(Laval) Jakub Dobes made 24 saves and the Laval Rocket easily defeated the Bridgeport Islanders 5-1 on Wednesday night at Place Bell.
The score might indicate a bit of a busy night for Dobes, but he turned away some quality shots in the first period, setting the tone for his team.
The Rocket (26-24-8) signed a third victory in a row and collected at least one point in a fourth consecutive game. The team had just swept the honors of a series of two duels against the Cleveland Monsters, the best team in the North section.
The Montreal Canadiens’ farm club came within one point of the Toronto Marlies and the last place giving access to the playoffs in the North section, but the Torontonians have three games in hand.
Olivier Galipeau and Brandon Gignac each had a goal and an assist in the victory. Tobie Bisson, Lias Anderssson and Sean Farrell also threaded the needle for the Rocket.
The team’s new acquisition, Arnaud Durandeau, was not in uniform.
Julien Gauthier was the only scorer for the Islanders (20-31-7), who suffered a second defeat in a row. Ken Appleby started the game, but was chased after allowing five goals on 22 shots. In relief, Henrik Tikkanen was perfect in front of 15 shots.
The two opponents will battle it out again on Friday evening, again at Place Bell.
At lightning speed
Laval seemed to have a very specific game plan to start the first period and they brought several pucks to the Appleby net. The best scoring opportunity, however, came from the stick of Jeff Kubiak, left alone in the slot, but he was frustrated by Dobes.
This stop may have had the effect of whipping the Rocket, who finally opened the scoring, with a little more than two minutes remaining. Bisson recovered the disc left by Gabriel Bourque and surprised Appleby on the glove side.
Only 56 seconds later, Mattias Norlinder caught a pass with his skate and handed the puck to Galipeau. The defender’s one-timer seemed to change trajectory and beat the Islanders goaltender.
The Rocket couldn’t have asked for a better start to the second period and he manhandled the visitors by hitting the target three times in 6:39.
Shorthanded, Galipeau intercepted a puck in the neutral zone and launched Gignac on a breakaway. The Laval team’s top scorer continued his good streak by deceiving Appleby’s vigilance.
Another turnaround in the neutral zone allowed Jean-François Houle’s troops to show up in excess. Philippe Maillet made a lifted pass towards Andersson, who lodged the disc in the top corner.
Finally, a little over two minutes later, Logan Mailloux accepted a pass from Gignac and hit the crossbar, but Farrell pounced on the return to extend the lead to 5-0.
The Islanders at least had the honor of denying Dobes a shutout at 8:51 of the second period. During a power play, Dennis Cholowski’s point shot hit Gauthier in front of the net and the puck slipped behind the red line.
Dobes and the Rocket then did a good job in possession of the puck to confirm their victory.