Laval vs. Utica recap & highlights: A four-point night for Alex Belzile steers the Rocket to another win
The Laval Rocket capped off their 2025 calendar year with a three-game winning streak to sit atop the AHL’s North Division. Awaiting them in the new year was the Utica Comets, a team sitting last in the division, but one that the Rocket have often stumbled against while on a hot streak. Despite a 7-1-0 record against the Comets last year, the Rocket could not afford to take Utica lightly as they looked to continue their winning ways.
With the team playing well, the Rocket kept their lineup the same for the first night of their back-to-back. In net it was Kaapo Kähkönen, with Hunter Jones continuing to serve as his backup, while the top line of Sean Farrell, Laurent Dauphin, and Alex Belzile looked to keep their hot streak going in 2026.
If you only watched the opening four-and-a-half minutes, you would think that the Comets were one of the AHL’s top sides, as they controlled the puck without much real pushback from the Rocket. That led to a 7-1 shot advantage for Utica.
Tet the forechecking of Will Dineen drew a penalty to put Laval on the game’s first power play. That effort was instantly rewarded a Dauphin threaded a shot in on net, and Belzile was right in the slot to bat it off the pads of Nico Daws. With the puck still loose, it was Sean Farrell stepping up and rifling his seventh goal of the year by Daws to open up the scoring.
Even with the lead the Rocket continued to make their own jobs harder as Joshua Roy was soon sent to the box for slashing, forcing the penalty kill into action. The special teams were again a standout, with Belzile and Florian Xhekaj each creating short-handed opportunities.
Following their successful penalty kill, the pressure belonged fully to the Rocket as Marc Del Gaizo nearly squeaked a puck between the pads of Daws and the goalpost. He was then followed up by Jared Davidson and Roy each ripping their chances on net, with the Comets netminder making a number of crucial saves to keep the Rocket lead at just one goal.
Despite taking control of the game, the Rocket continued to make little mistakes that bit them before the period was over. Dauphin was called for a hook inside the neutral zone, putting the Rocket back on the penalty kill without one of their main forwards. While the first wave did well to hold off the Comets, a shot by Seamus Casey was tipped by an unmarked Angus Crookshank to tie the game late in the first period.
For good measure, William Trudeau was sent to the box right off a defensive-zone faceoff as he interfered with his opponent inside the faceoff dot. Almost instantly the Comets punished the Rocket for their sloppy play and for not cushioning their earlier lead as Lenni Hämeenaho blistered a one-timer by Kähkönen.
That goal sent the Rocket to the locker room down 2-1 on the scoreboard, being outshot 19-12, and furious as they were thrown around a touch by the Comets as the period came to a close.
Laval’s second-period start only made the problems worse as they surrendered a goal to Brian Halonen just 48 seconds in to make it a 3-1 game. On the following shift, a partial break to Xavier Parent nearly made it 4-1, before Xavier Simoneau drew a penalty and gave the power play a chance to stem the bleeding. The man advantage never really got the opportunity to get going before David Reinbacher evened up the penalties and made it a four-on-four situation.
The Comets then took another penalty, making it a rare four-on-three power play in regulation for Laval. Even with the extra ice, the Rocket were unable to open up enough space to truly threaten Daws, and found themselves still trailing by a pair of goals as the second period ticked on.
The next Rocket goal came on a broken play as Luke Tuch corralled a bouncing puck and fired a long wristshot off the post and in to cut the deficit down to one goal.
Tuch’s goal brought some of the life back to the Rocket’s attack as they began to open up more opportunities inside the offensive zone. Farrell continued a strong game as he set up Belzile in the slot, and then Xhekaj just missed a highlight reel chance in front of goal. Xhekaj kicked a centring pass up to his stick, but just couldn’t tuck it behind Daws to level the game.
With their desperate push for a tying goal in full swing, the Rocket got another chance on the power play as Utica was whistled for delay of game. After a strong first power play, the Rocket couldn’t find the best lanes of attack, allowing the Comets to escape unscathed, and on to a power play of their own. Laval’s penalty-killers did a strong job to keep Utica from increasing their lead, and that effort was immediately rewarded.
Del Gaizo fired off a perfect stretch pass that allowed Belzile to enter the zone on an odd-man rush. Belzile looked off his linemate the whole way, shifting to his backhand and then roofing his shot over Daws to make it a 3-3 contest heading into the second intermission.
A strong start to the opening minutes of the third period came to a sudden halt for the Rocket as Simoneau batted a puck out of play in his own zone and headed to the box for delay of game. Laval’s penalty-killers did a good job of fending off the man advantage, only for the team to leave Halonen wide-open in the slot as Simoneau exited the box. Without a single defender within five feet of him, Halonen easily buried his second goal of the game to restore the Utica lead.
Things continued to go against the Rocket from there, as a dubious holding call against Tobie Bisson, despite the Comets blatantly grabbing on to the Laval defenceman’s stick, put the home side short-handed again. Despite Bisson’s vocal protests, he took a seat in the box and watched nervously as his teammates managed to kill off his penalty and returned to even strength.
It was clear the Rocket players were frustrated as they tried to find a tying goal late in regulation and the goaltending of Daws kept them at bay. However, the pressure of Roy drew a Rocket power play, and Laval made sure to make it count. Right off the opening draw, Belzile took the puck, flew around the net, and jammed it between the post and the skate of Daws.
A brief goal review followed, but the officials upheld Belzile’s second goal of the night, and it was a brand new game once again. While the Rocket used their top six to push for another goal, the Comets were content to grind down the final minutes of regulation, forcing the game to overtime.
After Utica held on to the puck for nearly the first three minutes, spending more time passing it out of the zone than attacking, the Rocket drew an overtime power play as Roy was tripped up in the neutral zone.
With the game on the line, the Rocket power play wasted no time in securing a crucial second point. Belzile held the puck up at the blue line, spinning off his defender and allowing Farrell to feed it across to Jared Davidson in the faceoff circle. Davidson made no mistake as he rifled his 11th goal of the year by Daws to secure the win.
Final Score: Laval 5, Utica 4
These two sides will square off again on Saturday night at Place Bell, with puck drop set for 7 PM ET.
