American League | Jared Davidson helps Rocket to dramatic overtime victory

(Laval) For 32 minutes, the Laval Rocket was muzzled by a goalie who was making his first career appearance in the American League. Then, an unexpected goal completely changed things.

Jared Davidson played the hero on the power play in overtime and the Rocket completed a spectacular comeback to defeat the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 4-3 on Wednesday night at Place Bell.

In a match that will undoubtedly make the coaching staff of the Montreal Canadiens’ farm club gray, Davidson jumped on a free disc near the semi-circle to beat Jaxon Castor and end the debate.

Castor, who was installed at the end of the bench for the Penguins (20-9-4) due to the recall of Joel Blomqvist to the NHL, probably should not have expected to see action on Wednesday. An injury to Filip Larsson, however, sent him into the fray to start the second period.

An illustrious unknown, Castor began making several great saves, including a spectacular one at the expense of Filip Mesar, to silence the noisy crowd at Place Bell. But, while his team led 3-0 with less than eight minutes remaining in the clash, he allowed a rather weak goal to William Trudeau.

Suddenly the energy in the stands went to another level and everyone started believing again.

“We experience magic every time we play a match here. The fans are part of our success and we feel their energy, insisted head coach Pascal Vincent. We kind of brought that energy back tonight. When it started to click offensively, things opened up. »

After Trudeau, Florian

The Rocket (22-10-3) had previously had opportunities to change the shape of the game, but nothing seemed to bother Castor and the Penguins. The Laval team managed to get out of its slump by experiencing consecutive good presences and increasing the pressure in enemy territory.

“We stuck to our game plan and I feel like we won a few games that way this season,” said forward Luke Tuch, who had two assists. I found that we were not consistent in our presence. Sometimes our puck management was not optimal and we did not play our playoff style of hockey. »

Cayden Primeau also left his mark on the outcome of the match, making saves which no longer seemed to mean anything in the third period, but which were of capital importance. He blocked 27 pucks to allow the Rocket to obtain at least a point in a fifth game in a row (4-0-1).

“Cayden has been very good for us since he was demoted to the American League. It’s a difficult situation to digest, but he behaves like a true professional. He helps us a lot,” said captain Lucas Condotta.

Avery Hayes, Jonathan Gruden and Emil Bemstrom moved the strings for the Penguins, who suffered a second loss in a row. Castor stopped 26 of the 30 shots he faced, while Larsson was perfect in front of 12 shots before leaving the game.

The Rocket will return to action Friday night, when they visit the Comets in Utica.

Turnaround

Laval’s first period was not like its weekend in Cleveland and they seemed to be skating in quicksand. The Penguins took advantage of this lack of speed to score the first two goals of the game.

After Adam Engstrom lost control of the disc, Rutger McGroarty seized it to initiate a surplus. He outdistanced the defender before making a pass that Hayes redirected between Primeau’s pads.

Vincent’s troops were able to deploy their numerical advantage to try to create equality, but it was they who were instead played a trick. Noel Hoefenmayer was unable to catch up with Gruden and he had a front-row seat to see him beat Primeau.

The Rocket stormed Larsson’s net before the end of the period, but Condotta missed a golden opportunity. Logan Mailloux saw his shot hit the post to the left of the goalkeeper.

The home team started the second period with much more confidence. Castor, however, made his presence felt by frustrating Mesar with the glove, while the net was practically empty.

Condotta wanted to change the pace by engaging in a fight with Dan Renouf and his teammates responded well. Shorthanded, Mailloux once again came up against the left post while Laurent Dauphin missed a perfect shot from Alex Barré-Boulet.

However, indiscipline slowed down the Rocket in the second half of the period. Primeau made a great save on McGroarty before he and his defense closed the door on a two-player penalty kill for 85 seconds.

In the last third, Bemstrom thought he had sounded the death knell for the Laval team, but Castor showed that he was indeed human. He first gave in to Trudeau before being surprised by Xhekaj. Both players hit the target from the near side.

With a little over three minutes to go, the roof of Place Bell practically exploded when Lindstrom fooled Castor with a low shot.

The table was set for Davidson’s goal.