Rocket Lose 3-1 Due To Overuse of Kahkonen

Kahkonen faced just 14 shots in the game on Sunday as the Rocket’s defence was incredibly solid once again, but after playing 3 consecutive games in as many days, it is no surprise that their netminder struggled to make saves. It came as no surprise in all honesty, given how much Kahkonen has played with 2 overtimes and a shootout in the previous 2 days. Making 11 saves on 14 shots will rarely ever result in a win, but the players in front of Kahkonen still gave the Rocket a chance to get a victory.

Unfortunately, the offence wasn’t able to beat Comets’ netminder Nico Daws more than once on their 30 shots in the game. Daws stood on his head, as he was well rested for this one since it was his backup, Jakub Malek, who played Saturday against the Rocket.

The fact that the Rocket’s defence played solidly helped Kahkonen come out of the period without giving up a goal. Their offence also attempted to get on the board early by outshooting the Comets 10-3, but Daws wouldn’t allow anything past him. The opening frame was easily the Rocket’s best period of the game.

The Rocket continued to put pressure on Daws in the 2nd period, but there was nothing that was able to get by Daws yet again. It was feeling like the New Jersey Devils prospect would get a shutout around this point of the game.

As for the Comets themselves, they finally got a puck past Kahkonen when forward Angus Crookshank tipped a point shot by Topias Vilen into the net on the power play to open the scoring and give the Comets a 1-0 lead. The goal came with just 30 seconds left in the 2nd period.

In the 3rd period, it wouldn’t take long for the Comets to get another one to go up 2-0. On yet another power play, Kyle Criscuolo would snipe a shot past Kahkonen to double the lead.

The Comets’ goal would also come on the power play as Mike Hardman would snipe a shot from the right side of the net that would beat Kahkonen for the 3rd time of the night. While the Rocket’s defence was solid for the most part, they weren’t able to prevent shots on a tired Kahkonen during the penalty kill. However, the fact that they took 8 penalties shows a good amount of undisciplined play from the Rocket on the day.

Luckily the Rocket were able to get one on the power play of their own to prevent Daws from getting a shutout with 2:16 left in regulation. The Rocket’s goal came from a great 5-man passing play that resulted in Sammy Blais feeding Alex Belzile with a cross-crease pass that the veteran forward buried for his team-leading 24th goal of the season. Unfortunately it was too little too late for a comeback, as despite dominating the chances at even strength, they weren’t able to generate anything towards the scoreboard.

Hopefully Fowler will be feeling better by Wednesday when the Rocket will be back at home to take on the Toronto Marlies. Kahkonen will be able to have a few days off in between the next game, but it’s clear the Rocket should not overrun their goaltenders the way they have at various points this season. At the very least, they need to be more prepared in the case one of their goaltenders gets called up or gets injured. If the organization doesn’t trust Hunter Jones to play for them, they should look for another goaltender who they could trust to come up and down between AHL and ECHL.

Listen to Wednesday night’s game against the Toronto Marlies by clicking here.