Rocket Lineup

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Jean-Sebastien Dea – Jesse Ylonen

Danick Martel – Lukas Vejdemo – Alex Belzile

Gabriel Bourque – Nate Schnarr – Joel Teasdale

Kevin Roy – Brandon Gignac – Jean-Christophe Beaudin

Xavier Ouellet – Sami Niku

Tobie Paquette-Bisson – Louie Belpedio

Terrance Amorosa – Tory Dello

Kevin Poulin – Gabriel Mollot-Hill

Emil Heineman, Olivier Galipeau, Devante Smith-Pelly, Peter Abbandonato, Lucas Condotta, Nicolas Mattinen, Owen Savory

Gianni Fairbrother (undisclosed), Cameron Hillis, Cedric Paquette (DTD)

Game Report

Game Report written by Amy Johnson

It was a long bus ride from Rochester, NY to Cleveland, OH on Wednesday night, not just in terms of travel time, but also after the Laval Rocket saw their four-game win streak snapped by the Amerks in a 4-3 overtime loss.

With their first of two matchups against the Monsters bumped up from Friday night to Thursday night, due to an unexpected NBA playoff game getting scheduled, the Rocket didn’t have long to think about the point they left behind at Blue Cross Arena. Instead, they needed to focus on the task ahead: coming out of Cleveland with the four potential points up for grabs.

Earlier in the day, the Rocket signed UMass-Lowell goaltender Owen Savory to a PTO, a former teammate of new forward Lucas Condotta. The move likely indicates that Laval might not be getting Cayden Primeau back from the Montreal Canadiens as soon as they’d like, and needed some reinforcements to help Kevin Poulin‘s workload.

Gabriel Bourque returned to the Laval lineup from injury, and Jean-Christophe Beaudin suited up for his 200th AHL game on this night.

First Period

Facing an AHL “newbie” in net for the Cleveland Monsters, the Rocket looked to make life difficult for goaltender Linden Marshall. The netminder was making his first AHL start after spending four years in the NCAA.

Laval poured on the pressure early on, with Tobie Paquette-Bisson and Louie Belpedio each firing dangerous-looking shots on goal. The visiting team also got the first power play of the evening when Justin Scott cross-checked Lukas Vejdemo into the glass in the corner, but the Rocket weren’t able to get a puck past Marshall.

It took until the final three minutes of the period before anyone lit the lamp. Jean-Sebastien Dea ripped a shot from the slot after Joel Teasdale fed the puck to him from the corner.

Second Period

It took less than three minutes into the middle frame for the Rocket to double their score. Alex Belzile skated into the zone and wasted no time firing a quick wrister from the circle to beat Marshall blocker side.

Just under two minutes later, the score was 3-0 for the Rocket after Nate Schnarr snapped a shot into the Cleveland net off a back pass from Bourque.

Was that enough? Nope. Brandon Gignac tossed his hat in the ring when, about two minutes after Schnarr’s goal, he drove the net and went forehand-backhand around the Cleveland goaltender to put the puck over the goal line. For those keeping track, that was three goals in less than four minutes.

The game got more physical as the minutes wore on. At least twice in this period there were significant scrums after whistles, including some penalties being handed out resulting in four-on-four play.

Third Period

A pattern had certainly emerged by this point in the game. Once again, less than two minutes in, Dea scored again. This time it was a loose puck in the crease that Rafael Harvey-Pinard couldn’t settle down that Dea picked up and put in the net.

Moments later, Beaudin capitalized on a turnover in the offensive zone and made it 6-0 for Laval.

Dea and Terrance Amorosa took back-to-back penalties in this frame, but the Laval penalty killers did their job and kept the Monsters without a goal throughout.

What’s Next?

Plus / Minus

▲ Jean-Sebastien Dea, Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Jean-Christophe Beaudin, Brandon Gignac

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