CALGARY — The Laval Rocket scored twice while shorthanded and beat the Calgary Wranglers 2-1 on Saturday at Scotiabank Saddledome.
After a scoreless first period, Alex Nylander put Calgary ahead at 6:00 of the second, his fourth goal of the season, with assists from Luke Philp and Mike Benning. Philp caught up to the puck, turned and hit Nylander with a pass at speed. Nylander took it just inside the line in the middle of the ice, walked into the slot and fired it past Kevin Mandolese.
Zarubin also made a right pad save in the second period to keep Calgary ahead.
Axel Hurtig fought Tyler Thorpe with Calgary up 1-0 and got the better of him, landing a run of lefts while Thorpe's uppercuts could not connect. Brayden Pachal also fought Braden Haché, and Dryden Hunt fought Alex Belzile.
Jared Davidson tied the game at 14:59 of the second with a shorthanded goal, his first of the season, assisted by Laurent Dauphin and David Reinbacher. Davidson got in behind the last defender with Ben Jones unaware of his position and got the shot away as Jones dove to try to block it.
Xavier Simoneau scored the winner at 8:27 of the third period, unassisted and shorthanded, his fourth goal of the season. Zarubin came out of his net and tried to fling the puck to the half wall, but Simoneau closed the space, got a stick on it and put it right in.
Calgary's power play went 0-for-4 and gave up both shorthanded goals. Laval's power play was also 0-for-4.
Kirill Zarubin made 26 saves on 28 shots for Calgary and was pulled for an extra attacker with 2:20 left in the third. Kevin Mandolese made 10 saves on 11 shots for Laval.
Laval outshot Calgary 28-11. The loss drops the Wranglers to 6-6, while the Rocket improve to 8-3. Attendance was 3,483.
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