(Laval) Defeats are part of the course of a season, but some of them can leave their mark. The one that the Laval Rocket suffered on Saturday afternoon could be one of them.
In front of a packed house at Place Bell, the Rocket offered no resistance to the Toronto Marlies, who easily won 5-1.
It was a decisive weekend for the two teams, who are fighting for a playoff spot in the North section of the American Hockey League, but it was the Marlies (23-16-10) who took advantage. .
They not only swept the honors of the two duels of the weekend, but they temporarily jumped into third position in their section, leaving the Rocket (22-22-7) five points behind.
What hurt the most for the Laval residents was the way they presented themselves on Saturday. The execution, intensity, cohesion and work were not there, leaving crestfallen faces in the locker room after the game.
“It’s unacceptable the way we came out today. We already lost yesterday, said defender Tobie Bisson. We knew it was a crucial weekend for us. I think we didn’t realize what we just escaped. We lost because we didn’t show up. »
If the Rocket could have told himself that he had been robbed by goalkeeper Joseph Woll the day before, he only has himself to blame for this sorry setback.
From the first minutes of the match, the Montreal Canadiens’ farm club did not seem in good spirits and the Marlies noticed it. They took the lead before the end of the first period and they had a very good start to the second period to deal a big blow to their opponents.
After scoring three power play goals the day before, Toronto hit the target twice with an extra man in the second period to take a 3-0 lead. From there, the Laval residents seemed to give up.
“We were still in the game after the first period, but we didn’t respond in the second. We can blame several things, but ultimately, you have to show up in the games and we didn’t do that today,” expressed head coach Jean-François Houle.
The Rocket had a great victory against the Hershey Bears, the best team in the American League, on Wednesday night, but they seem inexplicably to have taken a step back.
Houle and his staff will also try to understand what happened. To avoid falling back into bad habits from the start of the season, above all.
” It is difficult to explain. I see fatigue, lack of execution, too many turnovers and young guys making a lot of mistakes. There are several things to consider, but the coaches will sit down this week to find answers. This needs to change,” underlined Houle.
Author of a hat trick in the first clash, Joseph Blandisi concluded Saturday’s meeting with a goal and an assist. Kieffer Bellows, on two occasions, Nick Abruzzese and Josiah Slavin also found the back of the net for the Marlies. Dennis Hildeby made 20 saves in the victory.
Philippe Maillet allowed Rocket supporters to rejoice at least once, but the celebrations were timid. Kasimir Kaskisuo started the game, but was chased after allowing four goals on 23 shots. In relief, Jakub Dobes gave up once in 12 pitches.
The Laval residents will return to action Wednesday evening, when they visit the Bridgeport Islanders.
Special teams again
Both teams had a very good chance to score in the first minutes of play, but failed to take advantage of it. Lucas Condotta came up against Hildeby in the slot while Ryan Tverberg was frustrated by Kaskisuo’s lateral movement.
Bellows opened the scoring moments later. He saw Bisson block his initial shot, but he followed the play before slipping the puck between Kaskisuo’s pads.
The Rocket didn’t have a great first period, but they hit rock bottom in the second period.
During a penalty to William Trudeau, Abruzzese jumped on a throw return to double his team’s lead. Blandisi dealt a big blow to Jean-François Houle’s men when he only had to push a loose puck into the back of the net. Kaskisuo initially made the save, but the disc slipped behind him.
Houle decided to call a timeout to wake up his troops, and the spark came somewhat.
The Rocket got some attacks in the opposing zone, but a turnover led to a two-on-one surge for the Marlies. Slavin fired a low shot that Kaskisuo would no doubt have liked to see again. That was the end of the Finn’s afternoon of work.
Barely in the match, Dobes had to stand up to a penalty shot from Alex Steeves to stop the bleeding.
The Laval team responded with a numerical disadvantage, before the end of the second period. During a surplus, Jan Mysak left the disc to Maillet, who beat Hildeby with a good wrist shot.
The energy created by that goal was quickly erased in the third period, when Bellows deflected a puck past Dobes. The Marlies then cruised easily to victory.