Rocket Lineup

Charles Hudon – Ryan Poehling – Alex Belzile

Phil Varone – Jake Evans – Riley Barber

Nikita Jevpalovs – Lukas Vejdemo – Joe Cox

Alexandre Alain – Michael McCarron – Dale Weise

Otto Leskinen – Xavier Ouellet

Gustav Olofsson – Maxim Lamarche

Karl Alzner – Josh Brook

Charlie Lindgren – Cayden Primeau

David Sklenicka, Michael Pezzetta, Noah Juulsen, Kevin Lynch

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

Game Report

Game Report written by Chris G

The Rocket ended their three game home stand on Saturday night by hosting the Hershey Bears. Last season, the teams split the two games that they faced against each other. 

Laval was coming off a 3-2 win against the Bruins on Friday night and wanted to extend their winning streak to four games.

Joel Bouchard didn’t make any changes to the starting lines and defensive pairings to start the game, and gave Charlie Lindgren the start in net. In his last start, Lindgren made 34 saves against Providence on Wednesday, leading Laval to a 5-4 shootout win.  

It was a special game for Riley Barber as it was his first game against his former team, after spending four seasons in the organization. Kale Kessy didn’t give Barber an easy time in the first period as both players exchanged slashes and checks throughout the period. 

Kessy was looking to start something on the ice as in one of his shifts, he drove Charles Hudon to the stanchion, slashed Barber, and checked Josh Brook along the boards. The officials on the ice sent Kessy to the box when he dropped his gloves looking for an opponent. 

On the ensuing power play, there was a delayed penalty called that would give Laval a two-man advantage and sent Lindgren to the bench for the extra attacker. During the six-on-four, Ryan Poehling was left alone to the left of Vitek Vanecek and scored his second goal in two games, and extended his point streak to four games. Poehling’s goal was on a tic tac toe play with Dale Weise and Alex Belzile.  

Laval did a good defensively allowing only five shots in the first frame. Lindgren made a left pad save while laying on his stomach in the first half of the period. Brett Leason’s had his team best scoring chance as his wrist shot hit the post to the right of Lindgren with 1:40 remaining. 

Lindgren was tested again during the second period as Steve Whitney and Mike Sgarbossa were in the crease but weren’t able to get it by Laval’s goalie. At the 8:39 mark of the second period, Hershey tied the game as Connor Hobbs scored on a one timer from the point that beat Lindgren on his blocker side. 

Lukas Vejdemo setup Nikita Jevpalovs’ second goal of the season. Jevpalovs beat Vanecek thanks to some nifty stick moves in front of the net.  

With 3:25 remaining in the second period, Joe Snively tied the game with a glove side wrist shot from the slot. 

Brian Pinho gave Hershey their first lead of the game early in the third period, as he was alone in front of the net and beat Lindgren with a top corner shot on the blocker side. 

After that goal, Bouchard made changes to the top three lines to try to ignite the offence. Belzile replaced Barber on the second line while Barber was moved to third line, and Joe Cox played to the right of Charles Hudon and Poehling. 

The changes generated some scoring chances for Laval, but weren’t able to tie the game. Liam O’Brien put the final nail in the coffin by scoring an empty net goal with five seconds remaining.

Laval finished their home stand by adding four of the possible six points to the standings. They now begin a three game road trip on Wednesday night against the Belleville Senators, before heading to Hartford on Friday, and Providence on Saturday. 

Listen to full audio of player and coach post-game interviews in the audio player below.

Plus / Minus

▲  Ryan Poehling, Josh Brook, Charlie Lindgren

▼  Riley Barber, Phil Varone, Alexandre Alain, Maxim Lamarche