On Friday night, the Laval Rocket found themselves in a two-goal deficit before some incredible brilliance from David Reinbacher helped fuel a comeback in the pivotal clash. Logan Mailloux scored the overtime winner, setting up another intense clash on Saturday night in Belleville.
William Trudeau was good to go after leaving the game on Friday after blocking a shot. He took his usual spot on the first pair alongside Mailloux. Jacob Perreault found himself on the fourth line after a quieter start to his Laval Rocket career. Arnaud Durandeau was also out for the night, with Riley Kidney stepping in. Jakub Dobeš got the nod in net, with Kasimir Kaskisuo now likely to face his old club on Sunday.
After a very quiet start on Friday, the Rocket exploded out of the gate in emphatic fashion against the Senators. Shift after shift it was Laval putting chances towards Mads Sogaard, with the Belleville goalie matching them at each step. Then, it was a broken play that got the Rocket on the board. Lias Andersson took a one-time feed from Philippe Maillet, and half passed, half shot it on goal. A Senators stick caught a piece of it, deflecting it around Sogaard and allowing Emil Heineman to sweep it home to open the scoring.
It was all Rocket after their goal, with every line cycling and circling the offensive zone unimpeded until a penalty on Andersson brought that to a halt. The Rocket penalty-killers continued their strong showing from the previous night, shutting down the Senators’ advantage to keep the lead intact.
The power play allowed Belleville to grow back into the game and resulted in a few chances that clanged off the posts behind Dobeš. Aided by the Rocket losing their composure, the Senators did find a tying goal late in the period. Tyler Kleven put a shot into traffic in front of the Rocket goal, with Zack Ostapchuk deflecting it by Dobeš to send the teams into the first intermission tied up 1-1.
Laval made sure to make the most of their first power play in the second period as Wyatt Bongiovanni took a seat for holding. He sat down for all of 16 seconds as Logan Mailloux teed up Philippe Maillet, and the veteran forward buried his shot to restore the Rocket lead.
Each shift following the Rocket goal was a chess match of sorts, with the Senators continuing to poke and prod at the Rocket to try to draw a reaction. For Laval, it was about keeping its structure and composure looking to increase the lead.
The Rocket were helped in that regard as Nikolas Matinpalo took a seat for tripping deep inside his defensive zone. Like his teammate before him, it was not a long stay in the penalty box as the Rocket man advantage stayed red-hot. Mitchell Stephens put a shot toward the net, with Sogaard spilling the puck out to Brandon Gignac, who swept in a third Laval goal.
A dubious delay of game penalty on Dobeš started to tilt the ice back toward the Senators as the period wore down, but again Laval’s penalty-killers were locked in, keeping Belleville from clawing back into the game. It was all Dobeš down the stretch to the intermission as well, with some incredible pad saves denying the Senators and keeping the Rocket lead at two goals heading into the third period.
The Senators came out flying to start the final frame, with Egor Sokolov forcing Dobeš into making an incredible save, and then following it up with a shot off the crossbar in the opening minute. The frustrations were becoming apparent as the Senators began taking every chance to take an extra poke or swipe at Dobeš, all trying to draw the Rocket down to their level.
Laval was doing everything it needed to in order to secure another two points, but the Senators were not going away easily. A lost battle in the defensive zone saw the puck drop back to Maxence Guénette at the point, and his long-range wrist shot fooled Dobeš to make it a 3-2 game.
There was not going to be a second straight night of comebacks, however. Dobeš slammed the door shut while the Rocket’s defensive lines kept the zone clear long enough to secure the win, getting four points to Belleville’s one in the weekend series to tie them for a playoff spot.
Final Score: Laval 3, Belleville 2
The Rocket will round out a very busy weekend on Sunday when they travel to Toronto to square off with the Marlies. Puck drop is set for 4:00 PM. Given the nature of a three-games-in-three-days weekend, there will likely be several lineup changes for the Rocket.
