Coming off a disastrous loss to the Toronto Marlies on Sunday and finding themselves three points out of the final North Division playoff spot, the Laval Rocket were facing their biggest three-game weekend so far this season. In their way was their most hated rival, the Belleville Senators.
Laval received a tremendous boost to the lineup in the form of David Reinbacher arriving after the end of his NL season in Switzerland. His arrival pushed Mattias Norlinder out of the lineup, and Justin Barron down to the third pair next to Olivier Galipeau. Jakub Dobeš continued to be J.-F. Houle’s preferred starter, with Kasimir Kaskisuo backing him up.
While the games between the Senators and the Rocket are high-event, mostly chaotic affairs, this one started relatively quietly. While the Rocket were doing a great job at controlling the puck at even strength, they refused to stay out of the penalty box and started the game with three penalty kills. However, the Senators were unable to get much on net as the Rocket defence forced them to the outside at every opportunity. The strong penalty kills did come with a toll though, as William Trudeau blocked a Tyler Kleven shot and in the process picked up an injury that knocked him out of the rest of the game.
After 20 minutes there were just six shots for each side, and no goals on the board as the teams were playing an uncharacteristically tentative game in the first period.
Scoring chances were at a premium, and good ones were even more rare as the second period started. The Senators still managed to find the game’s opening goal in spite of that thanks to some poor defensive positioning in transition. An errant pass turned into Tarun Fizer getting around Logan Mailloux and tucking his shot under the pad of Dobeš, making it a 1-0 game.
Fizer’s goal seemed to awaken the more aggressive side of the Rocket offence, with the forwards willing to take more solo chances in order to generate possible shots on goal. Despite the many good looks the Rocket generated, Mads Sogaard was there to frustrate the Rocket forwards and keep Belleville’s lead intact.
The Rocket’s pressure continued to wear down the Senators, eventually drawing their first power play of the night. The disjointed nature of Laval’s offence wad still an issue on the man advantage, however, failing to generate much consistent pressure. This was helped along by Mailloux removing himself for two minutes as he got into a shoving match with Cole Reinhardt around his net.
As the teams left the ice for the second intermission, it was a 1-0 game for the Senators, but with so few shots between the sides, there was plenty of room for one team to take control of the match.
Barely 90 seconds into the third period, the comeback task for the Rocket grew just a bit larger. Mailloux bobbled a puck at his own blue line, resulting in Wyatt Bongiovanni getting a breakaway and burying his chance to make it 2-0.
To compound the early third-period issues, Riley McKay fell for some obvious bait from Bokondji Imama, resulting in another penalty kill for the Rocket in a high-leverage situation. Laval fought off the Senators’ power play, and shortly after drew another penalty of their own, presenting another massive opportunity for Laval’s special teams.
This time they made it count as it took just 25 seconds to get on the board. Mailloux fed a pass to Philippe Maillet along the blue line, with Maillet in turn feeding Lias Andersson, who powered his 18th goal of the year past Sogaard.
And then something magical happened. Not even two minutes later. the Rocket struck again, turning the game completely on its head thanks to David Reinbacher. A 50/50 puck in the neutral zone was picked up by the defenceman, who then dangled his way around one Senators player. Creating a two-on-one, it was Reinbacher calling his own number and burying his first AHL goal to tie the game.
The Senators did everything they could to try to restore their lead and grab the crucial two points. The Rocket defence in front of Dobeš weathered lengthy shifts, but continued to get the puck out of their zone long enough to force overtime and claim a valuable point for themselves.
In overtime the Rocket pushed the pace, trying to catch the Senators flatfooted. After Dobeš shut down an odd-man rush, one of the rookie defencemen stepped up again. Andersson fought deep into the offensive zone, leaving a puck in space for Mailloux to attack in the slot. Mailloux grabbed the loose puck, wound up, and blistered the game-winning goal by Sogaard to complete the comeback.
Laval grabbing a second point was key as Toronto also gained two points in their game with a shootout win. The results leave the Rocket still on the outside looking in for the playoffs, but by just two points now.
Final Score: Laval 3, Belleville 2 (OT)
These two sides will square off again on Saturday night in Belleville, where a win can push the Rocket back into the final playoff spot. Kasimir Kaskisuo will be the presumed starter for the Rocket.
