Rocket Lineup

Anthony Richard – Mitchell Stephens – Jesse Ylonen

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Brandon Gignac – Xavier Simoneau

Lucas Condotta – Peter Abbandonato – Gabriel Bourque

Joel Teasdale – Jan Mysak – Danick Martel

Otto Leskinen – Justin Barron

Corey Schueneman – Madison Bowey

Mattias Norlinder – Tory Dello

Cayden Primeau – Kevin Poulin

Nicolas Beaudin, Alex Belzile, Nate Schnarr, Alex Green

Gianni Fairbrother (knee), William Trudeau (lower-body, out indefinitely)

Game Report

Game Report written by Chris G

The Laval Rocket began a four-game homestand on Wednesday by hosting the Abbotsford Canucks. Laval was coming off a three-game road trip with a loss in Hershey on Sunday. Abbotsford won their last game on Saturday against Henderson Silver Knights.

The Canadiens’ AHL affiliate was looking to get back on the right track after losing five of their last seven matches.

Jean-Francois Houle was forced to make changes to the lineup. Alex Belzile was sidelined with an undisclosed injury, Rem Pitlick was recalled by the Canadiens earlier in the day and Nate Schnarr was scratched. Peter Abbandonato, Joel Teasdale and Danick Martel replaced the three forwards.

One change on defence as Madison Bowey returned to the lineup replacing Nicolas Beaudin.

Cayden Primeau got the start in goal. In his last start, Primeau allowed three goals on 25 shots against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Saturday.

First Period

The Rocket started the game with three scoring chances. First, Jan Mysak captured a puck that took an odd bounce off the boards, but goalie Collin Delia stopped the shot from the slot. Moments later, Abbandonato’s shot hit the post and then Delia made a glove stop against Corey Schueneman.

At 9:06, Anthony Richard scored his 10th goal in his last 11 games, with a shot from the slot.

Six minutes later, the home team increased the lead to two goals when Schueneman took advantage of Delia being out of position following contact with Lucas Condotta. The Canucks goalie pleaded to the official but the goal stood.

Abbotsford took advantage of their second power play to get on the board. Justin Dowling found Tristen Nielsen parked in front of Primeau and fed him the puck. Nielsen was easily able to tap the puck into the net.

Second Period

Laval’s indiscipline carried over to the second period. The Rocket just finished killing Justin Barron‘s minor when the defenceman picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone and skated into the offensive zone for an odd-man rush. Barron’s shot was stopped by Delia but Rafael Harvey-Pinard picked up the rebound to score.

Laval obtained a power play opportunity of their own, but were not able to generate any quality chances and took only one shot on goal during the minor.

In the final minute of the period, Harvey-Pinard was already in the box when Schueneman was called a double-minor for a high stick. The Rocket killed the 27 seconds of five-on-three action before the end of the period.

It was only the second time this season that Laval had a lead through 40 minutes.

Third Period

The Canucks were not able to convert on the final 3:30 of Schueneman’s double minor.

Laval failed to convert on their own power play later in the period.

Midway through the period defenceman Jett Woo delivered a solid hit in the neutral zone on Xavier Simoneau. The Rocket forward was shaken up by the contact and headed to the dressing room.

Simoneau’s teammates were not happy with Woo’s contact. On his next shift, Condotta challenged Woo for a fight that was declined, but moments after Joel Teasdale dropped the gloves against the defenceman.

Gabriel Bourque put Laval’s lead at risk by taking a tripping penalty in the offensive zone with less than five minutes remaining.

The Canucks pulled their goalie to have a two-skater advantage but it backfired as Richard shot the puck into the empty net.

Lane Pederson got one back on the next shift, but it was too late to hope for a comeback.

What’s Next?

Primeau had one of his best starts of the season stopping 41 pucks in the 4-2 victory.

The Rocket begin a two-game series against the Cleveland Monsters on Friday at 7:00pm Eastern.

Plus / Minus

▲ Cayden Primeau, Mattias Norlinder, Justin Barron, Anthony Richard, Peter Abbandonato

▼ Gabriel Bourque, Brandon Gignac, Xavier Simoneau