(Hershey) In a duel featuring two of the three best teams in the American Hockey League, the Laval Rocket suffered a 5-3 loss to the Hershey Bears on Wednesday evening at the Giant Center.
Posted at 10:22 p.m.
Defenseman Vincent Iorio scored the decisive goal midway through the third period with a wrist shot from the blue line that beat goaltender Jakub Dobes, who appeared to have blurred vision.
Ethen Frank confirmed the Bears’ victory by scoring into an empty net with 76 seconds on the clock.
Some three minutes before Iorio’s goal, the Rocket had tied the game for the second time in the game thanks to a powerful shot from the blue line by Logan Mailloux three seconds after the start of a power play.
For Mailloux, it was a fifth goal this season.
The special teams also had a significant influence in the outcome of the match. Before Mailloux’s goal, Pascal Vincent’s men had been unable to take advantage of three chances with a man advantage.
At the other end, the Bears scored two goals on power plays, including one with a two-man advantage, in six opportunities.
In addition to Mailloux, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard with his first of the season late in the first period, and Alex Barré-Boulet, with his fifth, early in the second period, beat goalkeeper Hunter Shepard.
Jared Davidson added two assists.
Goals from Harvey-Pinard and Barré-Boulet allowed the Rocket to erase a two-goal deficit.
Spencer Smallman took advantage of a Zachary Hayes turnover in his territory to score the first goal of the game, at 2:14 of the first period.
About 10 minutes later, Alex Limoges found the back of the net while Laurent Dauphin and Tyler Wotherspoon were in the penalty box.
The Rocket had their best moments of the game in the second period, while the Bears had to wait more than 15 minutes before getting their first shot of the period.
During that same interval, the Rocket had directed eight pucks at Shepard.
Despite that, the Bears went into the locker room with a 3-2 lead thanks to a goal by another defenseman, Chase Priskie, with just over two minutes left in the middle period.
In the stronghold of the two-time reigning Calder Cup champions, the Rocket showed up with the best efficiency average (.793) in the league, compared to .738 for the Bears.
Furthermore, the Rocket also showed up for the match without four regular attackers, namely Joshua Roy, whom the Montreal Canadiens recalled at the start of the week, as well as Luke Tuch, Brandon Gignac and Filip Mesar, all on the sidelines for a few more weeks.
On the other hand, Vincent was able to count on the return of captain Lucas Condotta, who had spent the last few weeks with the Canadian, and Barré-Boulet, recovered from an upper body injury.
Despite the absence of key elements in attack, the Laval team dominated its rivals in terms of shots on goal, 25-22.
The Rocket will continue their road trip on Friday evening by visiting the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The next day, the Rocket will travel to Lehigh Valley to face the Phantoms.
