(Laval) Sometimes the scoresheet doesn’t tell the whole story, but Friday night, it turned out to be more accurate than the Laval Rocket would have liked.
The Rocket lacked opportunism and lost 4-1 to the Toronto Marlies at Place Bell.
Jean-François Houle’s men seemed poised for a great night on the power play when Lias Andersson scored just 10 seconds into their first power play of the game, but things quickly turned sour. .
The opportunities multiplied with an extra player, especially in the second period, but the Montreal Canadiens’ farm club was not able to take the lead. When the last siren sounded, he had finally scored only one goal in nine power plays, and without any additional points in the standings.
Having the chance to stay in the game due to this lack of opportunism from the Rocket (22-21-7), the Marlies (22-16-10) responded with three goals in five power plays, including the two which makes the difference in the final third.
“It came down to special teams. We scored a goal on special teams, but it’s not enough. We had our chances and their goalkeeper made some key saves, but we need to have more players in front to obscure his view. Shorthanded, we have to be tougher in front of the net and counter the sticks,” observed Houle.
In total, 50 minutes of penalties were awarded during the match and the pace suffered somewhat. Some players don’t play on the power play or penalty kill, which leaves them without momentum on the bench.
Houle welcomed the return to play of Brandon Gignac, who returned from a stay with the Canadian, and Sean Farrell, who had been injured since the beginning of January. The head coach had also decided to bring together the two attackers on the third line, along with Riley Kidney, but they failed to gain momentum.
“This is the history of the American League. When guys come back into the lineup, it changes the ice time. I don’t think it bothered us that much tonight though, explained Houle. It’s not the best reading I can have because there’s no rhythm. It’s not ideal, but it was up to us to take advantage of these digital advantages. »
” I feel good. Obviously it was a weird game with so many penalties,” Farrell added. I don’t even know if our line played together in the second period. I think we can be very good together. »
During this duel involving two teams from the North section fighting for a place in the playoffs, we could not expect anything other than intensity and skirmishes.
Rocket alum Joseph Blandisi took it to another level by recording a hat trick and taunting the crowd on a few occasions. He found the right fit for Laval, while Xavier Simoneau found himself in a pile-up in front of the net on both sides of the ice rink.
“It’s part of his (Blandisi) style. He is also an excellent hockey player. Their whole team is tiring to face,” said Simoneau, who had a few red spots on his face to show off his evening of work.
Logan Shaw also hit the mark for the Marlies, who distanced themselves to three points from the Rocket. Joseph Woll held the fort brilliantly and finished the game with 36 saves.
Jakub Dobes didn’t do badly in front of the Laval team’s cage and stopped 25 shots.
The two rivals will cross swords again on Saturday afternoon, at the same place.
Missed opportunities
We don’t know if it was a residue of the City & Color show the day before, but the Place Bell ice rink did not want to cooperate for the two teams at the start of the match. The puck bounced a lot and the plays were rather wild.
The Marlies took advantage of the space created by a power play to open the scoring. William Villeneuve fired a one-timer from the point and the disc was deflected by Blandisi.
The Rocket used the same method to bring both teams back to square one, four minutes and 30 seconds later. Posted near the goal line, Philippe Maillet made a cross pass to Andersson, who was robbed by Woll. The puck stopped at the red line, but Andersson pushed it behind before a defender knocked it out of the net.
The two goalkeepers did not have it easy in the second period. During a partial two-on-one surge, Woll fumbled Emil Heineman’s shot, but the puck did not enter the net. A few seconds later, Dobes looked bad on a shot from the corner of the ice, but he did well.
The Laval team then dominated the second period due to the indiscipline of the visitors. She had three power plays in a row, including a five-on-three that lasted over a minute, but despite several attempts near the net, she was unable to beat Woll.
On the other hand, the Rocket’s indiscipline cost him dearly early in the third period and in the second half of the period.
With Tobie Bisson sitting in the dugout, Shaw quickly jumped on a return throw to give the Marlies a 2-1 lead. With 7:16 remaining, Blandisi took advantage of the chaos in front of Dobes to recover the disc and lodge it in the top corner.
Blandisi hammered the final nail into an empty net, completing his hat trick.