Rocket Crush Bears for 6 Straight Win

Jacob Fowler made his 8th straight start and was nearly perfect, stopping 23 of the 24 shots he faced. The players in front of him made it easy as they played very solidly in front of him and didn’t allow many dangerous high chances towards their goaltender. After being invited to the All-Star game festivities but not participating due to a nagging injury, there was slight concern that the Rocket could be forcing an injured Fowler to play on Friday. However, his movements showed that he was just fine and it was nothing to worry about. The consecutive streak for Fowler will finally come to an end on Saturday, as Kaapo Kahkonen, who is back from injury, will play against the Toronto Marlies.

It was also a very physical game where the Rocket also got the edge in that department as well, which included forward Tyler Thorpe laying a beatdown on a Bears player late in the first period. The majority of the physicality by the Rocket came from big hits that got under the Bears’ skin, leading to bad penalties taken by their opponents. Friday night, the Rocket played a near-flawless game from start to finish.

It took only 2:37 into the first period for the Rocket to open the scoring thanks to Marc Del Gaizo. The Rocket defenseman took a seeing-eye shot from the point that fooled Bears netminder Clay Stevenson, giving the Rocket a 1-0 lead.

Despite it being a high-scoring game for the Rocket, the rest of the first period was filled with them using their physicality and strong defensive play to keep the Bears off the board.

It wasn’t until midway through the 2nd period that the Rocket would strike again. Sean Farrell would fire a shot from the slot on the power play to make it a 2-0 game with his 13th goal of the season. This goal would help Laval open up the floodgates and start getting more scoring.

A few minutes later, on yet another power play, veteran Alex Belzile would squeak a shot through a little crack between Stevenson’s shoulder and the post to make it a 3-0 game. Adam Engstrom made a nice pass to Belzile at the side of the net, and the Rocket forward scored with a nice backhand for his team-leading 22nd goal of the season on the play.

The Rocket would score another goal to make it 4-0 thanks to defenseman Nate Clurman, who got his first goal of the year. Clurman drove up the right side of the ice and took a good shot that went top corner on Stevenson. For someone who had no goals up until then, Clurman took a very good shot for his first goal of the season.

Unfortunately, just before the end of the 2nd period, Fowler’s chances of a shutout would be ruined. With just 2 seconds left in the frame, forward Graeme Clarke batted a rebound out of the air, which beat Fowler for the Bears’ only goal on the night.

It took the Rocket only 2:22 into the 3rd period to get one back. Owen Beck would make an individual effort, making a good defensive play in the neutral zone before skating his way and deking out Stevenson to make it a 5-1 game. Beck played a very solid game, being dangerous offensively and defensively and even through some of the Rocket’s biggest hits on the night.

Sammy Blais would join the goal-scoring party a little later in the 3rd period with a shot from the slot thanks to a beautiful pass by captain Lucas Condotta at the side of the net.

With the win, the Rocket picked up their 30th victory of the season and now hold an 8-point lead on the rest of the North Division with a 30-14-2-2 record for 64 points. They will be looking to extend their winning streak to 7 games as they take on the Toronto Marlies at 3:00 pm ET on Saturday. Click here to listen to the live broadcast of the game.