A scrappy game ended in a Laval Rocket victory on New Year’s Eve over the Belleville Senators.
Laval edged Belleville 4-3 in the final game of 2025 Wednesday afternoon at CAA Arena.
Laval dominated the opening frame, putting the first seven shots on Belleville’s net, but the Sens managed to get on the board first through Xavier Bourgault on a powerplay.
The L’Islet, Quebec native, freshly returned from the NHL’s Ottawa Senators, pounced on a rebound from an Arthur Kaliyev shot that was stopped and beat Kaapo Kahkonen for his 10th of the year.
Olle Lycksell added an assist as well.
Laval thought it had tied the game thanks to Laurent Dauphin, but a challenge from the Sens determined it was kicked in.
The Rocket did eventually knot the score on a swift turn and tuck by Alex Belzile on a man advantage with seven minutes left in the period.
The frame featured a pair of spirited fights between Hayden Hodgson and William Trudeau and Jorian Donovan and Lucas Condotta but ended deadlocked on the scoreboard, despite Laval outshooting Belleville 19-11.
Belzile counted again for Laval on a feed from Laurent Dauphin at 4:18 of the second, but the Sens fought back.
Dennis Gilbert dropped the mitts with Luke Tuch after an awkward hit to try and spark the Sens again, which eventually paid off.
On another powerplay, Phil Daoust put a shot top shelf with very little space between Kahkonen’s right shoulder and the crossbar for his ninth of the campaign to re-tie the game.
Like they did on the first marker, Kaliyev and Lycksell assisted on the goal.
Laval set the table in the third period with Dauphin slipping home the go-ahead goal less than two minutes into the frame.
The Sens couldn’t muster a powerplay goal on their third opportunity, and that cost them, as Laval managed to bury one of their own on a later advantage through Jared Davidson about halfway through the third.
Belleville kept pressing but were left frustrated and empty thanks to the Rocket until with 1:18 to go.
A shot from the right-side courtesy of Kaliyev rolled down Kahkonen’s back and was tapped in by Bourgault for his second of the game.
Kaliyev’s helper was his third of the game and Wyatt Bongiovanni added his name onto the scoresheet with an assist as well.
Unfortunately, that was as close as Belleville would get, as they had to deal with its fifth defeat against Laval this season.
The Sens fall to 13-16-5-0 overall this season and remain in fifth in the North Division with 31 points.
Next is Women in Sports night on Saturday, Jan. 3 at 7 p.m., with the Sens taking on the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
The evening will feature a pre-game speakers panel hosted by The Babes of Quinte Kay Joly and Katie Sherratt and involving several prominent women’s sports figures.
