(Toronto) Logan Shaw scored a hat trick and the Toronto Marlies scored five goals in the third period to defeat the Laval Rocket 6-1 on Friday.
The Rocket have lost five of their last six games. The two teams will cross swords again tomorrow afternoon in Toronto.
William Villeneuve, Marshall Rifai and Joseph Blandisi also found the back of the net in the victory. Dennis Hildeby stopped 31 shots for the Marlies.
Mitchell Stephens scored the Rocket’s only goal and Jakub Dobes blocked 34 shots.
The Marlies opened the scoring during the first power play of the game. Dobes was unable to control a shot and the puck ended up in the semi-circle for Shaw, who scored on the return.
The Rocket tied the score just 14 seconds after the Marlies captain’s net. The Laval troops can, however, thank Hildeby, who came out behind his net and made a pass in front of it, while Stephens was passing by.
Stephens only had to backhand a shot towards the abandoned cage. It was a sixth goal this season for the forward, who was recalled by the Montreal Canadiens earlier this season.
The Rocket gained a power play after Logan Mailloux hit Ryan Tverberg solidly. Mailloux and Blandisi then threw down the gloves, but Blandisi also received 12 additional penalty minutes as the instigator.
The Marlies, who dominated the majority of the last 10 minutes of the first period, concluded the period with a 17-6 lead in shots.
Dobes kept his team in the game at the start of the second period, making a few good saves on quick restarts from the Marlies, who started the middle period the same way they finished the one before.
The Rocket goalie stole a goal from Alex Steeves during a three-on-one overtime by pulling out his right pad, at 6:20 of play.
By dint of attacking and obtaining excess numbers, the Marlies ended up taking the lead again. Going two on one, Zach Solow slowed down to wait for his defender Villeneuve to arrive in relay. The Quebecer beat Dobes with a shot from the side of the shield for his second goal of the campaign.
Rifai doubled his team’s lead midway through the third period with a point shot that Dobes didn’t seem to see well.
Shaw dealt a hard blow to the Rocket by bringing the score to 4-1 at 10:47 of the third period. Shaw scored his second goal of the game with a quick drive to the net, hitting the target 15 seconds after Rifai.
Blandisi scored into an empty net and Shaw added a little later, while Dobes was back in front of the Rocket cage.
Rocket forward Emil Heineman suffered an upper-body injury in the second period and did not return to the game.