Rocket Lineup

Laurent Dauphin – Jake Evans – Charles Hudon

Matthew Peca – Phil Varone – Riley Barber

Alexandre Alain – Lukas Vejdemo – Nikita Jevpalovs

Michael Pezzetta – Kevin Lynch

Gustav Olofsson – Xavier Ouellet

Karl Alzner – Josh Brook

Otto Leskinen – Christian Folin

Josh Brook

Cayden Primeau – Keith Kinkaid

Maxim Lamarche, Will Pelletier, Ralph Cuddemi, Yannick Veilleux, Antoine Waked, Dale Weise

Noah Juulsen (upper body), Alex Belzile (pectoral surgery), Andrew Sturtz, Hayden Verbeek, Joe Cox

Game Report

Game Report written by Amy Johnson

In a season full of ups and downs, the Laval Rocket returned home on Wednesday night after dropping their last game in Manitoba 5-1. It was a forgettable outing for netminder Keith Kinkaid, and the Rocket looked to bounce back on home ice against a visiting Syracuse team.

The Crunch entered tonight’s game just two points behind the Rocket, who are tied for fourth place in the North Division with the Toronto Marlies. It’s safe to say that both teams would be hungry for the two points on the line.

In the opening period, Laval stumbled out of the gate when they allowed a shorthanded goal by Gemel Smith who got a clean shot off on Cayden Primeau on a breakaway. But Lukas Vejdemo, who returned to his natural center position on this night, didn’t allow that one-goal lead to last very long when he deflected Alexandre Alain‘s perimeter shot past Scott Wedgewood.

It looked as if the teams would go to intermission knotted at 1-1, but with just seconds left in a Syracuse power play (and 21 seconds left in the period) Taylor Raddysh found himself all alone in the slot and snapped the puck past Primeau to make it 2-1 for the Crunch.

Michael Pezzetta then laid a heavy, and dangerous, hit on Patrick Sieloff in the corner to which Daniel Walcott reacted. Walcott fought Pezzetta along the boards in front of the benches in retaliation for the hit. Pezzetta wasn’t penalized, although he probably should have been and the Syracuse bench was furious that he wasn’t. In addition to the fighting penalty, Walcott earned a two-minute instigating minor and a 10-minute misconduct for instigating, giving the Rocket a power play to begin the second period.

It took almost 10 minutes in the middle frame for the Crunch to register a shot on goal, but Laval couldn’t solve Syracuse’s goaltenders either. That’s right: goaltenders, plural. Wedgewood went down in the crease after about five minutes and left the game with an apparent injury. It was Wedgewood’s second game since returning from a six-week injury sustained in the last game he played against the Rocket. Spencer Martin entered the game in relief.

Halfway through the period, Jake Evans drove the net and got held and pulled down by Sieloff. Both teams came together in a huge scrum behind the net as a result, and the penalty boxes quickly filled up. Two players from each team were handed a roughing minor and play continued with the Rocket on the man advantage. Phil Varone quickly potted a power play goal to pull Laval even with the Crunch at 2-2.

The score remained the same through the end of regulation, but not for long into the overtime period. Jake Evans finished a perfectly set up give-and-go by Charles Hudon just seven seconds into the extra period to end the game and give Laval the victory.

Laval will head back out on the road this weekend to play two more divisional games before the team takes a break for the AHL All-Star festivities. First up is a visit to Rochester on Friday night to face off against the Americans.

Plus / Minus

▲  Jake Evans, Phil Varone

▼  Michael Pezzetta, Laurent Dauphin