Rocket Lineup

Anthony Richard – Peter Abbandonato – Joel Teasdale

Xavier Simoneau – Brandon Gignac – Gabriel Bourque

Lucas Condotta – Mitchell Stephens – Nate Schnarr

Riley McKay – Jan Mysak – Nicolas Beaudin (seventh defenseman)

William Trudeau – Corey Schueneman

Mattias Norlinder – Tory Dello

Olivier Galipeau – Madison Bowey

Cayden Primeau – Philippe Desrosiers

Rafael Harvey-Pinard (emergency NHL recall), Rem Pitlick (emergency NHL recall), Eric Williams, Mattias Norlinder (illness), Jesse Ylonen (emergency NHL recall), Alex Belzile (emergency NHL recall), John Parker-Jones

Gianni Fairbrother (knee), Danick Martel (DTD), Otto Leskinen, Kevin Poulin

Game Report

Game Report written by Chris G

The Laval Rocket returned to action on Friday following the All-Star break by hosting the Syracuse Crunch. Prior to the break, Laval defeated the Toronto Marlies 7-3, while Syracuse lost 5-3 to the Charlotte Checkers. Friday was the fifth matchup between the division rivals with the home team winning each of the first four times.

There was several roster movements ahead of the game. Up front, Jesse Ylonen and Alex Belzile were recalled by the Montreal Canadiens, and Pierrick Dube was loaned to Team France for the 4 Nations Cup in Denmark.

To replace the trio, Jean-Francois Houle was able to count on Jan Mysak for the first time since Dec. 3rd due to a lower body injury, and on Riley McKay following his recall from the Trois-Rivieres Lions.

Houle dressed seven players on defence. Nicolas Beaudin returned to action after missing the last 11 games with an upper body injury, Mattias Norlinder was back after missing last weekend’s games due to illness.

Cayden Primeau got the start in goal. In his last start, Primeau stopped 34 pucks in a victory against the Marlies.

First Period

The match started as a tight defensive battle between the rivals. Several blocked shots and a lot of time in the neutral zone. Syracuse only had two shots on goal through the first seven minutes.

The Crunch opened the scoring at the 7:53 mark when Alex Barre-Boulet stole the puck away from Xavier Simoneau at the back of the net and Gabriel Dumont set up Rudolfs Balcers for the goal.

Laval finally got a shot on goalie Hugo Alnefelt during the ninth minute of the contest.

William Trudeau got the first infraction of the night after clearing the puck directly into the stands. The Crunch took three shots during the two minute span.

The Rocket capitalized on their first power play opportunity when Anthony Richard found Joel Teasdale in the slot. Teasdale buried the puck behind the goalie for his fourth goal in the last five games.

Second Period

Syracuse put themselves in a difficult position in the first half of the period by taking a pair of minor penalties.

Good news for them is that they shut the door defensively against Laval and allowed a total of two shots on goal during the penalty kills.

McKay received a hooking minor later in the period and the Crunch were not able to get any dangerous opportunities until the final two seconds where they tested Primeau with three shots on goal. The Rocket goalie swirled in his creased to make the stops.

Third Period

Laval took the lead 5:06 into the third period on a sequence that began when Norlinder carried the puck from his own zone to the offensive zone and then made a pass to Gabriel Bourque and he setup Mitchell Stephens for a blocker side goal.

Later on the period, Teasdale was stopped point blank by Alnefelt and Peter Abbandonato picked up the rebound to score. On the sequence, Philippe Myers’ knee made contact with Alnefelt’s head that knocked the goalie out of position to make the save. The four officials huddled and overturned the call. Houle seemed furious with the decision.

The team remained calm despite the controversy and made several blocks on Syracuse shots. Teasdale sealed the victory with an empty net goal with 35 seconds remaining.

What’s Next?

Laval’s 3-1 win was their ninth consecutive win against Syracuse at Place Bell. The Crunch was the better team for 60 minutes, but Primeau made 39 saves to contribute to the victory.

The Rocket host the Utica Comets on Saturday at 7:00pm Eastern.

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

Plus / Minus

▲ Cayden Primeau, Joel Teasdale, Mitchell Stephens, Brandon Gignac

▼ Nicolas Beaudin, Olivier Galipeau, Xavier Simoneau, William Trudeau