ROCKET
Laval

2-3

DEVILS
Binghamton

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Terry – Cracknell – Korostelev
Boucher – Petti – Eisenschmid
Veilleux – Ebbing – Gregoire
Addison – Beauregard – Waked[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Plant – Taormina
Owens – Gelinas
Bourque – Parisi[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:
McNiven
Fucale

Scratches:

Daniel Audette (lower body), Stefan Leblanc (day to day), David Broll, Charlie Lindgren, Johnny Austin, Bailey Webster

Injury List:

Game Report

It’s been a tough season and an even tougher couple of weeks for the Rocket, and as they come down the stretch in their last few weeks of hockey it would be good for the team to find some positives in every game and even put some points up on their record.

Coming into Binghamton on Friday night, Kerby Rychel was a last-minute callup to Montreal, which meant Sylvain Lefebvre needed to adjust his lineup for the night. Nikita Korostelev was promoted to the first line in Rychel’s absence to get a sense for what the young forward can offer.

New defense additions Adam Plant, with an AHL contract for next year, and Trevor Owens also made their league debuts in this game, with Owens particularly showing some good signs on the ice.

Penalties proved to be a problem in this game once again, especially late in the game when the Rocket needed as many offensive weapons on the ice as possible.

However the Laval team did strike first on the scoreboard. Late in the first period, with the penalty killers on the ice for the first time for the visiting team, Adam Cracknell dished the puck cross-ice to Chris Terry who easily potted a shorthanded goal in close as they came in hard towards the net.

That point briefly gave Terry the solo lead in the AHL points race (66), but Lehigh Valley’s Phil Varone also garnered a point in his game as well, so the two currently share first place.

The Devils came back with a lot of pressure to start the second and handily outshot the Laval team. In a span of four and a half minutes, the two teams traded goals three times, with Binghamton finally tying the game at 2-2 before the second intermission.

For the Rocket, their second goal came when Thomas Ebbing released a big shot from the point and the puck managed to trickle through Eddie Lack in the Devils’ crease. Jeremy Gregoire finished the effort for his 11th goal of the season.

But Jordan Boucher took an ill-timed hooking penalty at the beginning of the third frame and Binghamton took full advantage of the power play to gain the lead.  With that momentum, the Devils were able to hold off the Rocket for the rest of the period, despite them getting some good chances to even the score again.

This was a close game and, aside from the penalties, one that Laval looked determined and defensively strong. They’ll need to find that kind of grit again on Saturday night as they head to Hershey to take on the Bears.

▲     Chris Terry, Trevor Owens, Adam Cracknell, Michael McNiven, Tom Parisi, Jeremy Gregoire

▼     Eric Gelinas, Adam Plant, Anthony Beauregard

1. Nick Lappin  BNG
2. Chris Terry  LAV
3. John Quenneville  BNG

Post-game interview with Michael McNiven

Post-game interview with Chris Terry

Post-game interview with Trevor Owens

Interviews conducted by Amy Johnson for AHL Report

From the Press Box Podcast | Rocket Report, Dick Gamble, AHL News, Top 5 Bad Hockey Rules [S1/E26] https://t.co/zS2bdDdY3K pic.twitter.com/zOBulNfCTe

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) March 27, 2018

With his first period goal, Chris Terry has taken over the @TheAHL scoring lead with 29 goals, 37 assists for 66 points. @RocketLaval @RocketSports #GoRocket pic.twitter.com/LQaR54c4mf

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) March 30, 2018

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