The veterans led the charge for the Laval Rocket, who forced a playoff game by shutting out the Toronto Marlies 4-0 on Tuesday night at the Coca-Cola Coliseum.
Samuel Blais scored twice, Laurent Dauphin had a goal and two assists and Alex Belzile scored once for the Montreal Canadiens.
The North Division semifinal is now tied 2-2 and Game 5 is Friday night at Place Bell. The winner will join the Cleveland Monsters, who eliminated the Syracuse Crunch in four games.
Kaapo Kahkonen, who had given up nine goals in his last four periods, bounced back with 18 saves. He recorded his first shutout in a Rocket uniform.
Pascal Vincent’s men were able to count on the return of defenseman Adam Engström, who was assigned by the Habs on Monday. However, they lost David Reinbacher, who appeared to be injured in the second period.
Artur Akhtyamov gave up three goals on 25 shots and was replaced by Dennis Hildeby early in the third period. Hildeby allowed one goal on seven shots.
Back to the roots
The Marlies had struck at lightning speed in Game 3 — 11 seconds to be precise — but they were played the same trick in Game 4.
After a breakout by Jacob Quillan, Belzile pushed the puck behind the Toronto defence to escape. Even chased, the veteran put his shot over the glove of Akhtyamov to open the scoring in 46 seconds.
Having perhaps learned from the last two games, the Rocket settled for a much more north-south style and kept their game simpler to stifle their opponents. He was rewarded by limiting scoring chances and giving Kahkonen a quiet first half.
The visitors also started the second period on the right foot, but Dauphin’s wrist shot hit the post to the right of Akhtyamov. After a power play that gave some momentum, Laval doubled their lead.
At the entrance of the zone, Dauphin and Owen Beck circulated the puck along the boards to Blais. His slap shot hit Marshall Rifai, who was positioned in front of the semicircle, and the puck changed trajectory to the back of the net.
The Marlies had a chance to slow the Rocket’s momentum when Cédric Paré was forgotten in front of the net, but Kahkonen didn’t bite his deke and stopped his shot with the shield. This save was quite important, because about a minute and 30 seconds later, Blais took advantage of all the space in front of him to thread the needle into the top corner.
Already shaken by the first 40 minutes, the Toronto squad suffered a heavy blow in the final period. They were playing on the power play when Florian Xhekaj allowed Dauphin to escape. He served a nice backhand deke to Hildeby, who had just replaced Akhtyamov.
The Rocket then continued to apply their style of play to allow Kahkonen to enjoy his shutout.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
