Rocket Lineup

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Alex Belzile – Rem Pitlick

Lucas Condotta – Mitchell Stephens – Jesse Ylonen

Joel Teasdale – Peter Abbandonato – Gabriel Bourque

Pierrick Dube – Anthony Beauregard – John Parker-Jones

William Trudeau – Corey Schueneman

Mattias Norlinder – Tory Dello

Olivier Galipeau – Santino Centorame

Kevin Poulin – Joe Vrbetic

N/A

Gianni Fairbrother (knee), Nate Schnarr (lower-body), Cayden Primeau (upper-body), Madison Bowey (upper-body), Jan Mysak (DTD), Danick Martel (DTD), Xavier Simoneau (upper-body), Otto Leskinen, Brandon Gignac

Game Report

Game Report written by Chris G  

The Laval Rocket returned to action for the first time on Wednesday since their Christmas pause. Laval hosted Syracuse at Place Bell to begin their four-game homestand. These two teams faced each other on Dec. 21st with the Crunch winning 2-1 at home.

Jean-Francois Houle was forced to make changes to the lineup since the last matchup. Forward Brandon Gignac was not available due to a lower body injury. Anthony Beauregard was recalled from the Trois-Rivieres Lions and dressed for his first AHL game since the 2017-18 when he dressed for 10 game with the Rocket. Beauregard currently leads the Lions with 12 goals and 20 points.

On defence, Nicolas Beaudin was loaned to Team Canada for the Spengler Cup. Santino Centorame was recalled from the ECHL and made his AHL debut. In 14 games with Trois-Rivieres, Centorame has recorded three points. Kevin Poulin got the start in goal. In Syracuse, he made 26 saves in Laval’s loss.

First Period

Laval opened the scoring 5:04 into the period on an odd-man rush. Alex Belzile‘s wrap around attempt was stopped by goalie Max Lagace when defenceman Ryan Jones cleared the puck with his glove right to Rem Pitlick. Pitlick had the open net to score.

The Rocket increased the lead midway through the period when Peter Abbandonato made a pass to Joel Teasdale on one knee as he fell on the ice. Teasdale converted the opportunity to record his fourth goal in the last five games.

Corey Schueneman made it 3-0 by beating Lagace with a shot from the top of the faceoff circle. The goal ended the defenceman’s eight-game scoring drought.

Laval obtained a power play with 2:32 remaining in the period, but Syracuse prevented them from taking a shot on goal during the minor period.

Olivier Galipeau ended the period in the penalty box for interference that carried over to the start of the second period.

Second Period

Galipeau thanked his teammates for killing his penalty by scoring his first career AHL goal at the 6:11 mark. The defenceman pinched in and was setup by Abbandonato in the slot. With the assist, Abbandonato has collected nine points in last nine games.

Syracuse got on the board midway through the period when Declan Carlile from behind the net found Alex Barre-Boulet in the slot for the goal.

Galipeau returned to the box again 31 seconds after the Crunch’s goal. Poulin contributed to shutting down Syracuse with the man advantage including a pad save on Gabriel Dumont who shot from the crease area.

William Trudeau made it 5-1 with his first career goal as a pro. Pierrick Dube made a backhanded pass to Trudeau from behind the net and the defenceman found an opening between Lagace and the post for the goal.

Third Period

Syracuse replaced Lagace with Jack LaFontaine in goal to start the third period.

Laval took advantage of the cold goalie with their first shot when Pitlick setup Belzile for one-timer goal during the second minute of action.

Mattias Norlinder and John Parker-Jones took consecutive minor penalties and the Crunch capitalized once. Barre-Boulet netted his second of the night with a shot from the blue line through traffic.

Gabriel Fortier added a goal 24 seconds later for Syracuse after redirecting Philippe Myers‘ point shot.

The Crunch pulled their goalie hoping to tie the game but were not able to get any more passed Poulin. Poulin continued his solid performance by making several key saves.

What’s Next?

Laval’s 6-3 win snapped Syracuse’s four-game winning streak. In the final moments of the contest, there was a 10-player scrum that began after Gabriel Dumont cross checked Belzile. The animosity between the division rivals will potentially carry over to Friday’s rematch.

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

Plus / Minus

▲ Kevin Poulin, Tory Dello, Alex Belzile, Joel Teasdale, William Trudeau, Peter Abbandonato

▼ Jesse Ylonen, John Parker-Jones