(Cleveland) We expected a fiercely contested duel between the Laval Rocket and the Cleveland Monsters, rivals of the North section, but the Montreal Canadiens’ farm club easily had the upper hand 5-0, Friday evening, thanks to a one-way middle period.
Published at 9:42 p.m.
Laurent Dauphin, Jared Davidson, Gustav Lindström and Joshua Roy all found the back of the net in the second period to put the Rocket ahead 4-0.
And Pascal Vincent’s men never looked back.
Luke Tuch scored in the third period and Alex Barré-Boulet had three assists. In addition to his goal, Davidson added two assists.
Cayden Primeau was solid when the situation called for it, stopping 16 shots to get his first shutout of the season, in his second start with the Rocket.
For the Monsters, Daniil Tarasov rejected 25 of the 30 shots aimed at him.
Thanks to this victory, the Rocket now finds itself tied with the Monsters, in second place in the North section, with 42 points. Vincent’s squad, however, has two matches in hand.
The Monsters will have the opportunity to avenge their bitter loss on Saturday, when the two clubs will face each other again, in Cleveland.
A second fatal period
We were treated to an uneventful first engagement. The Rocket had the upper hand in the first 10 minutes, but the Monsters were the most threatening in the last five minutes.
-Primeau, however, stood out twice to keep the score tied at 0-0.
After 5:14 of play in the second period, Dauphin broke the ice with a one-timer into the top corner. He took advantage of a nice pass from Filip Mesar.
Four minutes later, Davidson also beat Tarasov with a one-timer. Vincent Arseneau made a clever delivery from behind the net.
The one-timers paid off for the Rocket. Lindström imitated his teammates after accepting a pass from Davidson 13:57 into the game.
During a power play at the end of the second period, Roy went with a perfect wrist shot from the far side. Owen Beck was complicit in the goal.
Joseph LaBate ended the middle period with a violent check against William Trudeau. Result: he received a five-minute penalty for assault and was expelled from the match.
The Rocket, however, was unable to take advantage of this five-minute numerical advantage at the start of the third period.
It was only a postponement. A little over three minutes later, Tuch accepted a pass from Davidson and beat Tarasov, who was already looking better, with a weak shot.
