After another loss in a game they were minutes away from winning Wednesday night, the Laval Rocket began a two-game weekend series with the Rochester Americans desperate for a way to right the ship. The Rocket hadn’t played badly in previous games, but a distinct lack of finishing hampered their overall efforts.
J.-F. Houle still tried to shake up the lineup in order to achieve these results, starting with the promotion of Xavier Simoneau to the first line alongside Brandon Gignac and Rafaël Harvey-Pinard. Jesse Ylönen formed a new line with Anthony Richard and Mitchell Stephens on the second row, and the fourth row saw Peter Abbandonato and Danick Martel join the fray. Defensively, William Trudeau fell back while veteran Tory Dello had a night off, behind them Cayden Primeau once again started in net.
The new lines made their presence felt early in the game as the front line pushed the Americans through the neutral zone and deep into the offensive zone, while the second used their speed to avoid contact while advancing the puck. Mattias Norlinder, who stood out in the opening minutes, kept the game alive in the offensive zone on several occasions.
Eventually, with the puck deep in Rochester’s end, a clearance pass was picked up by Danick Martel, and Peter Abbandonato was able to retrieve the loose puck. He came in and scored his first goal of the year through Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to open the scoring.
The Rocket almost relinquished the lead as Otto Leskinen moved in to hook, giving Rochester the game’s first power play. Shorthanded Laval survived two hard shots from the post to escape the kill, still leading the Americans as the period moved into the halfway mark. After that, the Rocket’s speed began to make its mark, first with Richard breaking in alone and only being denied by the crossbar, then with Simoneau’s bustle forcing his opponent to fire a penalty behind the net.
The Rocket’s power play struggles continued from the previous game as they were unable to increase their advantage on their first power play of the night. They finished the period strong, and despite tied shot totals, it was Laval who carried the game mainly in the first quarter.
A strong start to the second period yielded an unfortunate goal against the Rocket as the Amerks tied the game in less than two minutes. With Trudeau caught deep, Rochester quickly replied, and despite a diving attempt to deny a pass from Madison Bowey, Brandon Biro was able to cover his chance to tie the game 1-1.
The Rocket didn’t wilt on the first goal against, and the final six got back to work to regain the lead. Alex Belzile kept a game alive in the offensive zone, then quickly cut back to create a strip of space in front of him. The Rocket captain stepped up to the net, before firing a pass directly at Jan Mysak’s board, who directed it into the back of the net.
After driving teams crazy for most of the year, Simoneau finally found a willing dance partner in the form of 6’5” Brett Murray. Despite a huge size disparity, Simoneau held on by scoring a judo takedown to end the fight.
Everything was Rocket after the fight, and they used that momentum to increase their lead even further. A thrown puck had Richard chasing him, and he found Justin Barron open in the slot where he scored his first goal of the year past Luukkonen to make it 3-1.
The Amerks’ frustrations boiled over, resulting in Mitch Eliot being sent to the box. Laval’s power play needed only 11 seconds to cash in with Jesse Ylönen who placed a pass directly on Simoneau’s stick strip for his first professional goal.
Xavier Simoneau gets his first professional goal on the power play!
He now needs an assist to complete his Gordie Howe hat trick tonight! pic.twitter.com/pMC476jXbS
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla) October 29, 2022
The three-goal outburst allowed the Rocket to enter the third period with a solid cushion as they looked to end their losing streak. The team refused to slow down their pressure early in the third period and quickly saw their lead stretch to four goals. A big Madison Bowey shot on one end got the Rocket into an odd-man rush where Abbandonato set up Lucas Condotta for a fifth base.
A few minutes later, they scored a sixth goal thanks to the effort of Simoneau once again in the offensive zone. Corey Schueneman picked up a pass from Brandon Gignac and passed it to Simoneau. The forward quickly returned the puck to Schueneman who made his first shot of the season.
Even a four-minute shorthanded was unable to slow the Rocket’s offense, Richard caught an intercepted pass and escaped on his own before burying the shorthanded goal.
For good measure, Laval added a four-for-three power-play goal in the final minute as Barron completed a deft passing game for his second goal of the night for a resounding end to the game for the Rocket.
After a frustrating losing streak, the Rocket finally put together a full three-period effort against Rochester, snapping their losing streak. Houle’s roster changes paid off as each line contributed a goal during the game, and the newly inserted players each dropped three points on the night.
Final score: Laval 8, Rochester 1
Laval will face Rochester again today, with a puck drop scheduled for 3:00 p.m. at Place Bell, Kevin Poulin will likely get the start for the Rocket.
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