AHL: The Rockets remain disappointed with Parent’s hat trick

Laval, QC – It’s not all defeats that teams should erase from their memories. What happened on Wednesday evening is a good example.

Xavier Parent scored his first Major League hat-trick and the Utica Comets beat the Laval Rocket 4-1 at Place Bell.

It would be easy to rely on the stat sheet: just one goal on 36 shots, no goals on four power plays and four goals allowed on just 25 shots. However, Laval’s players and head coach Jean-François Holly felt they deserved a better fate.

“There were a lot of positive things tonight. “I liked our enthusiasm,” Hall announced after the meeting. “It’s unfortunate that it ended this way, but I think it’s easy to correct the mistakes we made.”

These respective errors served the cause of one man in particular: the parent. The Laval native delighted his family and friends by scoring twice 3:03 into the second half before completing a hat-trick into an empty net.

Despite having a smaller frame, Barnett huddled behind defenders to find the net and score his first two goals of the evening.

It was an unprecedented feeling for the Rocket (1-6-1), who suffered their fourth straight loss and were once again caught giving easy goals to their opponents.

“There are some things that need to be corrected defensively. For the first two goals, it was simply a matter of pushing the player outside, but the puck attracted us. These are details. We must continue to work on them to prevent this from happening again.”

Chase Stillman added a goal and an assist for the Comets (2-2-2), who returned to winning ways. Tobias Wielen participated in two goals for his team, while Isaac Poulter finished the match with 35 saves.

Jayden Strobel gave the Rocket some celebration by scoring his first career goal in the AHL. It was the end of a good night under the circumstances.

“It was pretty cold. I had hit the post earlier in the game, so I really wanted to score that goal. Fortunately, the ball went into the net,” the Montreal Canadiens’ 2019 second-round pick said. “I feel a little more comfortable. ‘I want to get pucks to the net and keep things simple.’

Young goalkeeper Jacob Dubis is having a tough start to his MLS career, but he looked more confident on Wednesday. He surrendered three steals on 24 shots, but also made some good saves.

This is the first confrontation between the two teams since last season’s qualifiers. The Comets swept the Canadian School Club in two games.

Two painful goals

We were waiting for Rocket’s reaction after he dominated him over the weekend and responded early in the match.

Joshua Roy and Riley Kidney notably knocked on the door during the first eight minutes of play, but either Poulter blocked their effort or the ball slid close to the goal line without crossing it.

Poulter also frustrated Roy during the breakaway before seeing Dubis save his best at the expense of Stillman, during a two-on-one climb.

Laval had the opportunity to start the second half with the same confidence, but failed to exploit it during a penalty kick by Tyler Wotherspoon. On the other hand, it appears to activate comets.

After Dobbs couldn’t get a shot off with his glove, the visitors’ offense remained active. Vilen sent the ball home and Parent jumped on the return to put it between the post and Dobes’ right pad.

The Comets doubled their lead in similar fashion three minutes later. Vilen’s shot hit a Rocket player’s stick before bouncing off Dobes. The return landed on the blade of the parent’s stick, which slid the puck between the goalie’s pads.

Looking to create momentum, Jean-François Houle’s men had two more chances on the power play, but the plays were often telegraphed.

Nothing helps the home team’s cause, the puck seems to be rolling a little more in their opponents’ favour. In the 66th second of the third period, the puck hit the side of Dobis’ net, and the Rockets did not control it. Kyle Criscuolo fired in a close shot and Stillman grabbed the stick to thread the needle.

The Rocket was finally able to celebrate after 2 minutes and 29 seconds. The cause of Strobel was served by the work of Brandon Gignac and Xavier Simonneau, who fired an accurate wrist shot over Poulter’s glove.

The Comets goalkeeper recovered a few minutes later with a thwarted Nolan Jaremko. Then his team was able to maintain its lead and achieve victory.