Xavier Parent collected a goal and an assist, guiding the Utica Comets to a 3-1 victory at the expense of the Laval Rocket on Saturday evening at Place Bell.
Parent, who often had good games close to home, was very threatening on the ice with his linemate Nathan Légaré, a former Rocket (23-11-3).
The Montreal Canadiens’ farm club managed to score two victories this week after erasing a deficit of more than one goal, but there was no miracle on Saturday.
Pascal Vincent’s team saw their streak of matches with at least one point stop at six (5-0-1), and they lost for the first time in their last three outings.
Légaré and Ryan Schmelzer also moved the ropes for the Comets (11-19-4), who avenged the setback they suffered at home on Friday. Isaac Poulter lost his shutout late in the game, but he signed the victory with 26 saves.
Alex Barré-Boulet was the author of the only goal for Laval. Connor Hughes gave up three times in 29 shots to suffer a second loss in a row.
The Rocket will return to action Wednesday evening, when the Hershey Bears will visit Place Bell.
The rise comes up short
Much like they did the day before, the Comets opened the scoring very early in the first period. And, once again, it was Schmelzer who gave his troop the lead.
-During a quick counter-attack, Max Willman slipped the disc to Schmelzer, who took advantage of the space in front of him to thwart Hughes with an excellent shot into the top corner. All this, after only 66 seconds of play.
The Rocket increased the pace and gave himself a few scoring opportunities to tie the game, but without taking advantage of them. The best came from the stick of Barré-Boulet, who was frustrated by Poulter.
Trudeau tried to wake up his people by delivering a violent check against Jack Malone, but the momentum did not go to Laval.
After a calmer start to the second engagement, the visitors gradually applied more pressure in the enemy zone. It is thanks to this forecheck that they managed to double their lead.
Légaré was effective along the boards and returned in front of Hughes’ net. Through a scrum in the semi-circle, Shane Bowers pushed the puck towards Légaré, who had no difficulty completing the maneuver.
With still the hope of getting back on track, the Laval team was able to work on the numerical advantage for four minutes, early in the last third. Poulter was able to close the door and his defense blocked several shots.
The Comets continued their good work and Parent put the final nail in the Rocket’s coffin at 12:31. The Quebecer made fun of Logan Mailloux and deceived Hughes’ vigilance.
With only 15 seconds left in the contest, Barré-Boulet took advantage of a power play to deprive Poulter of his first shutout of the season.
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