Rocket Lineup

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Alex Belzile – Rem Pitlick

Anthony Richard – Mitchell Stephens – Lucas Condotta

Joel Teasdale – Peter Abbandonato – Gabriel Bourque

Xavier Simoneau – Nate Schnarr – John Parker-Jones

William Trudeau – Corey Schueneman

Mattias Norlinder – Eric Williams

Olivier Galipeau – Santino Centorame

Kevin Poulin – Joe Vrbetic

Pierrick Dube, Anthony Beauregard

Gianni Fairbrother (knee), Madison Bowey (upper-body), Jan Mysak (DTD), Danick Martel (DTD), Otto Leskinen, Brandon Gignac, Tory Dello, Nicolas Beaudin

Game Report

Game Report written by Amy Johnson

After suffering a 4-2 loss to the Toronto Marlies on Sunday, and losing defenseman Nicolas Beaudin to injury, the Laval Rocket continued their road trip on Wednesday with a visit to the Rochester Americans.

Two NHL recalls and one AHL reassignment affected Laval’s roster for Wednesday’s game. Cayden Primeau was called up to Montreal on Monday on an emergency basis after it was announced that Jake Allen was day-to-day with an upper-body injury. This move led to Joe Vrbetic being recalled from the ECHL to tandem with Kevin Poulin.

Also, forward Anthony Richard was reassigned to Laval as he was nearing the end of his waiver-exempt eligibility status in the NHL. In his place, the Canadiens recalled forward Jesse Ylonen on Wednesday morning for his first NHL callup of the year.

First Period

Less than two minutes into the game, Rochester had an early lead. Michael Mersch had numbers entering the Laval zone and Eric Williams, making his Rocket debut on a PTO from the ECHL, wasn’t able to stop Mersch from getting a shot off. The puck sailed past Poulin short side to give the Amerks a 1-0 lead.

Rochester would go on to only register one more shot on goal, compared to the 16 shots that Laval peppered Malcolm Subban with. Despite a tremendously lopsided shot clock, however, the score remained the same through 20 minutes of play. The Rocket maintained most of the puck possession and even put some good shots on net, but couldn’t find a way past Subban.

Second Period

Play evened out a bit more in the second period, as Rochester was able to get a fair amount of shots on net. But it was Laval who lit the lamp this time, after Mitchell Stephens fed the puck back to Lucas Condotta who fired a quick one-timer from the circle to tie the game at 1-1.

With just 1:33 left in the frame, the first whistle was blown for a penalty in the game. Rochester was guilty of an elbowing infraction, sending Laval to a power play which would extend into the third period.

Third Period

Laval wasn’t able to convert the power play opportunity and both teams tightened up defensively even more in the third period – particularly in the Rochester end. The Rocket were beginning to have difficulty getting pucks through, and then succeeded in taking their first penalty of the game. Olivier Galipeau headed to the box to serve an interference penalty.

The penalty kill was cut short, however, when the Amerks were called for a tripping penalty. After a quick round of four-on-four hockey, the Rocket had 1:27 on the man advantage. 

They weren’t able to convert that opportunity, but Rochester was quick to put the puck in the back of the net soon after the play returned to five-on-five hockey. Linus Weissbach got Poulin moving pipe-to-pipe and managed to place the puck perfectly between his pads.

An empty-netter by Mersch in the final seconds of the game was enough to hand Laval their third consecutive loss.

What’s Next?

For the second time this week, the Rocket posted more than 40 shots on goal (more than 50 on Sunday) while only scoring once or twice, while at the same time being defeated by teams that registered 17 shots on goal.

Laval now travels to Syracuse where they’ll take on the Crunch on Friday night.

Plus / Minus

▲ William Trudeau, Lucas Condotta, Rem Pitlick

▼ Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Nate Schnarr