Fresh off a three-game sweep of the Utica Comets, the Laval Rocket geared up for a two-game stint against the Providence Bruins. The Rocket, while riding a five-game winning streak, faced a bit of adversity heading into Friday’s game. Laurent Dauphin and Filip Mesar remained sidelined by injuries, while they were joined by Alex Barré-Boulet and Jakub Dobeš, who are both day to day.
In place of Dobeš, Connor Hughes got the nod, with Luke Cavallin serving as his backup. Riley Kidney was bumped to the vacant spot on the top line while Vincent Arseneau returned to the fourth line. Logan Mailloux was slotted back into the lineup after being sent down to the Rocket earlier in the week.
It took just 41 seconds for the Rocket to put Hughes and the penalty-killers to the test as Florian Xhekaj was whistled for slashing. Laval’s strong showing on the penalty kill carried over from Wednesday night as not a single puck made it on net. The Bruins then repaid the favour, with Riley Tufte taking a holding penalty inside the offensive zone while trying to corral a rebound opportunity.
It took the Rocket all of 22 seconds to punish the Bruins for their penalty. Joshua Roy passed back to Logan Mailloux at the point, with Mailloux cycling the puck back to the opposite faceoff dot for Jared Davidson. The sophomore forward wound up for a wide open one-timer and blistered his fourth goal of the year by Mikey DiPietro to open the scoring.
Gustav Lindström put the Bruins right back on the man advantage following the Rocket’s goal, and this time Providence came out firing on all cylinders. Hughes was up to the task, making save after save but leaving plenty of rebounds that the Laval penalty-killers had to clean up. While the Bruins had grown into the game, it was the Rocket still controlling the puck at even strength and keeping their lead intact.
Just as the Rocket were getting the scales tipped back in their favour, Arseneau laid out a Bruin after the whistle and was called for roughing. Before Arseneau could escape the box, Brandon Gignac took a tripping call following a short-handed rush, putting the Rocket on a three-on-five kill. Laval’s penalty-killers did their job, fending off the Bruins’ power play while surrendering just a pair of shots.
The ever pestilent Xavier Simoneau drew a late power play for the Rocket, and while they didn’t convert before the first intermission, they would have 75 seconds of time left to work with in the second period.
The abbreviated Rocket power play did not yield another goal to start the second period, but it did allow the Rocket to dominate the puck through the opening minutes. DiPietro wasn’t allowing much in terms of space, but the Rocket lines continues to hem the Bruins in shift after shift until Billy Sweezey was called for roughing and put Laval back on the advantage.
The power play suddenly found itself without much power, with the Bruins handling the Rocket attack with relative ease and keeping it a one-goal game. Then the game settled into what became a grinding slog, with the chances very few and far between for most of the period. However, an errant pass along the walls by Sean Farrell allowed Georgii Merkulov to quickly snap a shot over Hughes and tie the game.
A late penalty by Mailloux had to be killed off to keep the game level as the second period came to a close, but with just four seconds left the officials also called Simoneau for holding. This meant the Rocket had a nearly full-length power play to contend with to start the third period.
The Rocket might have started the third period short-handed, but no one appeared to have told Gignac as he became a one-man penalty kill in the opening minute. After he created one rush chance, he then stole the puck, dangled between defenders, and set up a relatively simple backhand goal for Owen Beck.
With the Rocket back in the lead, they began to hit everything not wearing a white jersey, with Luke Tuch landing a number of massive hits along the boards. Hughes remained dialed in; even in a scramble without a stick he denied the Bruins a second goal.
While Providence continued to have the shot advantage, the Rocket were giving them nothing in the dangerous areas of the ice while they continued to grind down the clock. Eventually the Bruins got DiPietro to the bench for the extra attacker. The sixth skater made little difference as the Rocket defence clamped down on every loose puck, and gave the Bruins no chance to create anything dangerous as the final seconds ticked away.
A brilliant bit of stalling by Josh Jacobs along the boards and a desperation clear by Florian Xhekaj got Laval through the final few seconds and over the finish line for a sixth straight win.
Final Score: Laval 2, Providence 1
These two teams will be back in action on Saturday afternoon, with puck drop scheduled for 3:00 PM at Place Bell. It’s unclear if Hughes will get back-to-back starts or if any of the day-to-day injuries will be ready to play.
