ROCKET
Laval

3-1

DEVILS
Binghamton

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Terry – Cracknell – Scherbak
Veilleux – McCarron – Baun
Petti – Audette – Boucher
Broll – Eisenschmid – Waked[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Gelinas – Taormina
Parisi – Juulsen
Bourque – Lernout[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:
McNiven
Lindgren

Scratches:

Thomas Ebbing, Stefan Leblanc, Zach Fucale

Injury List:

Jeremy Gregoire (day-to-day), Jeremiah Addison (shoulder)

Game Report

The Laval Rocket suffered another defeat on Friday night, but the following night in Binghamton they seemed determined to change their fate. With newly traded Eddie Lack taking position between the pipes for the Devils, Michael McNiven and the Rocket seemed set on a win from the first puck drop.

Just over two minutes into the game, Jordan Boucher found himself with a slight breakaway and didn’t miss the chance to wrist the puck past Lack from the circle to put Laval up 1-0 right away.

The game was played with a very fast pace and was extremely physical. Guys on both sides of the ice were hitting everything that moved, and Laval managed to stay quite disciplined throughout the game despite the Devils doing their best to agitate things.

In the second period, the only penalties dealt out were concerring slashing calls against Adam Cracknell and Tim Kennedy. Both teams came through the four-on-four play unscathed, but Cracknell found his way to the back of the net towards the end of the period after creating a turnover in the neutral zone, skating in hard and backhanding the puck past Lack.

For the final frame, things got pretty exciting. Again both teams were disciplined, not giving each other any opportunities on a man advantage. And again both teams were fast and physical.

At one point the Devils believed they had finally gotten on the score board but the goal was waived off immediately. After review, the call stood on the ice much to the chagrin of the team and the fans but a replay showed McNiven making a spectacular goal-line glove save to prevent the puck from crossing.

McNiven then had some words for the officials after he covered the puck with his glove to stop play, but the ref didn’t blow the whistle. As a result, he got knocked off the puck, lost his stick and he and his defenders did a standup job keeping the Devils out of the crease.

Although Binghamton did manage to score a goal with just over three minutes left in the game, Daniel Audette made sure they didn’t get too confident by potting an empty netter to seal the much-needed win for Laval.

The Rocket now head home to Laval for most of the rest of January. They’ll kick off their next home stand on Wednesday night when the Utica Comets come to town for another rematch.

▲     Michael McNiven, Jordan Boucher, Adam Cracknell, Markus Eisenschmid, Yannick Veilleux, Michael McCarron, Kyle Baun, Tom Parisi

▼     Eric Gelinas

1. Adam Cracknell  LAV
2. Blake Pietila   BNG
3. Jordan Boucher  LAV

Post-game interview with Michael McNiven

Post-game interview with Jordan Boucher

Post-game interview with Brett Lernout

Interviews conducted by Amy Johnson for AHL Report

Binghamton goaltender Eddie Lack was very busy in the second period. The Rocket outshot the @BingDevils 13-4. @RocketSports #GoRocket pic.twitter.com/wcsJI8vGvo

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) January 7, 2018

Habs360 Podcast | Canadiens Mid-season Report Card [e230] https://t.co/lVWZvJwROh #allhabs #gohabsgo pic.twitter.com/5WSt987opq

— All Habs (Canadiens) (@AllHabs) January 6, 2018

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