After being disappointed with their performance on their last road trip, the Laval Rocket came back home and swept the top team in the AHL North Division with a 5-2 win over the Cleveland Monsters on Saturday at Place Bell.
The win gave them five out of a possible six points this week and put them back in the middle of the playoff picture, even though they are still on the outside looking in.
”I’m very happy with our effort,” said Rocket head coach Jean-François Houle. “To play well at home is very important. They’re important points. Sometimes on the road it’s a little harder but when you get home you need to accumulate as many points as possible.”
”We scored some goals,” Houle said when asked what he was happiest about. “We went through a little drought there where we scored one or two goals. [Jakub Dobeš] held us in there but you need to score more than one or two goals to win. This weekend, we opened the floodgates.”
”[They were] good team wins,” said Rocket forward Sean Farrell. “Up and down the lineup we played well, five on five I feel like we carried the play and played in their zone a lot, so really happy with the effort.”
Brandon Gignac had a goal and three assists as he had seven points over the two games this weekend. Five different Rocket players scored goals, and Kasimir Kaskisuo made 28 saves in the win.
Laval opened the scoring when Gignac broke in shorthanded, beat the defenders with speed and put the puck five hole past Cleveland goaltender Jet Greaves.
Il est tellement rapide 😮💨
— Rocket de Laval (@RocketLaval) March 9, 2024
He is so fast 🚀#GoRocket https://t.co/QySBBs8A7v pic.twitter.com/CYblkHgJ6W
The Monsters tied it up when Carson Meyer was behind the net and fed Brendan Gaunce at the left circle who beat Kaskisuo with a one-timer. They took the lead about six minutes later on a similar goal on the power play. Hunter McKown fired a shot from the right circle past the Rocket goaltender to make it 2-1.
Before the intermission, the Rocket tied it up with a power play goal of their own. Logan Mailloux made a diving stop to keep the puck in the zone, then fed Lias Andersson at the right halfwall. He fed it down low to Gignac who centred the puck to Xavier Simoneau at the top of the crease for the goal. The goal was scored with 58 seconds left in the first period.
Here's the play in question by Mailloux to start Simoneau's power play goal. pic.twitter.com/ZTW89NkGh8
— Jared Book (@jaredbook) March 10, 2024
The Rocket took the lead for good on the first shift of the second period. Sean Farrell entered the zone, passed the puck to Gignac, who got it back to Farrell. He then ripped the shot past Greaves. It was Farrell’s first goal since December 30.
🚨Farrell, 🍎 Gignac#GoRocket https://t.co/2f9B0mtYbe pic.twitter.com/fjv6JRdmT9
— Rocket de Laval (@RocketLaval) March 9, 2024
Laval had an opportunity to expand their lead when Gaunce caught Farrell with a high stick. It gave Laval a four-minute power play and while they generated opportunities, were not able to score a goal.
Later in the second period, Kaskisuo made a big save on a three-on-one at one end leading to a Farrell and Gignac two-on-one at the other, but the puck just jumped over Farrell’s stick.
Kaskisuo made another save to start the third period after a bad change led to a Cleveland chance. Finally, the Rocket were able to get the insurance goal. Mailloux started and ended the play with a give-and-go before jumping into the play and putting a backhand past Greaves to make it 4-2.
LOGAAAANNNNN 🔥 https://t.co/28QIgwYXtK pic.twitter.com/t4nSOX8rVv
— Rocket de Laval (@RocketLaval) March 9, 2024
Cleveland pulled the goaltender with over four minutes remaining, but it was Laval who scored. With 2:57 left, Gignac and Simoneau got the puck into space and fed Lias Andersson who fired the puck into the empty net to make it 5-2.
”We’re near the bottom of the standings,” Houle said. “We’re not that good. We need to keep learning, keep battling, try to push up and get those important points. We’ll enjoy our wins but it’s going to be back to work and making sure we’re ready for our next opponents.”
”We know where we’re at in the standings and what we have to do the rest of the way,” said Farrell. “Every game for us is a playoff game so it’s huge to get these points this weekend.”
Standings
Lineup
Jacob Perreault made his Rocket debut after being acquired from the Anaheim Ducks earlier this week. He took Riley Kidney’s spot in the lineup. The only other change was Kaskisuo starting in goal.
