(Cleveland) Josh Dunne found the back of the net 4:02 into overtime, and the Cleveland Monsters snatched a 3-2 win over the Laval Rocket on Friday night at Rocket Mortage FieldHouse.
For the Laval squad, it’s a third consecutive loss in overtime, after their losses against the Belleville Senators, Wednesday in overtime, and against the Toronto Marlies, in a shootout, last Saturday.
Despite that, the Rocket picked up a standings point in their sixth straight game (3-0-3) and haven’t lost in regulation since a 7-3 thaw against the Syracuse Crunch on Jan. 13.
Also, the loss leaves the Rocket (16-18-8) in fifth place in the American League North Division, three points ahead of the Monsters (16-18-5), who however have three games in the bank.
The two clubs will meet again tomorrow night at the home of the Monsters.
Dunne scored his 10e goal of the season when the puck hit his left skate and slid past Cayden Primeau following a pass from Marcus Bjork.
As soon as the puck crossed the goal line, Primeau protested, judging that Dunne had made a voluntary gesture to deflect the disc. The two referees checked the sequence using the video replay and after a few minutes of suspense, they confirmed that the goal was valid.
That goal came just four seconds after Anthony Richard returned to the ice after he was found faulted for tripping Tyler Angle in the neutral zone.
Dunne’s goal spoiled a solid collective performance by Jean-François Houle’s squad. With the exception of overtime, the Rocket largely dominated the game as evidenced by their 38-23 advantage in shots on goal.
However, the Laval team came up against goaltender Jet Greaves, who made 36 saves, including several quality ones. Greaves was also chosen the first star of the meeting.
The Rocket took the lead twice in the game. First thanks to the 12e Joel Teasdale’s goal at 4:19 of the first period, then in the third period when defender Mattias Norlinder scored his first goal of the season after just 73 seconds of play.
Brandon Gignac had assists on each of the Rocket’s two goals.
Trey Fix-Wolansky scored the Monsters’ first goal at 19:59 of the first period on the power play. Joona Luoto tied the score in the third period, just over two minutes after Norlinder’s goal.
Note to readers: this is a corrected version. In the 6e paragraph, it was mentioned that the puck deflected off Dunne’s right skate, when it was his left skate.