(Bridgeport) Jakub Dobes made 35 saves, including 14 in the second period, to sign his first shutout in the American Hockey League and the Laval Rocket beat the Islanders 4-0 in Bridgeport on Wednesday.
“I try to be at my best every game,” Dobes said. Everyone did a good job. It was a team victory. »
Philippe Maillet, Jared Davidson, Filip Cederqvist and Emil Heineman scored in the victory. Defenseman Tobbie Paquette-Bisson had two assists.
Ken Appleby stopped 21 of the 25 shots he faced. Henrik Tikkanen finished the game in net for the Islanders and blocked six shots.
Rocket head coach Jean-François Houle said he was satisfied with his team’s performance, despite some defensive shortcomings.
“We had contribution from all four lines,” Houle said. It wasn’t always perfect, but Dobes made some big saves to keep us in the game. I think we gave a few too many chances, but in attack we were opportunistic. »
The Rocket scored its four goals in the second period.
“I’m happy that we found the back of the net five on five,” added Houle. We found some chemistry with different players and made some good zone entries that allowed us to score big goals, something we hadn’t seen in the last two games. »
Both teams sought to impose their rhythm at the start of the match. The Islanders shot five times on Dobes’ net in the opening minutes, only to see the Rocket do the same on Appleby.
Ruslan Iskhakov had the first good scoring chance of the game, midway through the first period, but his shot ended up off the post.
Defenseman William Trudeau committed a turnover that allowed the Islanders to go two-on-one a few minutes later, but they were unable to get a good shot.
Tyce Thompson thought he had scored the first goal of the game, during a power play, by recovering a puck near the goaltender and pushing it into an abandoned cage with 13:56 left in the middle period. The referee, however, called a halt to play before Thompson shot towards the net.
Maillet really opened the scoring at 8:24 of play. Sean Farrell protected the puck behind the net and passed it near the slot to his teammate, who fired into the upper left corner to score his 14e goal of the season.
Davidson doubled the Rocket’s lead 34 seconds later, jumping on a point rebound from Paquette-Bisson. Davidson escaped his coverage to beat Appleby in speed in his move.
As was the case with the first two goals, the Rocket scored their next two goals within seconds of each other.
Cederqvist made it 3-0 at 15:23, when he came in for support during a two-on-one build-up. Jan Mysak passed the puck behind and Cederqvist scored his fourth goal of the campaign.
Just 20 seconds later, Heineman added to his team’s lead. The forward broke through to the slot and took advantage of traffic to shoot on net and put an end to Appleby’s night of work.
The first 10 minutes of the third period were Dobes’ affair. The Rocket goalkeeper saved the day several times, including on a breakaway from Matthew Maggio.
The Rocket only shot six times at the opposing net in the third period.
Late in the third period, Dobes’ teammates knew their goaltender was just minutes away from his first AHL shutout. However, no one wanted to talk about shutouts on the bench, for fear of bringing bad luck to their goalie.
“We try not to think about it,” said Paquette-Bisson. I would say that we didn’t give him that easy (his shutout) in the third period. He made some very good saves. »
Mattias Norlinder returned to the game for the Rocket, completing the third defensive pair with Quebecer Olivier Galipeau. Norlinder hit the post in the second period, during a great offensive surge by the Rocket.