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“We’re the Rocket, it’s what we do”: Laval storms back to steal a win from the Penguins

Being down three goals was just a minor inconvenience for the North Division co-leaders.

Credit: Arena du Rocket, Inc.

While the Laval Rocket had lost on Saturday to the Cleveland Monsters, their strong start to 2025 continued as they had collected points in all four games played so far in the new year. Standing in their way next was the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, a team that pulled off a huge comeback win over the Rocket in December.

There were not many lineup changes to be made for Pascal Vincent, who swapped Sean Farrell into the lineup in place of Vincent Arseneau, whose tenacity was likely not needed against the Penguins on this night. William Trudeau and Logan Mailloux anchored the top pair, with Noel Hoefenmayer and Adam Engström right behind them. Cayden Primeau looked to improve to 3-0-0 on the year as he took the starting spot with Connor Hughes as the backup.

Laval had the misfortune to start the game short-handed almost immediately, not due to penalties but due to Xavier Simoneau taking a puck square off the face, leaving him bloodied and headed back to the locker room. Even down a man, the Rocket were able to grind away opportunities against the Penguins, with Farrell and Lucas Condotta both just putting chances wide of goal in the opening minutes.

It remained an even contest as the first period ticked on, with both teams seemingly waiting for the other to blink first. Unfortunately for the Rocket, it was them making the first mistake and allowing the Penguins to open up the scoring at Place Bell. Engström mishandled a pass at the point, allowing the Pens to counter with an odd-man rush. Rutger McGroarty slid a pass to Avery Hayes, and Hayes tucked it neatly through the five-hole of Primeau to make it a 1-0 game.

Dan Renouf gave the Rocket a near immediate chance to get back into the game as he interfered with Laurent Dauphin and put the Rocket on a power play. Instead, the power-play woes continued to be an issue as Hoefenmayer was beaten to a puck by Jonathan Gruden on a short-handed rush, with Gruden then beating Primeau for another goal.

Laval’s advantage wasn’t able to cut into the two-goal deficit, however the shifts that followed led by Filip Mešár nearly cut the Penguins’ lead in half. Filip Larsson continued to be a brick wall between the pipes. It was a first period to forget for the Rocket as they headed into the first intermission with a mountain to climb in the remaining 40 minutes.

For unknown reasons, the Penguins swapped their netminders to start the second period with Jaxon Castor replacing Larsson between the pipes. Castor was tested almost immediately as the Rocket tried to cut into deficit. Farrell banked a shot off Castor’s pads, then Mešár fired the rebound as Castor came across with an incredible glove save to take away a sure goal.

The physicality ramped up from there as Condotta and Renouf had a spirited fight, and then Florian Xhekaj laid out an opponent with a reverse hit, drawing an interference call. While the Rocket were short-handed, they pushed the Penguins over and over again with odd-man rushes, but they were denied by both the crossbar and their own inaccuracy.

The frustrations continued to boil for the Rocket as their offence stalled out time and time again, leaving the team mostly defending in their own end. When Sam Poulin got a bit too close to Primeau, Mailloux took that as an invitation to throw him to the ice, sending the Rocket back to the penalty kill. While the Rocket killed off Mailloux’s first penalty, his return to play didn’t last long as he had one too many cross-checks in a board battle and found himself back in the box.

Their issues were compounded 35 seconds into their penalty kill as Laurent Dauphin cross-checked Ville Koivunen as he entered the zone, giving the Penguins a two-man advantage late in the first period. While Primeau wasn’t at his best in the first period, he was absolutely dialed in during the penalty kill, denying the Penguins multiple times and allowing the Rocket to escape their lack of discipline unscathed.

Desperately needing a spark, the Rocket’s top line went to work as the period wound down, testing Castor repeatedly, but still unable to bury one of the rebound chances in front of them.

As the final seconds ticked down, the Pens handed Laval a huge opportunity as Renouf took a seat for hooking giving them a power play to start the third period.

In the opening stages, the Rocket were struggling to find their rhythm as the reworked power-play units took the ice, but the continued efforts of the Penguins kept them off the board. The quick feet of Dauphin drew another call however, giving the Rocket a crucial two-man advantage inside the first two minutes of the period. The power play continued to struggle mightily even with two extra attackers, and the Penguins managed to escape it with just four total shots having reached Castor.

Things got worse from there as a puck hit off Mailloux at the point, turning into another breakaway chance for the Penguins. Engström tried to swipe the puck away but Emil Bemstrom was too strong and buried his 16th goal of the year past Primeau to make it a 3-0 game.

A failed brief power play left the Rocket running low on options for a potential comeback.

The young guns did their part with just under eight minutes left to play as Mešár sent Trudeau into the offensive zone with speed. Trudeau found some space down the wing and fired a shot that fooled Castor on his near post, finally getting the Rocket on the scoreboard.

The Rocket goal seemed to bring back the swagger the team was missing for most of the night, and the Penguins began to feel that pressure.

A strong fourth-line shift dug further into the Penguin lead, and set up a thrilling finish at Place Bell. Jared Davidson won the race to a puck, giving Luke Tuch a chance to feed it around the boards to Xhekaj along the goal line. Xhekaj picked his spot well, firing one in over Castor’s shoulder and drawing the Rocket back within a goal.

The ball was already rolling downhill and it felt like it was a matter of time until the Rocket would strike once again. It was again the fourth line making their presence felt and winning the ugly battles to get find the game tying goal. Tuch found Trudeau alone in space and Trudeau waited while finding Gustav Lindström. The veteran defender hammered the one-timer through a wide open five-hole and suddenly the game was all tied up.

When it rained, it poured on the Penguins as they capped off a disastrous run of play with Mac Hollowell high-sticking Simoneau and getting a double minor for his troubles. Laval came within inches of winning it in regulation, and earned one point by forcing the game to overtime. They would start the extra frame with 2:14 of power-play time left over.

The Rocket didn’t find the back of the net with their power play, but it was clear the finish wasn’t far off as the overtime period ticked on. A shot from Mailloux bounced in front of goal where Dauphin took a huge cross-check while trying to sweep it home. It would have been another Rocket power play … if Jared Davidson hadn’t jumped on the loose puck and buried it into the net to seal an impressive comeback win for Laval.

Final Score: Laval 4, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 3 (OT)

Now tied atop the North Division with 47 points, Laval plays its next game against the last-place Utica Comets on Friday.

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