Rocket Lineup

Yannick Veilleux – Laurent Dauphin – Jan Mysak

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Jordan Weal – Josh Brook

Brandon Baddock – Lukas Vejdemo – Jake Lucchini

Arsen Khisamutdinov – Cameron Hillis – Tristan Pomerleau (7th D)

Corey Schueneman – Otto Leskinen

Tobie Paquette-Bisson – Cale Fleury

Terrance Amorosa – Gustav Olofsson

Michael McNiven – Andrew D’Agostini (emergency backup)

Nathanael Halbert, Jacob LeGuerrier, Liam Hawel, Vasily Demchenko (COVID-19 precautions)

Ryan Poehling (undisclosed), Joel Teasdale (surgery), Joseph Blandisi (surgery), Michael Pezzetta (surgery)

Game Report

Game Report written by Amy Johnson

The Rocket kicked off their five-game final series of the season against the Toronto Marlies with a resounding 4-2 victory on Tuesday night. Less than 24 hours later, the teams were back on the ice at Coca-Cola Coliseum to face each other again.

However, things looked a little different on both benches this afternoon. For starters, Xavier Ouellet and Jesse Ylonen were recalled to the Montreal Canadiens to play in tonight’s final game of the regular season for the Habs. It will be Ylonen’s NHL debut.

That meant Tristan Pomerleau would draw into Joel Bouchard‘s lineup, marking his AHL debut. In addition, Michael McNiven was scheduled to get the start in net, however Vasily Demchenko was not available to be his backup goaltender. Reportedly, Demchenko was experiencing COVID-19-like symptoms today and, despite testing negative, was sent back to Montreal.

So who would dress as the Rocket’s backup goaltender? In the time of a pandemic, options are limited. Toronto Marlies netminder Andrew D’Agostini drew in as the Laval emergency backup, but did not dress with the team, nor did he take warmups with them.

Finally, Marlies head coach Greg Moore did not appear behind the bench today. His assistants took over the coaching duties while he stayed out for an “abundance of caution” due to COVID-19 protocols.

First Period

Toronto looked much more prepared to start this game then they had on Tuesday night. The Marlies came out with a lot of energy, and managed to get on the board in the opening four minutes of play. Mikko Kokonen scored his first North American goal when he snapped a shot past McNiven from the high slot.

Brandon Baddock then proceeded to almost immediately get whistled for tripping, giving the Marlies an opportunity to double their score on the man advantage. Laval’s penalty killers, however, locked up the defensive zone and no shots got past McNiven.

Baddock would later take an interference penalty, but the Rocket PK did its job once again and then some. Yannick Veilleux and Lukas Vejdemo took advantage when Timothy Liljegren went down in the neutral zone and the two Laval forwards took off on a two-on-none breakaway. Veilleux maintained possession of the puck and easily dished it around Joseph Woll and over the goal line.

Second Period

Things opened up quite a bit for the Marlies in the second period, as Laval continued to parade themselves to the penalty box.

Jordan Weal went off first, for tripping, and Tyler Gaudet capitalized on the man advantage opportunity when he buried a big one-timer from near the blue line.

Later in the period, with Tobie Paquette-Bisson in the box for interference, Pavel Gogolev scored his third goal of the season on a one-timer from the right circle off a cross-ice feed from Liljegren.

The Rocket finally had an opportunity for a power play of their own, but couldn’t convert it into a goal for the visiting team. Josh Brook, playing at forward for the third consecutive game, made a solid effort to close the goal gap with four (yes, four!) good shots on Woll in close, but the Marlies goaltender robbed him each time.

Third Period

Laval came out firing on all cylinders in the final frame, attempting to mount at least a three-goal comeback to take the lead. They outshot the Marlies 8-1 in the opening 10 minutes of the period, but couldn’t get anything through Woll.

McNiven, all things considered, had a relatively easy period, facing just two shots on goal from Toronto.

Vejdemo provided the needed spark, just minutes before the end of regulation, when he deflected the puck in close to bring the Rocket within one goal of the Marlies, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the goal deficit.

What’s Next?

Laval now heads back to Montreal, where they’ll close out the season with three more games against the Marlies on Friday, Saturday, and Monday.

Be sure to scroll down to hear post-game interviews with Pomerleau, Veilleux, and Bouchard by the AHL Report team and other members of the media.

Plus / Minus

▲  Josh Brook, Lukas Vejdemo, Laurent Dauphin

▼  Brandon Baddock, Arsen Khisamutdinov