(Utica) The Laval Rocket offered honorable resistance but still lost 6-3 to the Utica Comets Saturday evening at the Adirondack Bank Center.
Timur Ibragimov broke a 3-3 tie with his second goal of the game at 9:01 of the third period. The other star of this Comets victory was Quebecer Samuel Laberge, who collected a goal and two assists.
Shane Bowers also beat Strauss Mann, who blocked 26 pucks and was not to blame.
Filip Engaras and Santeri Hatakka added empty-net goals late in the third period.
In the defeat, Joel Armia and Nathan Légaré, both shorthanded, beat Isaac Poulter.
Defender Logan Mailloux, early in the second period, added his fourth of the season. Since 1er November, in eight games, Mailloux totaled two goals and five assists.
Armia added an assist while defenseman Jayden Struble, back with the team after a three-game suspension, had two assists for the Rocket, who directed 29 shots at Poulter.
The Rocket therefore completed a heavy sequence of five games in seven days with three wins and two losses.
Injured Friday evening, attackers Mitchell Stephens (lower body) and Philippe Maillet (upper body) did not accompany their teammates to Utica.
Also, the team announced Saturday morning that Lias Andersson, another forward, will be out for a period of six to eight weeks because of a lower body injury.
The Rocket will continue its long journey of six games away from home by playing two games against the Rochester Americans next Wednesday and Friday.
A stopover in Syracuse next Saturday also awaits Jean-François Houle’s men.
A respectable first twenty
When a team is playing a fifth game in seven nights, and that game starts at 7 p.m. and the players have arrived at their destination at 4 a.m., one wonders how they will behave in the first period and to what extent they will have Energy.
However, the Laval team did relatively well, even if it fell by one goal after 20 minutes and had obtained half as many shots as its rivals – six against 12.
In fact, it was the Rocket who opened the scoring during a Jan Mysak penalty when Armia completed a play from Struble – back with the team after completing a three-game suspension – at 3:03.
Struble first won a fight for the puck along the boards on the left flank in his zone and managed to initiate a two-on-one push with Armia.
After entering deep into the opposing zone, Struble made a precise pass to Armia who did not miss his chance.
Bowers tied the game about four minutes later, after a blunder by defender Mattias Norlinder deep in his territory.
Laberge then gave the Comets the lead with just under six minutes remaining in the period with a goal confirmed by video replay several tens of seconds after the puck had missed Mann.
Still inferior
Armia got his second point of the evening just 37 seconds into the second period when Mailloux surprised Poulter with a shot from the right point.
The Laval team found a way to take the lead for the second time in the match, and again they did so short of a man.
This time, it was Légaré who scored this goal following a superb individual play.
Before the end of the period, Ibragimov brought both clubs back to the starting square by deflecting a Laberge shot.
Ibragimov did it again midway through the third period after a blunder by defender Brady Keeper deep in his territory.
Despite hard work, the Rocket players were unable to come back to score.