The Laval Rocket were crushed 5 to1 by the Belleville Senators in the 12th and final game of the NHL regular season on Wednesday night at Place Bell in Laval.
Ridley Greig opened the scoring in the 69th second of the game, setting the tone for the rest of the game. The Sens striker contributed two assists for his team, which has won three straight games.
Lassi Thomson scored two power-play goals late in the first half and early in the second.
Cole Reinhardt also scored for the visitors. He made it 4-0 at 6:40 of the second half.
William Trudeau scored the Rocket’s only goal, while Jean-François Houle decided to retire his goaltender with just under 12 minutes left in the game and a four-goal deficit.
Dylan Ferguson defended the net for the Ottawa Senators due of the lack of goaltenders Mads Sogaard and Kevin Mandolese. He won with 36 saves.
The Rockets’ tolerance ran out in the third half after a night of offensive and defensive failure. Pierrick Dube and Xavier Simoneau notably lost control while attempting to attack Angus Crookshank.
The Senators hit four times on the power play to end the Rocket’s 15-game point streak at home.
Danick Martel returned to the game after more than three months of absence due to a severe concussion. Cayden Primeau, meanwhile, made 31 saves for the Rocket.
“We talked about it all week when you’re only playing one game you’re chasing the standings a little bit and you need to win that hockey game.” Senators head coach Troy Mann said.
“Obviously they were in the fifth spot and we were five points out with a game in hand. So we felt it was a really important game for us.” he added.
The Laval Rocket are an American Hockey League (AHL) team that to begin play in the 2017-18 season as the top minor league affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL).
The Laval Rocket is playing the next game on Friday at Syracuse Crunch.
