Marc Del Gaizo's OT Goal Lifts Laval Rocket Past Rochester 3-2

Marc Del Gaizo finished an odd-man rush 1:23 into overtime to lift the Laval Rocket to a 3-2 win over the Rochester Americans at Blue Cross Arena on Friday, giving Laval a key divisional victory and the full two points. The goal was Del Gaizo’s seventh of the season and came after a frenetic final minute of regulation that nearly produced a Rochester own goal.

Laval opened the scoring when Tobie Bisson pinched from the point and wired a shot off the far post and in after an Owen Beck draw-and-feed put him in position. Laurent Dauphin took a holding-the-stick penalty later in the period, and with four seconds left on that minor Carson Meyer ripped a long-range shot that bounced off David Reinbacher’s stick and through Kaapo Kähkönen’s legs to knot the game 1-1.

Rochester took the lead during the middle portion of the game when Isak Rosén redirected his team-leading 25th of the season, but Luke Tuch answered for Laval to restore parity and force the late-game scramble. Rochester twice came back from one-goal deficits to push the contest to overtime, and the final 90 seconds of the third featured the Rocket’s top line, Belzile and Farrell, working in tight to create chances while D. Levi made several difficult stops.

Kaapo Kähkönen steadied Laval through the stretch by starting in net on the third night of a three-in-three stretch and finishing with 27 saves on 29 shots. Kähkönen’s late-period clearing attempt nearly turned into an own goal inside the final 15 seconds, but Nate Clurman rescued the puck as the horn sounded, preserving overtime. Rochester’s D. Levi finished with 34 saves on 37 shots in the overtime loss.

The overtime sequence began when Kähkönen settled a dump-in behind his own net; Marc Del Gaizo collected the feed, carried the puck into the offensive zone on a rush that included Samuel Blais, and elected to shoot, roofing the game-winner past Levi at 1:23 of OT. Samuel Blais was playing his first game back with Laval after being sent down by the Montreal Canadiens and has produced at a point-per-game rate with the Rocket this season.

Shots finished Laval 37, Rochester 29. Special teams were quiet: Laval went 0 for 2 on the power play and 1 for 2 on the penalty kill; Rochester was 1 for 2 with the man advantage and 2 for 2 on the kill. The three stars named after the game were M. Del Gaizo, I. Rosén and D. Levi.

The loss still yielded a point for Rochester, moving the Amerks to 24-17-5-3 and within three points of the Cleveland Monsters for third place in the North Division. Laval improved to 32-14-2-3 and remains first in the division. Rochester heads back on the road next Wednesday, Feb. 25, to face the Cleveland Monsters with a 7:00 p.m. puck drop.