Sean Farrell scored a second goal in three games and the Laval Rocket beat the Springfield Thunderbirds 3-1 on Sunday afternoon at Place Bell.
Farrell hadn't found the back of the net in his first 22 games this season, but he just got at least one point in his last three outings.
This victory allowed the Rocket (18-8-2) to sign a third consecutive victory and temporarily rise to first place in the North section of the American Hockey League.
Joshua Roy and Laurent Dauphin provided the other goals for Laval, who kept their opponents in check for the majority of the game. Connor Hughes was denied a shutout late in the game, surrendering once in 17 shots.
Matt Luff responded for the Thunderbirds (12-12-3), who have lost their last five games. Vadim Zherenko made 30 saves in the loss.
The Rocket will take a short break for a few days before returning to action on Friday, against the Syracuse Crunch.
Satisfactory performance
The least we can say is that there is still a lot of work to be done for the rivalry between the Rocket and the Thunderbirds to reach the level of that with the Senators. The difference was striking in the first period on Sunday compared to Friday.
Both teams focused on skating and creating plays rather than trying to press hard against the boards. The Laval team also had the best moments in attack, opening the scoring halfway through the first period.
Lucas Condotta applied good pressure on Samuel Johannesson and caused a turnover in enemy territory. Rafaël Harvey-Pinard recovered the puck and made a quick pass to Farrell, who hit the target on a reception.
Pascal Vincent's men continued to orchestrate great offensive surges before the end of the period, but this time, Zherenko was able to close the door.
Like the first period, the second was played without any real fuss, until tempers began to heat up. Florian
When the game got underway again, William Trudeau came within inches of beating Zherenko, but his shot hit the post to the goalkeeper's left.
In the third period, the Rocket offered a very tight defensive game to limit dangerous shots towards Hughes, but he had difficulty adding an insurance goal.
Roy finally doubled his team's lead with just over seven minutes remaining, after grabbing a rebound from Adam Engstrom in front of the net.
The goal proved to be important, as Luff closed the gap with less than two minutes to play, but Dauphin closed the books into an empty net.
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