(Belleville) The Laval Rocket was more convincing than 24 hours ago and defeated the Belleville Senators by a score of 3-1 on Saturday evening.
Posted at 12:15 a.m.
The Montreal Canadiens’ farm club offered a very ordinary last 40 minutes to its fans on Friday evening, and was defeated 4-2 by the Senators (7-3-4). The story was different at CAA Arena.
Head coach Pascal Vincent had asked for more attention to detail and more concentration from his players and certain offensive elements understood the message.
Joshua Roy had a goal and two assists while Jared Davidson scored twice for the Rocket (13-3-1), who ended a short two-game losing streak.
Very busy on Wednesday, with 37 saves during an overtime defeat at the hands of the Rochester Americans, Jakub Dobes only needed 18 on Saturday to obtain his seventh victory this season.
Xavier Bourgault was the only Senators player to beat the Czech goalie. Malcolm Subban allowed three goals on 32 shots after recording the victory at Place Bell on Friday.
The Rocket will continue their trip abroad by facing the Hershey Bears, the two-time defending Calder Cup champions, on Wednesday night.
More complete performance
A bit like it did the day before, the Laval team set the tone from the first moments of the match, but Subban remained calm in front of his net. Dobes also stood out during a Senators power play.
The Rocket quietly took the advantage thanks to his speed and took advantage of a restart to open the scoring.
Moments after Roy hit the post to Subban’s right, he accepted a delivery from Laurent Dauphin to try his luck again. Even though an opposing player was bothering him, the 21-year-old forward managed to break away and deceive Subban’s vigilance between his pads.
The game became a little more physical after this goal and a few hits were applied. Florian Xhekaj even had to throw down the gloves with Donovan Sebrango, showing that the rivalry between the two clubs is very present.
Sebrango was involved in a slightly less brilliant sequence from the first seconds of the second period. Jostled by Roy, the defender lost the puck to Davidson, who fired a powerful shot into the top corner during a two-on-one buildup.
The Roy-Davidson duo did it again about three minutes later. Roy intercepted the puck behind the net and passed it to Davidson in the slot. The latter made a quick throw that surprised Subban to give the Rocket a 3-0 lead.
David Bell’s men did not give up and they also used their speed to push back the Laval defenders. The best example came just four minutes after Davidson’s second goal. Bourgault moved into enemy territory and beat Dobes with a shot against the flow into the top of the net.
It took a few minutes for the visitors to recover, but they regained their defensive composure to slow the Senators’ momentum.
The Rocket gave the Senators very few chances in the first half of the final period, keeping their foot on the accelerator. The Ontario team was more insistent at the end of the match, but Dobes and his defense closed the books.
