Rocket Lineup

Anthony Richard – Brandon Gignac – Xavier Simoneau

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Alex Belzile – Jesse Ylonen

Peter Abbandonato – Mitchell Stephens – Gabriel Bourque

Lucas Condotta – Joel Teasdale – Olivier Galipeau (seventh defenseman)

Nicolas Beaudin – Corey Schueneman

William Trudeau – Otto Leskinen

Mattias Norlinder – Tory Dello

Kevin Poulin – Joe Vrbetic

John Parker-Jones

Gianni Fairbrother (knee), Nate Schnarr (lower-body), Cayden Primeau (upper-body), Madison Bowey (upper-body), Jan Mysak (DTD), Danick Martel (DTD), Justin Barron

Game Report

Game Report written by Chris G

The Laval Rocket returned on home ice on Friday after completing a five-game road trip. Laval came back with four of the 10 available points in the standings, finishing the trip with two games in Abbotsford.

The Belleville Senators were in town for a weekend series at Place Bell. It was the sixth time this season that the division rivals squared off, with the Senators victorious in four of the previous five matchups.

Justin Barron was sidelined with a lower body injury, listed as day-to-day. In his absence, Olivier Galipeau made his season debut with Laval after being recalled from Trois-Rivieres on Thursday. Galipeau has recorded 15 points in 19 games with the Lions.

Jean-Francois Houle gave the net to Kevin Poulin. Poulin was pulled in his last start after allowing four goals on 21 shots.

First Period

The first quality scoring chance of the night came to Belleville midway of the period when Mitchell Stephens was not able to handle Corey Schueneman‘s pass and Cole Reinhardt headed the other direction for a breakaway. Poulin stopped Reinhardt with a blocker save.

Belleville obtained two power plays through 20 minutes but Laval’s penalty kill limited the Senators to three shots on goal with the man advantage.

Poulin made a big stop right before the buzzer by stopping Alex Breton‘s one timer with a spectacular pad save.

The Senators outshot the Rocket 14-5 in the scoreless period.

Second Period

Laval began the period shorthanded as Schueneman was called for tripping after the horn to end the first period. He got company in the penalty box 47 seconds later as Gabriel Bourque was called for boarding.

Belleville capitalized on Laval’s indiscipline as Rourke Chartier picked up a rebound to open the scoring.

The goal served as a wakeup call and it began on the next shift as William Trudeau hit the post with a shot from the point.

Tory Dello got his team on the board with a shot from the point that went through traffic to beat Mads Sogaard. The goal ended Dello’s 13 game scoreless drought.

A scary incident occurred a few minutes later when Xavier Simoneau left the ice on a stretcher after laying on the ice for several minutes. He was hit in the face by a stick and was transported to hospital for precautionary reasons.

Laval obtained its first power play opportunity of the night and was not able to capitalize. They took two shots on goal during the two minute minor.

Anthony Richard nearly gave the home team the lead when his point shot hit the post to the right of Sogaard.

Belleville came close in the final moments of the period when Reinhardt’s shot hit the crossbar with two seconds remaining.

Third Period

The third period was played tightly between both teams without any quality scoring chances. Laval obtained two power play chances in the final six minutes of regulation, but failed to get the go-ahead goal.

Both teams collected one point in the standings and needed extra time to decide the recipient of the second point.

Richard obtained several chances in overtime, taking three shots on goal and hitting the post. Poulin stopped the three shots that he faced in overtime.

Egor Sokolov was the only player that succeeded to score in shootout to give Belleville the 2-1 win.

What’s Next?

Friday’s match extended Laval’s losing streak to three games. After the game, Houle advised that Simoneau was hit by a stick near his nose.

The second game of the weekend series is on Saturday at 3:00pm Eastern time.

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

Plus / Minus

▲ Kevin Poulin, Tory Dello, Olivier Galipeau

▼ Gabriel Bourque, Otto Leskinen, Brandon Gignac