LAVAL, QC — The Springfield Thunderbirds (12-12-2-1) had difficulty generating consistent offense, and a late third-period rally came up short in a 3-1 defeat at the hands of the Laval Rocket (18-8-1-1) on Sunday afternoon at Place Bell. 

As was the trend for much of the T-Birds road trip, the home team got off to a flying start in the opening period, as Vadim Zherenko was forced to face 13 Laval offerings in the first period. The T-Birds' netminder held up very well except for a 2-on-1 finish by Sean Farrell at 11:15 off a cross-ice pass from Rafael Harvey-Pinard, which gave the Rocket a 1-0 advantage.

The Rocket continued to suffocate the Springfield attack in the middle period, as the T-Birds failed to connect on a second power play chance in as many periods, while the Laval defense kept Connor Hughes' workload down, with only eight saves required for the goaltender through 40 minutes.

Zherenko stabilized for the T-BIrds in the second, helping the T-Birds kill three separate Laval power plays, and the netminder's 20 saves got Springfield to the final period still within a single shot of tying the game. Joshua Roy got the Rocket some much-needed insurance at 12:59 of the third when he arrived at the top of the crease to clean up a rebound off an Adam Engstrom shot to increase the Laval lead to 2-0.

Despite the best efforts of their goaltender, the Thunderbirds could not break through against Hughes until the final two minutes, when Matt Luff found the back of the net on a one-timer from the bottom of the left circle on a 6-on-4 advantage with Zherenko at the bench. Springfield's last-minute efforts were thwarted when Hughes alertly poked a centering pass away from a wide-open Aleksanteri Kaskimaki, leading directly to an empty-netter by Laurent Dauphin to finish the scoring.

The T-Birds return to the Thunderdome to kick off a five-game homestand after the holiday break with a Mercy Medical Center I-91 Rivalry contest against the Hartford Wolf Pack at 7:05 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 27. 

Interested 2024-25 season ticket members can call (413) 739-GOAL (4625) or visit www.SpringfieldThunderbirds.com to learn how to become a regular at the Thunderdome.