The Montreal Canadiens AHL affiliate hosted North Division rivals over the weekend.
by Chris G, Rocket Sports, Montreal Canadiens blogger
The Laval Rocket completed their five game road trip against the Syracuse Crunch (Tampa Bay Lightning) on Wednesday before returning home to face the Toronto Marlies (Toronto Maple Leafs) on Friday and Saturday.
Wednesday: Laval Rocket 3 - Syracuse Crunch 2 (overtime)
After a scoreless first period, Joshua Roy opened the scoring in the second period on Laval’s first power play of the night with a shot that hit the goalie’s glove before crossing the red line. The Crunch answered back with consecutive power play goals of their own in the second and third period while Xavier Simoneau and Zack Hayes were serving minors. The Rocket tied the game when Rafael Harvey-Pinard recorded the fourth power play of the contest with a shot from the slot and forced overtime. During the second minute of the extra time, Owen Beck snapped the three-game losing streak with a wrist shot from the top of the faceoff circle.
Friday: Toronto Marlies 3 - Laval Rocket 2 (shootout)
The Marlies led 1-0 when Beck extended his point streak to five games by forcing a turnover in the offensive zone in the first minute of the second period and buried the puck for a goal. A turnover during a power play allowed Toronto to score a shorthanded breakaway goal to get the lead. Jakub Dobes was hurt during the sequence and left the net in the hands of Connor Hughes. Later in the middle frame, Roy tied the game during a scramble in the crease and tapped in a loose puck. The game remained tied throughout the third period and overtime, when Cedric Pare scored the difference maker in the shootout to give the visitors the victory. The forward taunted the crowd after being booed by the sold out crowd at Place Bell as they were showing displeasure for injuring Patrik Laine during the preseason.
"We just came back from a 10-day road trip. Toronto's last game was last Friday. It's a big difference. I saw that we were trying in third and overtime but we ran out of juice,” Pascal Vincent said.
Saturday: Toronto Marlies 4 - Laval Rocket 5
The home team got on the board midway through the first period when Owen Beck made a behind the back pass to Adam Engstrom, and the defenceman converted the opportunity to a goal. The goal triggered 12,547 teddy bears to be thrown on the ice from the fans for the annual event that collects them and give them to local organizations working with families and children.
“I saw [Engstrom] jump up in the play and threw a pass over to him. You might not believe me but I did try to go through [the defender’s] legs,” Beck described the pass.
The Marlies answered back with a power play goal in the first and a goal in the second period for the lead through 40 minutes. Early in the third period, Beck intercepted a pass in the offensive zone and buried the puck to make it a draw. The visitors went back on top midway through when Laurent Dauphin tied it on a two-on-one power play goal and 1:16 later, Vincent Arseneau accepted a pass in the slot from Luke Tuch to put Laval back on top.
The Maple Leafs AHL affiliate capitalized on a Jared Davidson minor to tie the game for the fourth time of the afternoon. While overtime was the writing on the wall, Beck changed the script with 20 seconds remaining in regulation as he netted his second of the afternoon and allowed his team to obtain three points over the weekend against their division rivals.
New Leader
By collecting three points in the weekend doubleheader against the Marlies, Owen Beck extended his point streak to six games and became the team’s leading scorer with 20 points in 23 matches.
“He started off the season strong, after that it stabilized, but [Saturday] was Owen Beck’s best game. He skated, he was physical, he won faceoffs, he was involved offensively and defensively. He has talent and energy. He’s physically strong for someone his age. He was impressive,” Vincent evaluated the Canadiens prospect.
Roster Moves
As a result of Patrik Laine’s debut with the Canadiens, Joshua Roy was returned to the Laval Rocket for the second time of the year. The forward registered a point in all three games and totalled 16 shots.
Luke Cavallin was recalled from the Trois-Rivieres Lions on Tuesday and joined the team in Syracuse to replace Connor Hughes who was sidelined due to sickness. He was returned back to the ECHL following Friday’s practice but that was short lived as Laval brought him back on Saturday.
The Rocket called him back this time to replace Jakub Dobes for Saturday’s match against the Marlies. Dobes left during the second period of the previous night’s game with a lower body injury. The length of his absence is expected to be provided by the club early in the week.
Luke Tuch returned to the lineup on Friday after missing seven games with an upper body injury.
On Friday, the Canadiens traded Jacob Perreault to the Edmonton Oilers for defenceman Noel Hoefenmayer. Hoefenmayer has obtained seven points in 11 games with the Bakersfield Condors, while Perreault was held off the scoresheet in six games with the Rocket and five points in fives games with the Trois-Rivieres Lions. The newly acquired defenceman is expected to join the team over the next couple days.
Up Next
The Rocket hosts the Rochester Americans on Wednesday before heading on the road to face the Hartford Wolf Pack (New York Rangers) on Saturday and Bridgeport Islanders (New York Islanders) on Sunday.
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