LAVAL | Joel Armia scored two goals, Joshua Roy had a goal and an assist, but the Laval Rocket missed their comeback, losing 7-4 to the Abbotsford Canucks at Place Bell on Friday night.
It’s a shame for the 10,290 spectators in attendance because we can’t even say the Canucks played a good game. The Rocket also finished the game strongly with a convincing third period.
The Canucks primarily took advantage of the Rockets’ youthful mistakes, especially in the second half of the second period, which proved disastrous with three unanswered goals from the visitors. Ashdeep Bains played well for the visitors with a goal and three assists.
The Rocket will have a chance to bounce back as the two teams meet again on Saturday.
Three quick goals
The Rockets started each period well, but lost their rhythm in the first two periods due to penalties, which allowed the Canucks to breathe and gain momentum.
If the first half ended 2-2, the second half was much more costly as a penalty to Mattias Norlinder for double checking almost ruined everything for the locals.
Although the Canucks didn’t score on the power play, they took control of the game and then scored three goals in less than four minutes to take a 5-2 lead.
Jakub Dobes, who was not always very confident, then gave way to Strauss Mann. Dobes allowed five goals on about fifteen shots, not the ideal start for a first professional game.
Nervous game
Although this sequence was short, it shed light on what Jean-François Houle said on Thursday. It’s a young team and we have to be patient and allow the young people to learn from mistakes.
After the visitors took a 3-2 lead thanks to Jack Rathbone’s goal, the mistakes piled up.
Even William Trudeau, usually confident, foolishly lost the puck behind his net while attempting a pass. The puck slipped off the blade of his stick, an opponent took it from him and a moment later the score was 4-2.
The game became nervous in the Laval camp, a typical situation for a young team.
Armia gets the audience going
Armia wasted no time, scoring the Rocket’s first goal of the season less than three minutes into the game on a poorly controlled shot from Arturs Silovs, after which the puck slowly slipped behind the red line.
The big Finnish striker did it again on the power play in the third period.
Joshua Roy scored his first professional goal and provided an assist for Armia’s second goal.
The Beauceron, playing rain or shine in the QMJHL with the Sherbrooke Phoenix, taught Danila Klimovich a lesson, faking 101 to blow him up and then firing a low shot that fooled Silovs.
And Logan Mailloux in all this? We can say that he played an honest game. Not spectacular, but effective, he was one of the best defenders on his team. He even threw away his gloves against Chase Wouters in the third period, just as his team was waking up.
Logan Mailloux MARIO BEAUREGARD/AGENCE QMI
Identify
Earlier this week, Jean-François Houle mentioned that he wanted a hard-working, attack-oriented team.
He had that in this first meeting of the season. The rocket was enterprising. In the first half of the first period, the ice in the Canucks’ offensive zone was significantly more worn.
The Rocket has a lot of very experienced players, but the work boots are never far away. We saw it in the first period when Gabriel Bourque and Brandon Gignac, two veterans, each received a breakaway with the same numerical penalty.
But we’ll repeat it again: we have to be patient, it’s a young team. In addition, five players played their first game in the American League.