Hockey

The Rocket of Laval confirms its 1st rank in the AHL
Michaël Petit
The Rocket of Laval confirms its 1st rank in the AHL
Credit: On this Friday evening, the Laval Rocket started its last home game at Place Bell. For the occasion, they faced the Belleville Senators. Pascal Vincent trusted Cayden Primeau to get at least one point, allowing the team to confirm their first place in the AHL. Here is the lineup the Rocket presented: One last at […]

On this Friday evening, the Laval Rocket started its last home game at Place Bell.

For the occasion, they faced the Belleville Senators.

Pascal Vincent trusted Cayden Primeau to get at least one point, allowing the team to confirm their first place in the AHL.

Here is the lineup the Rocket presented:

Seeing Florian Xhekaj, Joshua Roy, and Owen Beck form the 3rd line proves how strong the Rocket is as a club.

And the Laval lineup did not delay in imposing themselves in the game.

Florian Xhekaj scored his 22nd goal of the season with less than three minutes played in the match.

Beck and Gustav Lindstrom were credited with an assist.

A little over a minute later, Québécois Xavier Simoneau doubled the lead, thanks to passes from Lucas Condotta and Jared Davidson.

With a start like that, the Rocket seems determined to solidify its first place in the general standings.

As for the second period, Pascal Vincent's troops picked up where they left off in the first period.

Good chances from Laval eventually led to the third goal, scored by captain Condotta, who also picked up his second point.

Simoneau and Davidson also picked up a second point in the game with an assist each.

Definitely, the Rocket was on a mission.

And as if that wasn't enough, Sean Farrell added another in the third period with his 20th of the season.

With Laurent Dauphin (26), Jared Davidson (24), Florian Xhekaj (22), Alex Barré-Boulet (21), and Joshua Roy (20), Farrell became the 6th Laval player to reach the 20-goal plateau.

Incredible, nonetheless.

The Senators had a glimmer of hope a few minutes later with a goal from Oskar Pettersson, who fooled Cayden Primeau.

With a little over seven minutes left in the third and final period, Belleville pulled their goalie in favor of a sixth skater.

What was expected to happen did, as Alex Barré-Boulet scored his 22nd goal of the season into an empty net a few moments later.

Interestingly, Logan Mailloux attempted a Michigan goal but unfortunately missed the puck while trying.

Final score: 5-1 for the Rocket, which confirms its first place in the AHL.

The Rocket will conclude its regular season tomorrow evening (Saturday) in a rematch against the Belleville Senators. In the loss, Belleville was officially eliminated from the playoffs.

They will therefore be able to consolidate their lead in the standings with a greater advantage.


Overtime

– Without making too much noise, David Reinbacher had another strong game. Nothing extravagant, but everything he does is simple and effective. The Austrian was also promoted to the first power play wave at the expense of Logan Mailloux. Reinbacher had some good sequences during the powerplay.

– Cayden Primeau had a very strong game, stopping 23 of 24 shots from the Belleville Senators. He thus lowered his goals-against average to 1.96 with this other great performance.

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