Rocket Lineup

Phil Varone – Ryan Poehling – Alex Belzile

Charles Hudon – Kevin Lynch – Riley Barber

Alexandre Alain – Jake Evans – Dale Weise

Nikita Jevpalovs – Lukas Vejdemo – Joe Cox

Otto Leskinen – Xavier Ouellet

Gustav Olofsson – Maxim Lamarche

Karl Alzner – Josh Brook

Cayden Primeau – Charlie Lindgren

David Sklenicka, Michael Pezzetta, Noah Juulsen, Michael McCarron (suspended)

Matthew Peca (day-to-day), William Pelletier (undisclosed)

Game Report

After a rough start to the season, the Laval Rocket found themselves on a bit of an upswing last week as they won four out of five games played over the course of eight days. Their most recent tilt, however, was a loss against the Hershey Bears and, as the Rocket headed out on their second road trip of the season, they looked to get back in the win column in Belleville.

But the opening 20 minutes was anything but friendly for the visiting Laval lineup. Just 66 seconds into the game, the Senators opened the scoring. Josh Norris accepted a centering feed from below the goal line and lasered the puck right past Cayden Primeau. A couple of minutes later, Joel Bouchard called his time out as the home team continued to buzz around the Laval net, with the Rocket struggling to contain them.

The timeout didn’t stop the puck from going into the net another minute or so later, however, when Parker Kelly completed a nice give-and-go play with speed to score his first professional goal. The Rocket looked flat and scrambled for the puck, constantly chasing the play. At the end of the period, the Sens led 2-0 on the scoreboard and 16-4 on the shot clock.

To begin the second period, it looked like things were going to continue downhill for Laval. It was like deja vu as Filip Chlapik deflected a shot by Morgan Klimchuk to score his first of the season just 62 seconds into the frame to give Belleville a 3-0 lead. 

But then the Rocket found their resilience and turned the tables on the Senators. They began creating space, opening lanes, ramping up the physicality, and getting shots on Marcus Hogberg.  While on a brief five-on-three advantage, Xavier Ouellet buried his first goal of the year with a one-timer, soon followed by a power play goal for Lukas Vejdemo to put the Rocket within one goal of the home team.

In fact, the Rocket kept the foot on the gas for the remainder of the game, eventually outshooting the Senators 41-32 and keeping them to just three shots in the third period. But Hogberg stood tall for Belleville, and they maintained their one-goal lead to win the game.

The Rocket now continue their road trip as they travel to Connecticut to take on the Hartford Wolf Pack on Friday night, before wrapping things up in Providence for another rematch with the Bruins on Saturday.

Plus / Minus

▲  Charles Hudon, Lukas Vejdemo, Riley Barber

▼  Joe Cox, Dale Weise