Rocket lose 3-2 to Checkers in four games

Laval Rocket head coach Pascal Vincent watches play during third period AHL hockey action in Laval, Que., on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press)

The Laval Rocket saved their best for last, but the last goal they allowed was a big part of what went wrong in the Eastern Conference Final.

Jesse Puljujarvi broke the deadlock late in the third period, and the Charlotte Checkers beat the Rocket 3-2 on Tuesday night to advance to the Calder Cup final.

The Montreal Canadiens’ secondary team could be blamed for letting a 2-0 lead slip in the second period, but they looked much more structured in the final third.

As the minutes ticked away, extra time seemed inevitable.

Then came the fatal error with 2:04 remaining.

The game did not go to plan.

Puljujarvi deflected a pass from Rasmus Asplund into the neutral zone and outran Brandon Gignac into enemy territory.

The puck was out of his reach when goalkeeper Jacob Fowler and defenceman Zack Hayes were caught in the middle.

Hayes dived and pushed the disc onto the blade of the Finn’s stick, who sent it into a net abandoned by Fowler’s exit.

Two minutes later, the Rocket’s season was over, swept aside in four games.

“I have to read up on him (Hayes). When you’re trying to get back into a series, I have to be better at it. I want to learn from that and not make that mistake again,” said Fowler, who got his first start in this series after two appearances replacing Cayden Primeau.

In front of the media, the 20-year-old admirably took the blame for the goal, but head coach Pascal Vincent was far from pointing the finger.

“It’s a game of mistakes. These things happen, and it happens so quickly. It’s easy to look at a goalkeeper or a defender who’s made a mistake, or the combination of the two, but how many mistakes have been made in front of them, and we don’t talk about it because it doesn’t end in a goal. I’m proud of Jacob tonight,” said Vincent.

It was a sentiment shared by the players in the dressing room.

“This is a team sport and everyone makes mistakes. You can’t point the finger at anyone. I’m proud of this group,” said striker Joshua Roy.

On the brink of the abyss, the team played the best game of the final but once again fell victim to turnovers that slowed their momentum, suffering the consequences of the Checkers’ opportunism.

Although the defeat was difficult to digest, Vincent preferred to keep his men’s last public performance in mind rather than look back on the three previous under-performances.

“We asked the lads to keep believing, and they did. We asked them to empty their tanks, and they did. I think we deserved a better fate tonight,” he said. “It was our best game of the series, and it’s going to take a bit of time to digest because we’ve had such a great season, but when we take stock, there are going to be a lot of positives. That was our identity tonight.”

With their eighth consecutive win, the Checkers will be in the American League Final for the first time since 2019.

That year, they lifted the Calder Cup.

The Florida Panthers’ farm club now awaits the winner of the Western Association final, between the Texas Stars and the Abbotsford Canucks.

Roy and Owen Beck threaded the needle in defeat, while Fowler made 23 saves.

Justin Sourdif and MacKenzie Entwistle also got things moving for the Checkers, who were coming off a sweep at the expense of the Hershey Bears, two-time defending Calder Cup champions.

Kaapo Kahkonen turned away 23 pucks.

Unable to close the books

Nobody was surprised to see the Rocket playing with a lot of energy at the start of the first period.

The Checkers, however, resisted well.

The two teams then played a real game of chess, during which there weren’t many chances to score.

Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and Lucas Condotta were denied by Kahkonen in quick succession, while Puljujarvi was denied by Fowler in the enclave. Then, during a numerical disadvantage, Alex Barré-Boulet took advantage of a miscalculated rebound from the boards by defender Trevor Carrick to break free, but he was unable to open the scoring.

The Rocket finally found a way to take the lead for the first time in this series, with Roy winning his battle in the enclave and deflecting a shot from Gustav Lindstrom’s point to hit the target with just 45 seconds remaining.

Momentum was often the issue during the series, and the Rocket maintained it early in the second period.

Sustained pressure from Roy and Gignac allowed Beck to accept a pass from Noel Hoefenmayer to double his side’s lead.

Unfortunately for Pascal Vincent’s team, they shot themselves in the foot.

Just 1:40 after Beck’s goal, Harvey-Pinard allowed a turnover in the attacking zone, and Sourdif came in overtime.

Sourdif made the right decision and fired home to cut the deficit to 2-1.

The Rocket was able to work for five minutes with an extra man after Riley Bezeau was awarded a major penalty for checking Lindstrom in the head, but his lack of execution hurt them.

Sean Farrell committed a turnover in the centre, and on a two-on-one build-up, Entwistle deceived Fowler in the same way as Sourdif.

The Checkers gave their opponents a little warning in the fifth minute of the final third, but Wilmer Skoog’s shot hit the post to Fowler’s right.

As the pressure mounted, caution was the order of the day, although some attacks ended up close to the net of both goalkeepers.

The score remained unchanged until Puljujarvi’s heartbreaking goal.

– This report by The Canadian Press was first published on June 3, 2024.