute nuisance for opposing defences. Sean Farrell threw a pass into the slot for Barré-Boulet who got a clean shot off, then grabbed the rebound next to the net and found himself being robbed by the sprawling glove of Nico Daws. The following shift from the third line saw both Jared Davidson and Filip Mesar wire shots just off the side of the net as the Rocket looked to take an early lead.
While the Comets continued to find a counter-attack of their own, they hamstrung their own efforts as Nolan Foote was called for high-sticking. Foote’s penalty turned out to be a major one as the Rocket power play redeemed itself after their first effort. Logan Mailloux quickly swung the puck around to Barré-Boulet, who returned it back to Owen Beck in the faceoff circle. Beck then threw it to the slot where Sean Farrell uncorked a wicked shot over the blocker of Daws to open the scoring.
The immediate response from Utica was a heavy, strong forecheck that kept the Rocket hemmed in for multiple shifts in a row. With Hughes having to scramble all over his crease, both Farrell and Zack Hayes were called into action to make lunging saves as well. Despite the lead. the Rocket were playing on the back foot as the first period came to a close as Utica doubled them up on shots 14-7 heading into the first intermission.
Utica came out strong in the second period as expected, trying to find a tying goal and stop the Rocket from widening the gap and running away with the game. While they had all the pressure, it was one mistake that turned into a second Rocket goal.
A chipped pass out turned into a foot race that was won by Jared Davidson, with multiple players barrelling toward the net. Davidson grabbed the puck and flung it toward the crease, where it bounced off multiple skates before going into the net for a two-goal lead. It was initially awarded to Davidson for his 20th goal of the year, but after a review the AHL switched it to Filip Mesar, who appeared to have deflected it with his skate.
An inability to find continued pressure and slow down the Utica attack rapidly came back to bite the Rocket as Utica erased that deficit in just one minute. Seamus Casey quickly worked down the right hand side, opening space in the slot for him to feed Mike Hardman, who beat Hughes clean over the shoulder to make it a 2-1 game.
Another lengthy stay in the defensive zone for the Rocket turned into a massive scramble in front of net, and eventually Shane Bowers grabbed the loose puck to fire it by a sprawling Hughes to erase the Rocket lead midway through the second period.
The Rocket continued to play the Comets hard after the two goals, finishing their checks and giving Utica’s forwards little space to operate. Lucas Condotta and Xavier Simoneau both got under the skin of Ryan Schmelzer and drew another penalty for the Rocket, only for their power play to quickly be erased by a dubious holding call on Laurent Dauphin moving the game to four-on-four.
Even with the extra space on the ice, the Rocket were missing their early finesse on their passes and communications and spent most of that time defending once again. Laval did manage to clean up the brief Comets power play without much issue, but was very clearly struggling to find a second gear after a dominant half a period by the home side.
Laval ended the period with a few looks that nearly fooled Daws, but the follow-up chances weren’t there for the Rocket. However, they managed to quell the Comets’ attack enough to enter the second break with the game tied up. Shots were lopsided at 26-10 in favour of Utica, and Pascal Vincent had a mountain of work in front of him to get the Rocket another crucial divisional win.
The Rocket clearly understood the situation they were in as the third period began. They were attacking much more aggressively, cutting down Utica’s time in the offensive zone. In fact, it was the Rocket who began find extended shifts deep in the Utica end, with the third line of Davidson, Beck and Mesar generating plenty of great looks.
Just as Laval changed on the fly, Davidson caught Nathan Legare up high, putting the Rocket back on the penalty kill. Laval’s penalty-killers had their hands full with the Utica man advantage, but they escaped Davidson’s minor penalty no worse for wear having kept Utica from clawing into the lead. Vincent made a slight tweak, giving Farrell and Barré-Boulet some extra shifts with Florian Xhekaj.
While the Comets were still up big on the shot counter, the Rocket made the most of their opportunities inside the offensive zone. Barré-Boulet was again the catalyst as he worked the puck to the faceoff circle, allowing his teammate to fire a pass across to the back post. Farrell was all over the puck, calmly pulling the puck to his backhand and lifting it by Daws to give Laval a late lead.
Farrell’s second goal put the Comets into desperation mode, but Hughes and the Rocket defence locked things down to drain the clock minute after minute. It was Hughes and the combination of Condotta and Xhekaj who bled off the final moments and secured another huge pair of points for the Rocket.
Final Score: Laval 3, Utica 2
The Rocket have some time off before kicking off a homestand to end the month of March . On Wednesday night they’ll welcome the Toronto Marlies to Place Bell.
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