Rocket Lineup

Laurent Dauphin – Jean-Sebastien Dea – Jesse Ylonen

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Lukas Vejdemo – Alex Belzile

Michael Pezzetta – Jean-Christophe Beaudin – Gabriel Bourque

Brandon Baddock – Brandon Gignac – Danick Martel

Gianni Fairbrother – Xavier Ouellet

Corey Schueneman – Louie Belpedio

Tobie Paquette-Bisson – Carl Neill

Cayden Primeau – Michael McNiven

Alexandre Fortin, Terrance Amorosa, Tory Dello, Kevin Roy

Joel Teasdale (surgery), Josh Brook (surgery), Ryan Poehling (undisclosed)

Game Report

Game Report written by Amy Johnson

On the heels of a south-of-the-border road trip that included Laval’s first shutout of the year, the Rocket returned home to Place Bell to kick off a three-game home stand. The Toronto Marlies, one of their bitter division rivals, were the first guests of the week.

Jean-Francois Houle made minor changes to his lineup, promoting Lukas Vejdemo to the second line with Rafael Harvey-Pinard and Alex Belzile and bumping Laurent Dauphin to the top line. On the back end, Carl Neill replaced Tory Dello on the third pairing for his second game of the season.

In goal, Cayden Primeau was given the start. This isn’t typically a topic of discussion here in the game report, but this day is a bit different. Primeau got the start despite having played on Sunday when the team was blanked 3-0 by the Bridgeport Islanders. This was a deviation from Houle’s pre-season plan to alternate the goaltenders for the first portion of the season to give them balanced ice time. However, the coach even told listeners on our The Press Zone podcast that ice time would be a priority for Primeau as the organization looks to further his development.

This all comes after Michael McNiven made his voice heard on Tuesday in an interview with RDS, where he set the record straight on his first game performance of the season and the organization’s usage of him over the years. Amy Johnson and Rick Stephens discussed the matter in-depth on this week’s episode of The Press Zone – Montreal.

And now, let’s talk about tonight’s hockey game.

First Period

If the Rocket were looking to make a statement after dropping a goose egg against the Islanders, they certainly came up big in this game. Right out of the gate Laval looked hungry and Toronto looked unsteady.

Not even two minutes had ticked by after opening puck drop before Michael Pezzetta found the back of the net for the second time this season, firing home a rebound off of Joseph Woll‘s pads from a sharp angle.

A couple of minutes later, Marlies defenseman Alex Biega hit Rafael Harvey-Pinard up high, spinning the young forward around and down to the ice, and he was sent to the dressing room with a match penalty for a check to the head. Harvey-Pinard was assisted off the ice but would eventually return to the game later in the period.

Coming into the game, Laval’s power play was ranked 29th in the league, but sticks woke up on the man advantage tonight. Louie Belpedio scored his first goal in a Laval sweater when he took a pass from Danick Martel who was parked below the goal line and fired a quick shot from the left circle to beat Woll.

Toronto then took another penalty while they were already on an extended kill, and the Rocket made them pay again when Dauphin scored a similar goal to Pezzetta’s but from the opposite side of the net.

Just seconds before the period expired, Pezzetta put a questionable hit on Brett Seney to which the Marlies forward took exception. No penalty was called in real time, but during the intermission officials determined that both players would get a roughing minor and five minutes for fighting.

Second Period

Laval didn’t let up in the middle frame and killed off a Gianni Fairbrother penalty early in the period. Just after that penalty expired, Dauphin scored his second goal of the night. This time he picked up a loose puck in the defensive zone and backhanded it five-hole through Woll.

The Marlies looked like they were reeling from the onslaught, struggling to generate much of anything in the offensive zone. Through 40 minutes of play Toronto only had registered nine shots on goal. Primeau had not had much work to do in his crease.

Another fight clocked in about halfway through the game when Brandon Baddock and Rich Clune dropped the gloves. No one would question that Baddock was the victor in that bout.

Before the end of the period, Jean-Sebastien Dea added his name to the score sheet off a couple of nice passing plays by Fairbrother and Jesse Ylonen. Dea was parked close to the net and found some open space to puck the puck over the line. That goal chased Woll for the night, bringing Erik Kallgren into Toronto’s crease in relief.

Third Period

While there were no additional goals scored at either end of the ice in the third period, there was plenty of action for fans to get excited about. Both teams combined for eight different penalties in the third period, before what amounted to a line brawl broke out with just over two minutes left in the game.

With equipment scattered all over the ice, the officials tacked another 12 penalties onto the score sheet. That’s 20 infractions in the third period for both teams combined, 30 in the entire game. It amounted to 131 penalty minutes, including one match penalty, one 10-minute misconduct, 13 fighting majors, and two game misconducts.

In the end, Laval reigned supreme in the first of eight meetings between these two rivals. It’s safe to say their next encounter will probably have an edge to it.

What’s Next?

The Rocket continue their home stand on Friday night when the Rochester Americans come to town. They’ll play the Amerks again on Saturday afternoon for a 1:00 pm matinee game.

Be sure to scroll down to hear post-game interviews with Houle, Pezzetta, Fairbrother, and Dauphin conducted by the AHL Report team and other members of the media.

Plus / Minus

▲ Laurent Dauphin, Gianni Fairbrother, Jesse Ylonen, Tobie Paquette-Bisson, Cayden Primeau

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