(Bridgeport) Matthew Maggio scored both goals for his team and the Bridgeport Islanders came from behind to beat the Laval Rocket 2-1 in overtime on Sunday.
Henrik Tikkanen rejected 27 of the 28 shots thrown his way. Kyle MacLean had an assist on each of Maggio’s goals.
Emil Heineman found the back of the net for the Rocket and Jakub Dobes made 24 saves.
Dobes was put to the test in the opening minutes of the game when his teammates let the Islanders slip away three on one. The goalkeeper, however, made the save to prevent the Rocket from starting the match already one goal behind.
The animosity was growing between each whistle and midway through the first period, Jared Davidson and Daylan Kuefler came to blows at center ice. The two attackers put up a good fight, before being punished for five minutes.
On Friday, Davidson had a strong game for the Rocket by completing a hat trick in his team’s 5-2 victory against the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Coming out of the penalty box, Kuefler and Jan Mysak made contact and Mysak absorbed the majority of the impact. The Rocket forward had difficulty getting up and seemed disoriented. Mysak retreated to the locker room and did not return to the game afterward.
With 4:07 left in the period, the Rocket earned the first power play of the game when Ruslan Iskhakov was sent off two minutes for tripping. The Laval squad, however, did not take advantage of their luck, looking too hard for the perfect game.
The Rocket recovered well shortly after. Xavier Simoneau recovered a loose puck following a battle for it behind the net and spotted his teammate Heineman, alone in the slot. Heineman scored his ninth of the season by opening the scoring with 49 seconds left in the first period.
With 5:50 left in the middle period, the Rocket only led 12-10 in shots, and few of the 22 shots were scoring chances.
Dobes came to repair the error of his defender Olivier Galipeau, who had committed a turnover towards the enclave of his team, with 1:05 to play in the period. Dobes came out far from his semi-circle to make the save against Cole Bardreau, who probably had his team’s best scoring chance in 40 minutes of play.
The Islanders got their first chance on the power play with 11:28 left in regulation. Dobes was once again solid in front of his net to help his team maintain their lead.
The goaltender, however, was unable to do anything when Maggio was forgotten and rushed towards him alone, before beating him on the glove side at 13:07 of the third period.
Maggio did it again with 1:45 left in overtime, using a wrist shot that beat Dobes in the same spot as his first goal.