A rocky opening month for the Laval Rocket continued Friday night with a 2-1 loss to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. While the Rocket finished on a high note, their slow start to the first period was too much for J.-F. Houle’s team to overcome.
However, the team didn’t have time to dwell on the loss, as they traveled to Bridgeport for a game against the Islanders on Saturday night. There were three changes from the previous game for Laval as fresh legs were needed in the back-to-back situation. Joël Teasdale, Peter Abbandonato and Pierrick Dubé replaced Xavier Simoneau, Nate Schnarr and Brandon Gignac. In goal, Kevin Poulin got the green light after Cayden Primeau played Friday in Pennsylvania.
The Rocket’s new-look fourth line generated the game’s first real pressure, with Abbandonato’s speed creating space for a net chance. The momentum was short-lived, however, as William Dufour used his height to drag Mattias Norlinder into a waiting penalty. Laval’s penalties were up to the job of keeping the Islanders off the board, but the game didn’t stay five-on-five for long.
Joel Teasdale and Parker Wotherspoon moved closer around the net, moving the game to four-on-four for two minutes. William Trudeau had a rude awakening with more space available on the ice as Chris Terry swung around him at the blue line and pushed Simon Holmstrom for a two-on-one to open the scoring.
After the Islanders’ goal, the Rocket’s forecheck began to show signs of life and caused Bridgeport to make mistakes with the puck. Mitchell Stephens rushed in, throwing a check to force a defender to throw a pass blindly from the wall. That puck ended up on the stick of Anthony Richard, who fired it high range to tie the game with his first goal of the season.
The tie lasted about four minutes as another odd run put the Islanders back in the lead. A pair of quick passes allowed Hudson Fasching to find the ice to bury his second goal of the year with just under two minutes left. This goal made the difference since the intermission horn sounded after 20 minutes.
Laval was presented with a golden opportunity early in the second period as Terry was called for tripping 90 seconds. Power play chances were rare and the Rocket’s went just over the crossbar as the Islanders fended off the attack.
Bridgeport took control of the game after being shorthanded, cycling the Rocket defense repeatedly and forcing Poulin to make several tough saves from close quarters. It appeared the Islanders had increased their lead in a scramble around the net, but officials disagreed, saying they never crossed the line. Before play could continue, the Rocket were back on the power play as Ruslan Iskhakov headed for the box for a cut.
The power play again failed to find the back of the net, and shortly after play returned to five-on-five play, the Rocket found themselves heading to a penalty kill themselves. While the Rocket managed to kill the penalty, seconds later Terry came in and sent a puck into the top corner of the net where Poulin had no chance of stopping it to make it a two goal game.
It looked like the Rocket were going to take the lead as a cross pass came in to Jesse Ylönen, but a desperate save from Jakub Skarek deprived the Finn of a surefire goal. It wasn’t too bad though, as Parker Wotherspoon was called for roughing late in the period so Laval started the last 20 against a man.
The first power play paid off big for the Rocket as they immediately put the Islanders back, and with 30 seconds left they found a second goal on the night. Stephens fired a heavy shot that bounced straight off Rafaël Harvey-Pinard up front and he made no mistake in burying his second goal of the season.
Momentum was clearly swinging in favor of the Rocket, but lax defensive coverage came back to hurt them. A shot was stopped by Poulin in traffic, but the rebound sat on the ice, and instead of obliterating it, the Rocket attempted to take out the body mass instead. Iskhakov pounced on the loose puck and blasted it off with a Poulin dive to restore the two-goal lead.
Unfortunately, there were no last-minute returns in the cards for the Rocket in Bridgeport. With less than four minutes left, the Rocket fired Poulin for the extra forward, but pressure from the Islanders forced the puck out of the area and Simon Holmstrom was buried. the puck into the empty net to seal the game.
Final score: Islanders 5, Laval 2
It’s another frustrating loss for the Rocket, dropping to 1-3-1 this season. Despite the record, the team didn’t play too badly in a single match. They’re sending the pucks in the right places, but haven’t gotten the expected rebounds yet. It’s early and there are new pieces fitting into the team, so it’s far too early to press the panic buttons.
The Rocket will play at Place Bell this Wednesday against the Belleville Senators, looking for their second win of the season.
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