(Laval) Since April 2021, the Laval Rocket counter has been stuck at four when it comes to winning streaks. A five-goal haul at home and a productive night from Joshua Roy weren’t even enough to extend the team’s winning streak.
Roy regained his October appearance with a three-point haul, but the Rocket nevertheless suffered a heartbreaking 6-5 loss in overtime against the Utica Comets on Wednesday evening in front of 7,889 spectators at Place Bell.
It was a goal by Joe Gambardella, scored with 20.9 seconds on the clock, which caused this defeat for the Rocket, its first after four consecutive victories, including two in a row last weekend against the Comets, on their ice. .
Gambardella was able to recover a loose puck in the Rocket zone and get to Jakub Dobes, whom he beat after a nice backhand feint, much to the dismay of the Rocket and his fans.
“I didn’t like our match that much. I liked that we got a point, we’ll take it, but we didn’t play the right way tonight. Too many turnovers, the cohesion was not there. We have to be better. If we give away too many goals like that, our chances of winning won’t be there,” analyzed head coach Jean-François Houle, who consoled himself with the performance of his players in the third period.
On the downside, Roy delivered by far his best performance since the first week of the calendar, during which he made the eyes of many observers widen, and also made many Canadian fans dream, who already wanted to see him at the Bell Centre.
“I had energy and I took advantage of it. Our trio is doing well, it’s been a few games where we’ve created a lot offensively. We’re going to try to keep it that way,” said Roy, referring to Philippe Maillet and Xavier Simoneau.
Roy scored two goals, his 11th and 12th of the season, and added an assist on Maillet’s goal which allowed the Rocket to make it 4-4 early in the third period.
Maillet also had a three-point game while Lias Andersson added a goal and an assist.
“I really liked the way he worked tonight,” Houle said of Roy.
“He was on pucks, he was winning battles, he was first along the boards. He and Maillet had a very good match. This trio was by far our best (tonight),” added Houle, who now wants to see consistency from Roy.
Defenseman Tobie Bisson also beat goaltender Isaac Poulter, who took 29 shots.
Justin Dowling and Brian Halonen led the Comets attack with two goals each. Kyle Criscuolo completed against Dobes who blocked 31 pucks.
In an interview a little over 24 hours before the match, Houle noted that it is never easy to defeat the same rival three times in a row. He was not mistaken.
After 40 minutes, the Laval team was down 4-3 and its multiple stays in the penalty box in the second period – four to be precise – contributed to this score.
The worst team in the American League before the game with a 13.3% success rate on the power play, the Comets struck twice in the second period with an extra man, including Halonen’s first goal scored at 19:33 which broke the 3-3 tie.
Previously, the Rocket had managed to erase two one-goal deficits, each time thanks to Roy, first in the first period, then again in the second period.
The Laval team even took the lead for the first time in the match in the middle of the period thanks to Bisson, who completed a nice three-way play with Jared Davidson and William Trudeau.
But this lead only lasted 40 seconds, when Criscuolo beat Dobes with a backhand shot that passed between the Laval goalkeeper’s pads.
The Rocket avoided the penalty box in the third period and even drew the Comets there at the start of the period. And the Laval team took the opportunity to bring the two clubs back to square one.
Maillet, who had at least a point in a fifth straight game, scored one of the easiest goals of his career, when he deflected a pass from Andersson into a wide-open net at 6: 27.
Halonen took advantage of the Rocket’s sluggish play in his territory to restore the lead to the visitors with 2:32 remaining but Andersson forced an additional period by deflecting a pass from Maillet 52 seconds later.
