Rocket Lineup

Danick Martel – Ryan Poehling – Cole Caufield

Gabriel Bourque – Laurent Dauphin – Jean-Sebastien Dea

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Lukas Vejdemo – Jesse Ylonen

Brandon Baddock – Brendan Gignac – Alexandre Fortin

Mattias Norlinder – Xavier Ouellet

Corey Schueneman – Louie Belpedio

Gianni Fairbrother – Tobie Paquette-Bisson

Cayden Primeau – Michael McNiven

Carl Neill, Kevin Roy

Joel Teasdale (surgery), Josh Brook (surgery), Tory Dello (DTD), Jean-Christophe Beaudin (DTD)

Game Report

Game Report written by Amy Johnson

The Rocket returned to Place Bell on Wednesday night to kick off another three-game home stand. Coming off of a disappointing two-loss road trip last weekend against the Syracuse Crunch and Utica Comets, Laval needed to come up with a win on this night to stop a four-game losing streak.

Cole Caufield and Mattias Norlinder both made their Place Bell debuts, playing in front of the home crowd for the first time. Fans packed the seats to see these two top prospects, with just over 5,000 in attendance.

As for their opponent, the Belleville Senators had a big challenge ahead of them as their lineup had become depleted between injuries and losing players to Ottawa callups due to COVID-19 absences in the NHL lineup.

First Period

The Rocket came out firing on all cylinders to start the game, putting a lot of pressure on the Senators and goaltender Mats Sogaard in the first 10 minutes of the period. Caufield and Jesse Ylonen both had prime opportunities on net, but couldn’t get the puck to cross the goal line.

Instead, it was Alexandre Fortin who lit the lamp first, scoring his first goal of the season off a slick feed from Gianni Fairbrother. The assist boosted Fairbrother to seven points on the season (1G/6A).

It was a dominant period for the Rocket, particularly on the shot clock, where they led Belleville 12-4 at the end of the period.

Second Period

The Senators opened the second frame with a tripping penalty just six minutes after the opening faceoff. Caufield came oh-so-close to scoring on the power play, but again just couldn’t finish it.

But then, a little while later, the young forward made a nifty defensive move to strip the puck from a Belleville skater and quickly skated up ice with lots of room to shoot. The puck bounced off of Sogaard’s pads and directly to a waiting Ryan Poehling on the other side, who easily banked it into an open net.

Toward the end of the period, Belleville started to turn on the pressure and was able to put a good amount of pucks on net, but Cayden Primeau stood tall. Until then, things had been fairly quiet in his crease.

Third Period

The Senators picked things up right where they left off to start the third period and absolutely barraged the Rocket net with shots. They outshot Laval 15-5 in the final frame, but it was all for naught as Primeau shut the door. Gabriel Bourque finished things off with an empty-net goal for his first of the year.

Overall, the game was a definite improvement all around for the Rocket. Despite not being able to convert on their three power play opportunities, they did manage to remain much more disciplined and took only one penalty in the game.

What’s Next?

After the game, and according to previously announced plans by Montreal head coach Dom Ducharme, Mattias Norlinder was recalled to the Canadiens to end his conditioning stint. At the same time, the Habs also recalled Poehling to the NHL club.

The Rocket now have two familiar opponents they recently faced on the road to welcome this weekend: the Bridgeport Islanders come to town on Friday night, followed by a visit from the Utica Comets on Saturday afternoon.

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

Plus / Minus

▲ Ryan Poehling, Jesse Ylonen, Cole Caufield, Gianni Fairbrother, Cayden Primeau

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