(Laval) For the Rocket, this Friday night in Laval started very badly… but it ended very well.
Updated at 0:00
The visiting Springfield Thunderbirds took a 2-0 lead in the first period. But the Rocket scored the next three goals, including the game-clinching goal in overtime, to secure the victory by a 3-2 mark, and thus bring everyone to a 2-2 tie in this series.
The big goal came from the palette of Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, who gave the victory to his club 4 min 6 s from extra time with a shot that escaped goalkeeper Joel Hofer. An explosion of joy followed in the stands of Place Bell, and a lot of noise too.
“Ah, that’s a lot of emotions! exclaimed the young striker at the end of the match. I don’t really remember the goal, just the chills. I just saw the puck enter the net…it’s probably the most important goal of my career! »
We weren’t satisfied with our start to the game, but we were able to come back to our identity, put pucks behind their defenders, make them work. We talked to each other and everyone pushed in the same direction afterwards.
Rafael Harvey-Pinard
The Rocket had thus started the evening very badly, but it was a goal from Jean-Sébastien Dea, at the very end of the first period (with only 1 second to go on the clock!), which changed everything. Cédric Paquette made it 2-2 in the second period, until Harvey-Pinard’s big moment.
In all, the Rocket made 51 shots, and the visitors threw Cayden Primeau 44 times. The Rocket goalkeeper has also made several poetic saves, especially in front of Will Bitten who arrived alone in front of him.
“It’s Cayden who continues to keep us in the game all the time,” added Harvey-Pinard. If it wasn’t for him in the first half, the game might have been beyond our reach. He makes big saves, and that’s what allows us to go for victories. »
The main interested party, he did not seem to have the taste to get carried away after this other huge victory.
“Our goal at the end of the first period was huge… they were everywhere at the start of the game, so that goal was big,” admitted Primeau. It’s an emotional series; the more you play against them, the more you hate them. It’s going to get even more emotional than that, I think…”
On that subject, well, we can argue that the evening very nearly ended with a tribute to Good Friday. After the winning goal, Harvey-Pinard let himself slide into euphoria, right up to the exit of the visitors, who did not feel like waiting for the end of the celebrations to leave.
The rest of things are a bit nebulous, but we thought we saw Alex Belzile muttering something to goalkeeper Hofer, who did not appreciate it at all, to the point of replying with a stick. The players of the two teams found themselves in front of the exit of the visitors, and there were some cuffs, the jostling too.
By the way, what did Belzile say to the guard? We guess that he did not share his opinion on the latest Arcade Fire…
Since the start of the series, a lot has been said about the ice. We wanted to celebrate with Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and their release was close… We don’t like each other.
Alex Belzile
Behind his bench, Jean-François Houle was just trying to tell his guys to get out of there, but we have to believe that the message did not get through. “There was so much noise,” explained the Rocket coach. You have to be careful and stay away from it, the emotions are on edge […] you don’t want anything to happen to your keeper in these situations. But it happens, and we have to control it. We showed a lot of character. It’s not the start we wanted, we made some turnovers, but we didn’t panic. »
Nobody will have time to catch their breath – and we also doubt that there will be suspensions for what happened at the end, it’s part of hockey, what do you want –, because game number five of this series, both spectacular and completely crazy, will already take place this Saturday evening at Place Bell.
All we know is that it might brew again, another time. “It’s the playoffs, noted Alex Belzile. We’re not playing to make friends right now…”