Rocket Lineup

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Alex Belzile – Rem Pitlick

Anthony Richard – Peter Abbandonato – Xavier Simoneau

Joel Teasdale – Mitchell Stephens – Gabriel Bourque

Lucas Condotta – Nate Schnarr – Anthony Beauregard

William Trudeau – Corey Schueneman

Mattias Norlinder – Eric Williams

Olivier Galipeau – Santino Centorame

Kevin Poulin – Joe Vrbetic

John Parker-Jones, Pierrick Dube

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 Chris G

The Laval Rocket hosted the Cleveland Monsters on Saturday afternoon at Place Bell. It was a quick turnaround for both teams as both teams had a Friday night match. Laval was in Syracuse where they lost 7-3 against the Crunch, while Cleveland defeated the Belleville Senators 2-1.

Saturday was the fifth matchup between the division rivals with each team winning two games.

Jean-Francois Houle made one change, slotting Anthony Beauregard back into the lineup after sitting out the last five games. Pierrick Dube was scratched in his place.

Kevin Poulin got the start in goal. Poulin came into relief for Joe Vrbetic midway through Friday’s game and allowed two goals on 13 shots against Syracuse.

First Period

The Rocket gave the Monsters an early power play opportunity as Mattias Norlinder was called for interference one minute after puck drop. During the minor, Cleveland hit the crossbar and the post on consecutive shots.

Laval opened the scoring during the fourth minute of play when Mitchell Stephens picked up a loose puck and skated to the slot to beat goalie Darion Hanson.

Cleveland got on the board 1:09 later when Rem Pitlick‘s pass in the defensive zone was intercepted by Trey Fix-Wolansky. The forward buried the scoring chance.

Fix-Wolansky nearly gave the Monsters the lead midway through the period on a breakaway, but Poulin made a pair of highlight reel saves on Fix-Wolansky and on the rebound against Cole Fonstad.

The Rocket capitalized on their only power play of the period when Anthony Richard made a cross ice pass to Pitlick on the side of the net for the tap in goal.

Second Period

Laval got an early man advantage in the second period when former Canadien Brandon Davidson received a double-minor high sticking infraction. The Rocket needed 1:17 to light the lamp when Alex Belzile picked up the rebound of Richard’s point shot for the goal. With an assist on the sequence, Pitlick collected his 16th point in his last nine games.

The visitors cut the lead to one goal later in the period when Robbie Payne knocked in a rebound behind Poulin.

Laval’s special units helped them create separation on the scoreboard. Pitlick was in the box serving a cross checking penalty when the Rocket scored two shorthanded goals. First, Lucas Condotta tapped a rebound in the net after Richard’s breakaway opportunity was saved by Hanson. Richard’s assist was his 10th point in the last six games.

On the next shift, Belzile intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and netted his breakaway opportunity to score his fifth goal in the last six games.

Cleveland received another power play opportunity before the intermission but Laval’s penalty kill unit blanked them.

Third Period

Laval gave consecutive power plays in the third period including a five-on-three for 11 seconds. The Monsters took five shots during the sequence and Poulin made several key saves to keep it a three-goal gap.

Cleveland took a pair of penalties of their own, and prevented Laval from adding a third power play goal.

Belzile completed a hat trick with an empty net goal with 2:34 remaining.

What’s Next?

The 6-2 win snaps Laval’s four-game losing streak. Special teams were key with two power play and two shorthanded goals.

Laval heads to Rochester to face the Americans on Wednesday night.

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

Plus / Minus

▲ Kevin Poulin, Corey Schueneman, Alex Belzile, William Trudeau, Anthony Richard

▼ Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Peter Abbandonato