Recap: Rocket 6, Islanders 2
Dec 16, 2024William Dufour and Fredrik Karlstrom both recorded power-play goals Sunday afternoon, but the Bridgeport Islanders (5-17-2-2), American Hockey League affiliate of the New York Islanders, fell to the Laval Rocket (16-8-1-1) in a 6-2 final at Total Mortgage Arena.
Florian Xhekaj led the Rocket with five points, including three goals in the third period for his first career hat trick. Laurent Dauphin and Jared Davidson each notched a goal and an assist. Adam Engstrom and Sean Farrell both had two helpers.
Alex Jefferies (pictured) was credited with an assist on Karlstrom's ninth goal of the season. Jefferies now has a career-high seven-game point streak, racking up nine points (three goals, six assists) during that stretch.
Laval got on the board first with the lone tally of the opening period. At the 6:03 mark, Xhekaj gathered the puck off the end boards and found Dauphin in front of the net. Dauphin sniped a quick shot that deflected off the right post and fell into the back of the net behind Henrik Tikkanen (0-4-0), giving the Rocket an early 1-0 lead.
The Islanders answered midway through the second. At 9:18, Noel Hoefenmayer was assessed as holding penalty and Bridgeport benefited a minute and a half later when Dufour dragged and launched a wrist shot past Luke Cavallin's glove (1-0-0). It was Dufour's second power-play goal of the season and his fourth overall.
Less than six minutes later, Rafael Harvey-Pinard flipped the puck into the stands for a delay of game penalty and put Bridgeport back on the power play. They took advantage when Calle Odelius let the biscuit fly from the blue line, which redirected off Karlstrom to make it 2-1.
Laval responded with a five-goal third period to end it. The first four goals came 7:30 apart, and three of those were separated by just 2:10.
Xhekaj buried a rebound off Tikkanen's left pad to even the contest at 2-2 at 3:10 of the third period. William Trudeau scored what turned out to be the game winner at the 8:34 mark. Xhekaj added two more goals just 35 seconds apart, including one on the power play.
The Rocket added insurance late when Davidson let go of a slap shot that beat Tikkanen for the 6-2 final.
The Islanders power play went 2-for-2. They have now scored a power-play goal in five of their last six games. Laval led in shots 33-18, and outshot Bridgeport 16-1 in the third period.
Next Time Out: The Islanders face the Charlotte Checkers at 4 p.m. next Saturday, Dec. 21st at Bojangles Coliseum. The game can be seen live on AHLTV on FloHockey.