Laval Rocket 3 – Providence Bruins 2 (P) | Logan Mailloux gives victory to his team

(Providence) Logan Mailloux played the hero in overtime and the Laval Rocket defeated the Providence Bruins 3-2, Sunday afternoon, at Amica Mutual Pavilion.

Midway through the overtime period, Mailloux accepted a pass from Laurent Dauphin and placed the puck in the top of the net, over Michael DiPietro’s glove. A few seconds earlier, Alex Barré-Boulet had been stopped alone in front of the goalkeeper.

This is a third consecutive victory for the Montreal Canadiens’ farm club, which remained at the top of the North section of the American Hockey League.

The Rocket (26-11-3) has not lost to the Bruins (23-13-5) since February 16, 2020, in the last six meetings between the two teams.

Barré-Boulet, with a goal and two assists, and Dauphin, with three assists, were the spark plugs of the Laval attack. Noel Hoefenmayer also hit the mark.

Cayden Primeau made 24 saves for the Rocket and was undefeated in his seven starts since being demoted to the American League.

Riley Duran and Joey Abate lit the red light for the Bruins, who saw their five-game winning streak come to an end. DiPietro surrendered three times in 31 pitches.

The Rocket will now return to Laval for a series of two duels against the Harford Wolf Pack, Friday and Saturday, at Place Bell.

The first trio stands up

The Laval residents started the match with confidence and it was the trio composed of Barré-Boulet, Dauphin and Riley Kidney who stormed the enemy net.

DiPietro first released his right pad to stop Barré-Boulet’s attempt before raising his shoulder to repel Dauphin’s shot a few minutes later.

The pressure from the visitors, however, led to a penalty and eventually allowed them to take the lead. At the point, Hoefenmayer fired a powerful one-timer behind DiPietro, who was obscured by Owen Beck and Lucas Condotta.

Dauphin had the opportunity to double his team’s lead before the end of the first period, but he lacked precision after accepting a nice pass from Kidney.

The Bruins started the second period better and tied the score after just 22 seconds of play. Duran tried to surprise Primeau from behind the net, but the goalie closed the door. The striker, however, took his comeback and fired a precise shot to score his sixth goal of the campaign.

The tie only lasted six minutes. During a faceoff in offensive territory, Barré-Boulet recovered a loose puck and fooled DiPietro with a quick throw.

With a little less than eight minutes remaining, Barré-Boulet thought he had his second goal of the afternoon at the end of the stick, but DiPietro made a nice save by sliding to his left.

The Rocket could have fed off the first two periods to come out strong in the final third, but he seemed to be skating in quicksand.

The Providence team took the opportunity to tie the game in the fourth minute. Primeau blocked a Trevor Kuntar throw, but Abate jumped on the return to thread the needle.

Busier than his opposite number, Primeau reserved one of his best saves of the match for Tyler Pitlick, who managed to slip between Adam Engstrom and Jayden Struble.

This save eventually made the difference, because Mailloux gave his team the victory in extra time.