After a golden morning in Italy, the Laval Rocket took the ice once again in Utica less than 24 hours after thwarting the Utica Comets in a shootout on Saturday night. Laval’s hard-fought win pushed their point streak to 10 games and opened their lead atop the AHL’s North Division to seven points before puck drop.
With some bumps and bruises along with a possible illness going around the team at the end of a three-games-in-three-days stretch, there were some lineup changes for Pascal Vincent. Jared Davidson was withdrawn from the lineup as Xavier Simoneau slotted in alongside Sammy Blais and Lucas Condotta. Will Dineen drew in on the fourth line for Luke Tuch, while Josiah Didier stepped in for Nate Clurman on defence. With Jacob Fowler still under the weather, it was a third straight game for Kaapo Kähkönen in net with Hunter Jones serving as the backup.
The Comets took the opening two minutes to swarm all over the Rocket inside their zone, forcing bad turnovers and keeping Kähkönen very busy. However, once the Rocket were able to break that press they instantly drew an interference call and sent the power play out to work. Laval’s man advantage got one great look as Alex Belzile found himself robbed at the back post by Nico Daws’s leg pad. Before Belzile could collect the rebound, he tripped up a Comets defender and cancelled out the power play.
Neither side did much during the four-on-four to really open the game up as the first period ticked on, but the Rocket were the side growing into the contest more and were controlling more of the puck. Before long it was Laval headed back to the penalty kill as Joshua Roy got his stick tangled up in a pair of skates and headed to the box for tripping. The Rocket penalty-killers were strong again as they allowed just a single shot on net as Roy exited the box unscathed.
Laval’s pressure in attack continued to cause the Comets issues as they drew two penalties in short order and earned 1:44 of five-on-three power-play time as the first period was drawing to a close. The two-man advantage yielded nothing but more frustration for the Rocket as they could not find the final pass or shot needed to get a puck by Daws. As the second penalty expired, Sean Farrell nearly jammed home a pair of chances, but the Comets’ netminder was giving up nothing as he kept the game scoreless.
While the Rocket ended the first period with a firm grasp on the game, they would have to battle through the rest of the game without their top defenceman as Adam Engström left with an injury.
The puck remained glued to Rocket sticks as the second period began, but for Laval they lacked the smallest bit of polish as they tried to find their first goal of the game. Florian Xhekaj continued to be a nuisance around the Comets’ net, but much like his teammates his final touch wasn’t there. Again Laval’s intense pressure drew a penalty as Belzile was cross-checked while chasing down a loose puck.
With Engström out of the game, the Rocket power play became a touch more static, limiting how many chances they could generate. In fact, Laval’s best chance didn’t even count as a shot when Farrell worked into the slot to rip a shot off the crossbar. A typically strong Rocket power play came away empty-handed and with a sense of frustration starting to boil under the surface.
That frustration turned into a run of penalties for the Rocket, threatening to undo what had been a domination on the shot counter for nearly 40 minutes. Blais was already being called for an offensive-zone penalty, then as tempers began to rise it spilled over into Simoneau going after a Comets player, earning himself enough penalties to put the Rocket on a four-minute penalty kill.
Despite being outshot 19-7, it was the last shot the Comets generated that finally broke the deadlock. A failed clear by Tobie Bisson and Owen Beck allowed the Comets to cycle the puck back to Topias Vilen at the point. Vilen’s shot made it by the attempted block by Xhekaj and off the stick of Angus Crookshank to give Utica a 1-0 lead.
Laval, now trailing by a goal, entered the second intermission with 1:31 of penalty-kill time left in the third period, and would be down a forward and defenceman for the period as well.
Down by a goal to start the period, the Rocket penalty killers went on the attack as they generated multiple short-handed chances, but the stick of Daws managed to deny them once more. The intense push to start the period allowed the Rocket to kill the rest of the remaining penalty, keeping their deficit at just one goal early in the third period. Before too long, a lazy clearing pass resulted in Belzile taking a tripping penalty and putting the Rocket penalty-killers back on the ice.
That deficit quickly grew to two goals, putting a suddenly struggling Rocket offence in a hole with just over 15 minutes left in regulation. As David Reinbacher charged toward the puck-carrier, he left partner Bisson on an island in front of the net. A quick pass across the crease fell to Kyle Criscuolo who put it past Kähkönen to make it 2-0.
On the following shift, Roy continued what was an extremely undisciplined back half of the game as he sat for tripping. After allowing back-to-back power-play goals, the Rocket escaped Roy’s penalty with the gap at two goals and were slowly running out of time to cut into their deficit. They would again go short-handed as Blais got his stick hooked around a Utica player, handing the home side an eighth power play.
With just five seconds left on the power play, a failed clear again turned into a goal against for the Rocket. A puck bounced off a skate and right to Mike Hardman who managed to sneak it by Kähkönen to make it 3-0 game, and signalled the likely end to Laval’s point streak.
After surrendering power-play chances all period, the Rocket finally drew a late call in their favour, and with their goalie on the bench it turned into a six-on-four. Daws continued to stop all the shots, even with two extra players out on the ice as the Rocket could not jam a puck by the Utica goalie. Eventually, a lane opened up for Laurent Dauphin to feed Blais, and then Blais to put it across the crease for Belzile to make it a 3-1 game.
There was no comeback in the cards for the Rocket beyond Belzile’s goal, however, as the Comets swept away every single rush chance the Rocket tried with Kähkönen back on the bench. The final horn sounded, and Utica snapped Laval’s 10-game point streak, and ended what had been a strong weekend on a sour note.
Final Score: Utica 3, Laval 1
The Rocket will now head back home for a single game before returning to the road again next weekend. Laval will welcome the Toronto Marlies to Place Bell on Wednesday night.
