Rocket Lineup

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Cedric Paquette – Jean-Sebastien Dea

Brandon Gignac – Lukas Vejdemo – Kevin Roy

Danick Martel – Nate Schnarr – Joel Teasdale

Peter Abbandonato – Jean-Christophe Beaudin – Gabriel Bourque

Xavier Ouellet – Sami Niku

Terrance Amorosa – Louie Belpedio

Olivier Galipeau – Nicolas Mattinen

Cayden Primeau – Kevin Poulin

Josh Brook, Lucas Condotta, Emil Heineman, Devante Smith-Pelly

Alex Belzile (lower-body injury), Tobie Paquette-Bisson (undisclosed), Gianni Fairbrother (undisclosed), Cameron Hillis, Tory Dello

Game Report

Game Report written by Amy Johnson

Coming home from a road trip that only saw the Rocket earning three out of a possible eight points, Jean-Francois Houle‘s team looked to get back on track with a slate of three home contests this week.

In Sunday’s game against Abbotsford, Laval looked to be the better team but could not take advantage of their opportunities, ultimately losing 3-1 to the Canucks. Now, with the Rochester Americans and Utica Comets coming to town this week, the Rocket will need to find ways to grab every point possible against their division rivals.

Cedric Paquette returned to the lineup from injury in tonight’s game, while Cayden Primeau was tapped for the start in net.

First Period

Starting the game on an early penalty kill was likely not in the game plan drawn up by Houle, but that’s where the Rocket found themselves. Just 1:41 after the opening faceoff, Terrance Amorosa was whistled for high-sticking. The Amerks had plenty of pressure at the net-front on the power play, but Primeau managed to keep them out of his net.

No sooner did Laval kill off that penalty, they found themselves shorthanded once again when Louie Belpedio was called for tripping. Rochester spent less time in the offensive zone on this power play, as the Rocket did a better job at getting the puck out.

Special teams continued to be the highlight, as the Amerks then gave Laval a chance on the power play. However, the Rocket’s struggles on the man advantage continued. Not only did they not score on the power play, they couldn’t even muster a single shot on net in the two minutes.

Then a flurry of activity around the net ended with a Rocket stick sweeping the puck away from the goal line after it had snuck past Primeau, which the Americans argued was a goal. Upon review by the officials, it was confirmed that Sean Malone had indeed scored.

Finally, the power play scoring drought dried up when, late in the period, Paquette tapped the puck across the goal line after a quick cross-crease feed from Jean-Sebastien Dea.

Second Period

The penalty parade stopped in the middle frame, and both teams were able to settle into a more regular even-strength rhythm. The coach juggled his lines around in this period, looking for a spark, and it paid off. Laval had a lot more jump in this period, and closed the gap on the shot clock immensely.

Joel Teasdale was rewarded for driving the net with his 10th goal of the season, with the puck deflecting into the Rochester net off of an Amerks defenseman.

The Rocket were granted another late-period power play opportunity when Teasdale was clipped with a high stick 20 seconds before intermission. It appeared that he may have lost a tooth in the process, and Laval was given four minutes of power play time.

Third Period

For the second time in the game, Laval managed to find the back of the net on the power play, after Dea fed a no-look pass across the crease to Rafael Harvey-Pinard, who made no mistake.

Teasdale added a second goal to his tally near the midway point of the period. Lukas Vejdemo carried the puck down below the goal line and shoveled it through a defender and out to the slot where Teasdale was waiting.

Just when it looked like Rochester might try to mount a comeback, scoring a goal when Primeau was screened, Dea negated that advance when he buried a big rebound in front of the Rochester net and made the score 5-2 for Laval. An empty-netter by Jean-Christophe Beaudin put this game away.

What’s Next?

The Rocket and Americans will face each other one more time this week, when they meet at Place Bell on Friday night.

Be sure to scroll down to hear full audio from post-game interviews with ?, and Houle conducted by our AHL Report correspondents and other members of the media.

Plus / Minus

▲ Jean-Sebastien Dea, Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Joel Teasdale

▼ Xavier Ouellet, Jean-Christophe Beaudin