The Laval Rocket completed their five-game road trip with two losses on Friday against the Rochester Americans and Saturday against the Toronto Marlies. The road trip ended up being 1-3-1, and they will look to regroup with three home games coming up this week.
Friday @ Rochester
On Friday night, the Rocket lost a high-scoring 8-4 game to the Americans. It started off badly with Jeremy Davies scoring a goal just 35 seconds into the game. Laval tied it up midway through the period on a Gabriel Bourque goal.
It continued to unravel for the Rocket, however. Lukas Rousek and Michael Mersch scored within 34 seconds of each other to open up a 3-1 lead. Brandon Gignac made it 3-2 early in the second, but a couple of minutes later, Ethan Prow extended the lead again to 4-2, and chased Cayden Primeau from the game.
Kevin Poulin didn’t fare much better. Jiri Kulich made it 5-2, and Lucas Condotta scored a shorthanded goal to make it 5-3. On the same penalty, the Americans made it 6-3 before Joël Teasdale scored before the end of the period to make it 6-4.
Rochester added two third period goals to make it 8-4. Both Primeau and Poulin allowed four goals on 17 shots.
L’alignement pour notre match contre les Americans
Tonight’s lineup in Rochester #GoRocket pic.twitter.com/QLcPaO663v— Rocket de Laval (@RocketLaval) February 25, 2023
Saturday @ Toronto
Cayden Primeau returned to the net to get the start for Laval and bounced back with a great performance despite Laval falling 3-2 to the Marlies.
Primeau made 46 saves in the loss. Toronto opened the scoring when Graham Slaggert scored late in the first period.
Laval tied the game up in the second period when William Trudeau made a great play to tie the game. The rookie defenceman skated the puck up ice, beating the Marlies defenders to create a two-on-one. He kept the puck and fired it past Erik Källgren.
Quelle montée Truds! #GoRocket https://t.co/ICN224dVDn pic.twitter.com/JENEvKH9OI
— Rocket de Laval (@RocketLaval) February 25, 2023
Just 2:14 later, Bobby McMann scored to regain Toronto a 2-1 lead.
It stayed that way until the second half of the third period when Mitchell Stephens tied the game at 2-2 when a blocked shot fell to him and he fired it past Källgren.
🚨Stephens
🍎 Teasdale#GoRocket https://t.co/lnbFJ89ZvW pic.twitter.com/kK0jg835Gx— Rocket de Laval (@RocketLaval) February 25, 2023
Toronto won the game when Max Ellis scored with 4:56 left in the game to make it 3-2. The Rocket pulled Primeau but were unable to equalize.
Nos gars pour cet après-midi.
Our guys for this afternoon.#GoRocket pic.twitter.com/QhTsGaZKvI— Rocket de Laval (@RocketLaval) February 25, 2023
There were no changes to the players who played between the two games, but there were some minor line changes made.
Standings
The Rocket are just hanging on to the final playoff spot in the division, tied with the Cleveland Monsters. There is a slight gap between the teams placed second to fourth and the three teams below, but it is not a huge gap and one week can make significant changes and a lot is still to play for with 20 games remaining.
Laval has the next four games at home, including three this week. They host Rochester Wednesday and Friday and then have a visit from the Rockford Icehogs on Saturday night. It will be a crucial week to collect points and continue their strong play at home.
