(Laval) Alex Steeves scored two goals and the Toronto Marlies took revenge in style by crushing the Laval Rocket 5-0, Saturday evening, at Place Bell.
Twenty-four hours earlier, the Rocket (2-7-1) had erased a two-goal deficit in the third period to finally win 5-3. This time he didn’t get the chance to do so.
Kyle Clifford, Logan Shaw and Nicholas Robertson also moved the strings for the Marlies (5-2-2), who played a complete game. Dylan Gambrell and William Villeneuve both contributed to two of their goals.
Dennis Hildeby was perfect in front of 26 shots and recorded his first career shutout in the American Hockey League.
The Rocket will have to go back to the drawing board, especially on the power play. He was shut out in five attempts with a man to spare.
Left to his own devices on a few occasions, Jakub Dobes gave up five times in 23 shots, even if he made some good saves during the match.
The Marlies give nothing
The Rocket should have expected a good start to the game from the Marlies and did a good job of limiting the chances in the opening minutes.
The visitors slowly increased the pace and tested Dobes in partial breakaways. The goalkeeper, however, closed the door in front of Clifford and Nick Abruzzese.
By persevering, the Torontonians managed to open the scoring. Steeves made fun of Mattias Norlinder’s coverage and returned to the front of the net to deceive Dobes’ vigilance in the top corner.
The intensity was raised a notch at the end of the first period and indiscipline followed. The two teams exchanged several numerical advantages, but despite some interesting shots, neither finished their momentum behind the red line.
The Rocket even lost after wasting a fourth power play. Marshall Rifai, who had just come out of the penalty box, took a first shot which was stopped by Dobes, but Clifford tried twice to thread the needle.
Seeing that his team was trailing 2-0 at the start of the third period and looking for a spark, Riley McKay put up a furious fight against Rifai. The Laval residents responded with a short, wild sequence near the enemy net, but the effect only lasted a few seconds.
Immediately after this sequence, Robertson managed to slip the puck between Dobes’ pads to make it 3-0.
This third Marlies goal sort of sounded the death knell for the Rocket’s evening, as Shaw and Steeves scored in 1:59 to close the books.