(Laval) Rafaël Harvey-Pinard hit the target after 4:06 of play in overtime and the Laval Rocket defeated the Springfield Thunderbirds 3-2, Friday night at Place Bell, in the fourth game of the final of the American Hockey League Eastern Association.
Posted at 10:36 p.m.
The Rocket tied the series 2-2. The fifth game will be played on Saturday, still at Place Bell.
Harvey-Pinard hit the mark after accepting a discount in Sami Niku’s enclave. He then pivoted and the puck snuck through goaltender Joel Hofer’s equipment.
The fair broke out afterwards, as players from both teams exchanged a few niceties on the ice before retreating to the locker room. The referees, however, were able to quickly calm the situation.
Jean-Sébastien Dea and Cédric Paquette helped the Rocket close a two-goal deficit. Xavier Ouellet had two assists and Cayden Primeau made 42 saves.
MacKenzie MacEachern and Dakota Joshua had given the Thunderbirds the lead early in the first period. Hofer repelled 48 shots.
The Rocket were counting on the returns of forward Gabriel Bourque and defenseman Gianni Fairbrother, who was in his first game since March 4. To add weight to his training, head coach Jean-François Houle also turned to forward Devante Smith-Pelly.
Forwards Joshua Roy, Peter Abbandonato and Brandon Gignac, with a lower body injury, were left out. The Rocket therefore relied on a formation of 11 attackers and seven defenders.
Action from both sides
The Thunderbirds controlled play early on and MacEachern opened the scoring after 3:47 of play. He made fun of Ouellet before beating Primeau into the top corner.
The Rocket continued to have trouble blocking the Thunderbirds’ play in the back of their territory, in addition to having all the trouble in the world leaving their defensive zone.
Joshua widened the gap at 7: 26 of the first period, after a scrum in front of Primeau. It had not yet elapsed nine minutes of play at Place Bell and the Thunderbirds had 15 shots on goal on the clock.
The Rocket managed to turn things around, however, and had a 26-19 advantage in shots on goal at the end of the first period.
Dea allowed the Rocket to retreat to the locker room late by just one goal. He deflected a shot from Ouellet behind Hofer on a two-player power play with just 0.1 seconds left on the kickoff.
Paquette then tied the game after 2:37 of play in the second period. He surprised Hofer on the mitt side from the face-off spot to the goaltender’s right.
Primeau was reported a few times thereafter. He was particularly alert on a deviation from Will Bitten and when MacEachern found himself alone in front of him and tried to beat him with a feint between his legs.
Both goaltenders were the stars in the third period. Hofer frustrated Alex Belzile and Harvey-Pinard in quick succession early in the engagement. For his part, Primeau remained vigilant in front of Joshua, who tried to beat him from the backhand.
Calle Rosen came close to settling the debate with four minutes left in regulation time. The Thunderbirds defenseman’s slapshot hit the post, however.
Paquette then found himself in the dungeon with 3:38 to go, but Primeau closed the door to the Thunderbirds. He stopped Bitten on the breakaway, but also had luck when Nathan Todd hit the post.
Harvey-Pinard then played heroes for the Rocket.