SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The Springfield Thunderbirds (2-1-0-0) could not find answers on their power play and fell, 5-2, to the Laval Rocket (2-1-0-0) on Saturday night before an MGM Springfield Opening Night sellout crowd of 6,793 inside the MassMutual Center.

The Rocket looked to spoil the home opening energy at the Thunderdome, killing off a pair of early Springfield power plays, then turning that momentum into an opening marker when Massachusetts native Reilly Walsh carried it deep in the T-Birds zone before elevating a backhand over the pads of Georgii Romanov to make it 1-0 at 10:16 of the first. 

The Springfield penalty kill had been 9-for-9 to start the season, but a confident Laval power play changed the T-Birds' fortunes when Laurent Dauphin snapped a face-off straight back to Luke Middelstadt, who fired a wrister over Romanov's blocker arm at 18:09 to give the visitors the 2-0 advantage.

The T-Birds tried to re-engage the home crowd as a pair of scraps elevated the temperature late in the period, beginning with Lukas Fischer sticking up to Sam Poulin after a big hit on Springfield captain Chris Wagner. Dylan Peterson followed suit just moments later, dropping the gloves with Laval's Owen Protz.  

The Rocket were not able to extend the lead early in the second, and after serving the remainder of his penalty, Michael Buchinger raced up the right-wing in a 2-on-1 and rifled a forehander over Kaapo Kahkonen to cut the lead to 2-1 at 1:32. 

With momentum shifting, the T-Birds' power play looked to draw even, but first-year Rocket winger Brett Berard had other plans, jumping on a loose puck and slipping a shorthanded breakaway under Romanov's legs at 6:25 to make it a 3-1 game.

On this night, though, shorthanded tallies went both directions, as Otto Stenberg and Alek Kaskimaki combined to pilfer a puck away in a 4-on-5 sequence, with Stenberg finding Kaskimaki at the net front for Springfield's first shorty of the year. That cut Laval's lead to a single goal, 3-2, as the game marched into the third. 

Laval continued to assert itself, and at 1:49 of the final period, Filip Mesar arrived to a rebound after a fine Romanov save on Owen Beck, shuffling a rebound back into the net and giving the Rocket yet another two-goal cushion at 4-2.

This time around, the T-Birds could not find a reply, and Kahkonen denied the five attempts Springfield managed in the final period en route to victory. Alex Belzile added an empty-netter off Dauphin's third primary assist of the night to round out the evening's scoring. 

The T-Birds continue their four-game homestand with a 3:05 p.m. matinee on Sunday for Kids Opening Day presented by Big Y. 

2026-27 season and individual game tickets are on sale now. Reserve your seats at SpringfieldThunderbirds.com or call (413) 739-GOAL (4625).