Rocket Lineup

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Brandon Gignac – Jesse Ylonen

Anthony Richard – Xavier Simoneau – Joel Teasdale

Lucas Condotta – Peter Abbandonato – Gabriel Bourque

Danick Martel – Jan Mysak – Mitchell Stephens

Corey Schueneman – Justin Barron

Mattias Norlinder – Madison Bowey

Nicolas Beaudin – Tory Dello

Kevin Poulin – Cayden Primeau

Otto Leskinen, Alex Green

Gianni Fairbrother (knee), Alex Belzile (upper body, day-to-day), William Trudeau (lower-body, out indefinitely), Nate Schnarr (lower-body, out indefinitely)

Game Report

Game Report written by Chris G

The Laval Rocket ended their six-game homestand on Saturday afternoon by hosting the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Laval was trying to bounce back from Friday’s overtime loss to the Toronto Marlies.

The Phantoms rolled in to Place Bell from Belleville, where they lost a fourth consecutive game on Friday night.

Jean-Francois Houle kept his forward group intact and made one change on defence. Madison Bowey returned to the lineup after sitting out on Friday and Alex Green was scratched.

Kevin Poulin got the start in goal. In his last start, Poulin allowed four goals in a loss against Rochester.

First Period

The Phantoms obtained the first dangerous scoring chances of the afternoon, but Poulin stood strong. Poulin stopped breakaway opportunities by Max Willman and Garrett Wilson within a 40 second timeframe.

Laval’s goalie couldn’t do anything on Lehigh Valley’s first goal. While killing a tripping minor to Jesse Ylonen, two of Laval’s penalty killers had no stick. The Phantoms jumped all over the opportunity as Cal O’Reilly scored with a wrist shot from the faceoff circle to the right of Poulin.

Laval’s best chances came from Justin Barron as his wrist shot rang the post and Joel Teasdale on an odd man rush that was stopped by goalie Samuel Ersson.

Second Period

The Rocket got two scoring chances early in the second period. First, Anthony Richard completed a cross ice pass to Corey Schueneman, and the defenceman’s shot hit the post.

Second, Mattias Norlinder found Tory Dello open, but Ersson made a spectacular glove save on Dello’s shot.

Laval got on the board with 3:48 remaining when Peter Abbandonato beat Ersson with a one-timer from the slot. Richard extended his point streak to seven games on his setup pass to Abbandonato.

The Phantoms didn’t waste any time to get the lead back as they capitalized on a two-on-one rush as Olle Lycksell capitalized on Barron pinching in the offensive zone.

Third Period

Laval put the pressure to start the third period outshooting Lehigh Valley 9-2 through the first half. Brandon Gignac came close to scoring after being setup by Mattias Norlinder.

Richard tied the game with 6:22 remaining by fighting off a defender and putting the puck between Ersson’s pads for the goal.

Former Rocket Louie Belpedio took a minor penalty with 3:01 remaining, but the Rocket were not able to convert on the opportunity.

Overtime was needed to settle the winner at Place Bell. Nicolas Beaudin was called for tripping in his own zone, and the Phantoms needed 14 seconds of the power play to end the contest.

What’s Next?

Laval ends their six-game homestand with a 1-3-2 record. The team will have two days off before hitting the ice on Tuesday, when the Canadiens development team will run the practice at Place Bell.

The Rocket begin a three-game road trip on Friday in Utica.

Be sure to scroll down for audio clips from tonight’s post-game media interviews with Martel, Abbandonato, Poulin, Harvey-Pinard and Houle, conducted by the AHL Report and other members of the press.

Plus / Minus

▲ Kevin Poulin, Mattias Norlinder, Anthony Richard, Peter Abbandonato

▼ Nicolas Beaudin, Jesse Ylonen, Mitchell Stephens, Justin Barron