Rocket Season Decided In Final Second | RECAP: LAV @ BEL

Forward lines
28 Lias Andersson - 61 Philippe Maillet - 19 Emil Heineman
15 Sean Farrell - 42 Lucas Condotta - 10 Joshua Roy
17 Luke Tuch - 21 Riley Kidney - 27 Mitchell Stephens
12 Filip Cederqvist - 63 Florian Xhekaj - 20 Gabriel Bourque

Defense pairings
3 Jayden Struble - 52 Justin Barron
84 William Trudeau - 24 Logan Mailloux
4 Tobie Paquette-Bisson - 64 David Reinbacher

Goaltenders
71 Jakub Dobes
73 Kasimir Kaskiuo

Out of the lineup:
Scratches: Arnaud Durandeau, Riley McKay, Mattias Norlinder, Olivier Galipeau

Injuries: Brady Keeper (lower body), Jared Davidson, Xavier Simoneau (shoulder), Brandon Gignac, Jacob Perreault

Months of competition, and plenty of highs and lows along the way, brought the Laval Rocket and their fans to this, their final weekend of regular season play for 2023-24. A home-and-home series against the Senators, kicking off on the road in Belleville, to complete the season promised to bring intensity and excitement.

Consequences couldn't be higher for either team in this game: if Belleville wins or gets a point in overtime, they clinch a playoff berth and Laval is eliminated. But if Laval could win in regulation, they would stay alive for one more day, to try to clinch a playoff berth of their own on home ice Saturday night.

Both teams found themselves full of reinforcements sent back from the NHL after the Canadiens and Ottawa Senators saw their seasons end earlier this week. For Laval, that meant Jayden Struble, Logan Mailloux, Justin Barron, and Joshua Roy all returned to the Rocket, with Roy cleared to resume play.

Add to that the AHL debut for Luke Tuch, and just the second game played for Florian Xhekaj, plus newcomer David Reinbacher still learning the ropes, and this game promised to have plenty of nail-biting potential.

Belleville came out as the stronger team to begin the first period, which compounded into more puck domination after Laval took two consecutive penalties. Fortunately for the Rocket, the Senators weren't able to convert either of those man-advantage opportunities, and shortly after the second one expired Mitchell Stephens opened the scoring.

In the second period, Laval seemed to have built on their momentum and Lias Andersson extended their lead to 2-0 with a tap-in goal right in front of the net. Belleville answered back this time, just about a minute later, with a goal by Wyatt Bongiovanni. 

One thing that has plagued the Rocket all season has been their inability to stay out of the penalty box, and even in such an important game as this, they could not remain disciplined. Time and time again they handed the Senators power-play opportunities and were fortunate that Belleville could not find the back of the net.

The ice began to tilt in Belleville's direction in the third period as the Sens began to get more aggressive on the puck, outshooting Laval 11-6 in the frame. A late delay of game penalty by Stephens was all it took for Belleville to finally pot a power play goal, courtesy of Egor Sokolov, to tie the game.

That made for a frenetic final five minutes because, as mentioned at the top of this report, Laval needed to win in regulation to keep their playoff hopes alive. Jean-Francois Houle kept Jakub Dobes in the crease until the final two minutes or so of the game. With Dobes out of the net, the Rocket had six attackers, but Belleville pushed hard. 

Scrambling back and forth down the ice, the Senators tried to score on Laval's empty net a couple of times, but the Rocket were there to stop it. In the final seconds of the period, when the game looked destined for overtime, Sokolov quickly snapped a hard-angled shot into the empty net. With just one second left on the clock, Laval's playoff hopes vanished.

A regulation win for Belleville meant they automatically clinched a playoff berth in the fifth and final spot in the North Division. But Laval has one final game to say goodbye to their home ice and their fans when they return to Place Bell to play the Senators on Saturday night.

Rocket (33-30-6-2)
Shots: 27
Power play: 0-for-2
Penalty minutes: 12

Senators (37-28-3-3)
Shots: 31
Power play: 1-for-5
Penalty minutes: 6

Rocket Scorers
1st period: Stephens (13)
2nd period: Andersson (21)
3rd period: No scoring
OT: n/a
SO: n/a

Senators Scorers
1st period: No scoring
2nd period: Bongiovanni (15)
3rd period: Sokolov (20)-PPG, Sokolov (21)-ENG
OT: n/a
SO: n/a

Goaltenders
LAV: Dobes (L) 24-18-6-1
BEL: Sogaard (W) 18-9-3-2

Did you miss the Rocket's last game? Catch up on the recap here: Playoffs Hopes Still Alive | RECAP: LAV @ CLE

The Rocket wrap up their season with a game on home ice against the Senators.

Puck drop on Saturday, April 20th, is scheduled for 7:00 pm ET at Place Bell in Laval, QC.

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