Rocket Lineup

Anthony Richard – Peter Abbandonato – Joel Teasdale

Lucas Condotta – Mitchell Stephens – Xavier Simoneau

Gabriel Bourque – Brandon Gignac – Pierrick Dube

Riley McKay – Jan Mysak – John Parker-Jones

William Trudeau – Corey Schueneman

Nicolas Beaudin – Olivier Galipeau

Mattias Norlinder – Madison Bowey

Cayden Primeau – Philippe Desrosiers

Rafael Harvey-Pinard (emergency NHL recall), Rem Pitlick (emergency NHL recall), Jesse Ylonen (emergency NHL recall), Alex Belzile (emergency NHL recall), John Parker-Jones, Tory Dello, Nate Schnarr

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

Game Report

Game Report written by Chris G

The Laval Rocket began a four-game homestand on Wednesday by hosting the Rochester Americans. Laval ended a disappointing five-game road trip on Saturday with a 3-2 loss to the Toronto Marlies. The Canadiens AHL affiliate collected three of the 10 available points in the standings during the trip. Rochester rolled into Place Bell on a three-game winning streak.

Corey Schueneman found his way back to the lineup after returning to Laval from his stint in Montreal that began on February 18th. Tory Dello was not in the lineup due to illness. Up front, Nate Schnarr sat out in the favour of John Parker-Jones.

Cayden Primeau got the start in goal for the fourth consecutive match. On Saturday, he made 46 saves in the defeat to the Marlies. Kevin Poulin was not available to backup Primeau due to an upper body injury. Philippe Desrosiers was recalled from the Trois-Rivieres Lions to to replace him.

First Period

Rochester obtained the first quality scoring chance when a turnover by Anthony Richard led to a 2-on-0 rush. Primeau made the pad save on Michael Mersch to prevent the visitors from getting the lead.

Laval had the first power play of the night. They were able to capitalize three seconds after the penalty expired as Pierrick Dube tapped in the rebound from the side of the net.

The home team added to their lead 1:04 later when Peter Abbandonato beat goalie Malcolm Subban with a wrist shot from the top of the faceoff circle.

Moments later, Subban robbed Gabriel Bourque from a sure goal as he slid post-to-post to make a glove stop. Bourque looked in the sky in disbelief of the missed opportunity.

The Rocket got themselves in trouble as Mattias Norlinder and Olivier Galipeau took consecutive minor penalties. Laval’s penalty kill units held Rochester to three shots on goal during the two infractions.

The Americans got on the board with 23 seconds remaining in the frame when Brandon Biro beat Primeau with a shot from between the two faceoff circles.

Second Period

Rochester picked where they left off from the final minute of the first and scored twice early in the second period. First, Tyson Kozak was left alone in the crease to the left of Primeau and had no trouble in putting the puck in the back of the net when the rebound wound up on his stick.

Thirty seconds later, Lawrence Pilut made a no-look pass from the back of the net to Biro that fooled Primeau and gave a big hole for the goal to be scored. Jean-Francois Houle called a timeout to calm the troops.

Laval made it 3-3 later in the period when Lucas Condotta from the back of the net found Mitchell Stephens in the front of the net. Stephens extended his point streak to three games by beating Subban with a backhander.

Less than two minutes later, Richard was fighting off a defender when he found Brandon Gignac in the slot for a goal. It was Gignac’s sixth goal in the last eight games.

With 3:04 remaining in the frame, Bourque got revenge on Subban by beating him with a blocker side goal and send Laval to the dressing room with a two-goal lead through 40 minutes.

Third Period

Rochester cut the deficit to one goal early in the period while Stephens was in the box. Biro tapped in a trickling puck in the net to record a hat trick.

A little over three minutes later, the teams were playing four-on-four when William Trudeau bounced on the rebound from Richard’s breakaway to restore the two-goal lead. The goal was originally waived off but the officials reviewed the sequence to overturn the call. Richard’s assist was his 11th point in the last eight games.

Riley McKay collected his third point of the game later in the period by redirecting Schueneman’s point shot behind Subban. Seven minutes later, Mason Jobst stole the puck from Madison Bowey and beat Primeau to cut the lead to two goals.

Subban was pulled for the extra attacker with 3:30 remaining but Rochester failed to get any more pucks to cross the red line.

What’s Next?

Plus / Minus

▲ Corey Schueneman, Jan Mysak, Gabriel Bourque, Olivier Galipeau, Riley McKay, William Trudeau

▼ Madison Bowey, Joel Teasdale