Rocket Lineup

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Brandon Gignac – Xavier Simoneau

Anthony Richard – Mitchell Stephens – Jesse Ylonen

Gabriel Bourque – Jan Mysak – Alex Belzile

Lucas Condotta – Peter Abbandonato – Danick Martel

Corey Schueneman – Justin Barron

William Trudeau – Madison Bowey

Mattias Norlinder – Otto Leskinen

Kevin Poulin – Cayden Primeau

Brennan Saulnier, Alex Green, Pierrick Dube, Tory Dello, Nicolas Beaudin, Joel Teasdale, Nate Schnarr

Gianni Fairbrother (knee)

Game Report

Game Report written by Amy Johnson

After a complete rout of the Rochester Americans on Friday night, where Laval put up eight goals courtesy of seven different scorers, the two teams were back at it midafternoon on Saturday for a rematch.

With such a resounding victory less than 24 hours before, it’s no surprise that head coach Jean-Francois Houle opted to make no changes to his lineup this afternoon, aside from Kevin Poulin getting the start in net.

First Period

The Americans came out of the gate much more aggressively then they did on Friday night. In the opening five minutes, they were noticeably outshooting the Rocket and controlling the puck much more effectively.

Then Laval opened the scoring when Jesse Ylonen skated into the zone, into the middle of the ice, and fired a shot from the slot. Anthony Richard was near the crease to bang in the rebound and put the Rocket on the board first.

But over the course of the next three minutes or so, the Americans lit the lamp three times to take a commanding 3-1 lead. First it was Isak Rosen was one of many players in front of Poulin’s crease and managed to tap the puck over the goal line in the confusion.

Next, Anders Bjork skated into the Rocket’s zone and, using a Laval defenseman as a screen, quickly snapped a shot over Poulin’s far shoulder. And then Brandon Biro completed a slick centering pass to Linus Weissbach who made no mistake for Rochester’s two-goal lead.

Houle used his timeout to settle things down and get his bench refocused. The remainder of the period was uneventful, until the final few minutes when first Madison Bowey took an interference penalty, followed 1:22 later by Danick Martel and Jeremy Davies taking offsetting penalties, and then Alex Belzile and Sean Malone taking offsetting penalties of their own 22 seconds after that.

Second Period

Before the second period began, the Rocket announced that defenseman William Trudeau would not return to the game.

The first half of the period was a much tighter version of hockey at both ends of the ice than was seen in the opening frame. Neither team was giving up much in the neutral zone.

Then Laval was given a golden opportunity late in the period when first Oskari Laaskonen took a cross-checking minor, followed by a double minor for high-sticking by Mitch Eliot. In the almost five minutes of power play time, including some five-on-three action, the Rocket weren’t able to score.

Lucas Condotta took a late-period penalty, and just a second or two after Laval killed it off, the Amerks extended their lead with a Bretty Murray tip-in off of Brandon Biro‘s shot.

Third Period

Laval turned up the heat in the offensive zone in the final frame, trying anything to close the gap between them and the Amerks on the scoreboard, and succeeded in outshooting their opponents in the 20-minute frame but not much else.

Houle pulled his netminder with about five minutes left in the period, but it proved to not be helpful as Jiri Kulich managed to pot an empty-net goal to bring the score to 5-1.

What’s Next?

Plus / Minus

▲ Jesse Ylonen, Corey Schueneman, Anthony Richard

▼ Lucas Codotta, Brandon Gignac, Alex Belzile, Mattias Norlinder