Vadim Zherenko made 53 saves and the Springfield Thunderbirds were more opportunistic than the Rocket, winning 7-3 against Laval on Saturday night.
The Rocket wanted to bounce back after losing 2-1 the day before, against the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Jakub Dobes, who was in goal for his team for a seventh straight game, made his second start in as many days. He stopped 20 shots.
Ryan Suzuki, Dylan Coghlan, Adam Gaudette, William Bitten, Drew Callin, Mikhail Abramov and Keean Washkurak all scored in the victory. Suzuki, Gaudette and William Bitten also collected two assists each.
Lias Andersson, Philippe Maillet and Mattias Norlinder scored the Rocket’s goals.
The Rocket quickly won at the start of the match. The pressure from the Laval troops near the net caused a penalty to Samuel Bitten and Andersson made the latter pay with his 15e goal of the season, on the power play at 4:37 of the game.
The Rocket already had 12 shots on net from Zherenko after nine minutes of action.
The Thunderbirds, however, were opportunistic. The team scored two quick goals to take a 2-1 lead.
Adam Gaudette deflected the puck towards the boards and Suzuki outpaced the Rocket defenders to recover it, before unleashing a superb shot into the upper left corner to tie the score at 10:50 of play.
It was the seventh goal of the season for the brother of Montreal Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki.
The Thunderbirds took the lead less than a minute later when Coghlan fired a powerful shot from the point on the power play.
The Rocket, however, responded with another goal, 58 seconds after Coghlan’s. Andersson quickly entered the offensive zone and passed the puck to Maillet, who made a nice feint to thread the needle with the backhand and tie the game 2-2.
Two fights then broke out before the end of the period. A scrum for the puck broke out near Zherenko, with 5:43 left in the first period. Riley Kidney threw down the gloves against Abramov in a furious fight. Filip Cederqvist then took justice into his own hands against Leo Loof following a high blow.
The Rocket fired 26 shots in the first period, despite the score being tied 2-2 after 20 minutes.
Gaudette, the American Hockey League’s top scorer, gave the Thunderbirds a one-goal lead following a missed clearance by Logan Mailloux. Gaudette grabbed the loose puck in front of the net and scored on the backhand to make it 3-2.
William Bitten doubled his team’s lead 43 seconds later. Bitten took advantage of a puck sent towards the slot and Dobes, lying on the ground, to score his 12e goal of the season.
Brandon Gignac spun alone midway through the second period, but Zherenko made a superb save when he fell in his move.
The Laval team dominated the last 10 minutes of the period, obtaining good chances to score on two power plays, but failed to beat the opposing goalkeeper and the Thunderbirds led 4-2 after 40 minutes.
Callin dealt a hard blow to the Rocket by scoring 2:27 into the third period. As with the other Thunderbirds nets, the Rocket defenders did not monitor the front of Dobes’ cage well and the opponent took advantage of it to score.
Norlinder scored with a point shot to cut the lead to 5-3 at 6:31 of play.
William Bitten moved into the Rocket zone and left the puck behind for Abramov, who beat Dobes for the Thundebirds’ sixth goal.
At 13:44 of the game, Andersson was ejected from the game for an illegal hit. The Thunderbirds then got a five-minute power play.
Washkurak added a seventh goal for his team during the power play, making the score 7-3.