Rocket Lineup

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Jean-Sebastien Dea – Kevin Roy

Cedric Paquette – Nate Schnarr – Jesse Ylonen

Gabriel Bourque – Brandon Gignac – Joel Teasdale

Justin Ducharme – Peter Abbandonato – Danick Martel

Xavier Ouellet – Nicolas Mattinen

Terrance Amorosa – Louie Belpedio

Darien Kielb – Olivier Galipeau

Cayden Primeau – Kevin Poulin

Devante Smith-Pelly, Jean-Christophe Beaudin, Sami Niku, Dominic Cormier

Lukas Vejdemo (upper-body injury), Alex Belzile (lower-body injury), Tobie Paquette-Bisson (undisclosed), Gianni Fairbrother (undisclosed), Josh Brook (lower-body injury), Cameron Hillis, Tory Dello

Game Report

Game Report written by Amy Johnson

The Laval Rocket were back on home ice again Wednesday night looking to keep the Belleville Senators from creeping further up the standings in the AHL’s North Division. The Rocket posted a pair of wins last weekend, finishing on Saturday with a dominant victory over the Hershey Bears, to catapult themselves into second place in the division.

With the dust settling after the trade deadline, Laval found themselves with a new face on centering the second line: former Utica Comets forward Nate Schnarr. Before the game, Schnarr said that he was excited to join the franchise. Head coach Jean-Francois Houle told us earlier in the day that he liked Schnarr’s size, speed, and skating in practice.

First Period

The opening faceoff was given to Schnarr to mark his first game with the team, and he rewarded the coach’s choice by immediately gaining control of the puck. As the game got underway, it seemed as if the two teams were playing a bit tentatively. On the Senators side of the ice, newcomer Zach Sensyshyn looked to settle into his new role and got plenty of opportunities.

Both goaltenders, Cayden Primeau and Mads Sogaard, had to make some key saves in the first 10 minutes of the game. The Senators also came away from the trade deadline with a new netminder: former Canadiens prospect Michael McNiven.

Neither team got a puck into their opponent’s net in the frame, and with shots favoring Belleville 12-4 in the period it was a much bigger task for Primeau. Even though he was perfect through 20 minutes of play, he took a long time to get up after his last two or three saves. Would he return in the second period?

Second Period

Yes, Primeau did return for the second period! It was a pretty uneventful period on both ends of the ice, despite Darien Kielb taking a four-minute high-sticking penalty. The Rocket successfully killed it off and even had some good chances shorthanded.

Finally, with about three and a half minutes left in the frame, Cedric Paquette opened the scoring when he went top shelf on Sogaard while driving the net on a two-on-one breakaway.

Just about 90 seconds later, however, the Senators evened the score when Clark Bishop ripped a shot past Primeau from the slot.

Third Period

Despite getting an opportunity late in the previous period to start the third with a lengthy power play, the Rocket weren’t able to find the finish to regain the lead. Both goaltenders continued their stand-up play throughout the remaining minutes in regulation and forced overtime.

There was a flurry of excitement late in the extra minutes when Belleville looked to have a few prime chances of finishing the game, but Primeau made a big stop on one and had some puck luck to keep it out of the net.

Neither Rafael Harvey-Pinard or Jesse Ylonen were able to get a puck past Sogaard in the shootout, but both Jake Lucchini and Egor Sokolov beat Primeau to give the Sens the two points for the night.

What’s Next?

The Rocket will next look for redemption on Friday and Saturday when they host the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Be sure to scroll down to hear post-game interviews with Xavier Ouellet, Paquette, Terrance Amorosa, and Houle by the AHL Report team and other members of the media.

Plus / Minus

▲ Jesse Ylonen, Cedric Paquette, Nate Schnarr

▼ Olivier Galipeau, Peter Abbandonato