Rocket Lineup

Anthony Richard – Brandon Gignac – Rem Pitlick

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Peter Abbandonato – Xavier Simoneau

Danick Martel – Mitchell Stephens – Jesse Ylonen

Lucas Condotta – Jan Mysak – Joel Teasdale

Corey Schueneman – Justin Barron

Otto Leskinen – Madison Bowey

William Trudeau – Alex Green

Cayden Primeau – Kevin Poulin

Nicolas Beaudin, Tory Dello, Ryan Francis

Gianni Fairbrother (knee), Alex Belzile (lower-body), Nate Schnarr (lower-body), Gabriel Bourque (upper-body), Mattias Norlinder (upper-body)

Game Report

Game Report written by Chris G 

The Laval Rocket concluded their homestand on Wednesday by hosting the Abbotsford Canucks. Laval beat Abbotsford 4-2 when they faced each other on Nov. 16th.

Both teams won their previous game. Laval defeated Cleveland 5-4 in shootout on Saturday while Abbotsford won 3-2 against Toronto on Sunday.

Injuries to Gabriel Bourque, Nate Schnarr and Mattias Norlinder forced Jean-Francois Houle to make changes to the lineup. Tory Dello was sidelined due to illness.

Up front, Joel Teasdale and Jan Mysak slotted back into game action after being scratched on Saturday.

On defence, William Trudeau returned to the lineup for the first time since Oct. 29th when the defenceman suffered a lower body injury. Alex Green was dressed for the first time after being scratched the last seven games.

Cayden Primeau obtained the start in goal. In his last start, Primeau allowed seven goals on 36 shots against Cleveland on Friday.

First Period

Laval struggled generating any offence in the first half of the frame taking only one shot on goal.

Abbotsford was not able to capitalize on a high sticking minor to Rafael Harvey-Pinard. The Rocket’s penalty kill unit kept the Canucks to one shot on goal during the two minutes.

Laval outshot Abbotsford 5-2 in the second half of the period with Brandon Gignac obtaining the best scoring chance in the final minute. Anthony Richard set up Gignac for a one-timer from the slot, but Collin Delia made the key save to keep the game scoreless through 20 minutes.

Second Period

Abbotsford opened the scoring 26 seconds into the period when former Rocket Guillaume Brisebois completed a tic-tac-toe play for the goal. Houle was visibly furious as he seemed to think a penalty should have been called earlier in the sequence when Xavier Simoneau‘s stick was broken by the opposition.

Laval got on the board a little over two minutes later during a power play when Rem Pitlick set up Justin Barron for a one-timer. The defenceman’s blast from the point found its way to the back of the net.

Abbotsford took advantage of a minor penalty to Mitchell Stephens to take the lead. Christian Wolanin‘s point shot was tipped by Will Lockwood in front of the net before going passed Primeau.

Lane Pederson increased the Canucks lead with 1:36 remaining after splitting the defence and then deking Primeau on a breakaway.

Third Period

Laval was looking to record their first win when trailing through two periods.

At 3:16, Vincent Arsenau and Xavier Simoneau were called for coincidental roughing minors after a scuffle in front of Laval’s bench.

Later in the period, Stephens took his second minor of the game as the forward received a holding call in the offensive zone. During the penalty, Danick Martel got a breakaway but Delia made the pad save on the scoring chance.

The Rocket closed the gap to one goal when Ylonen drove to the net and Peter Abbandonato redirected the shot for the goal.

Primeau headed to the bench with 1:31 to go, but Laval failed to tie the game.

What’s Next?

With the 3-2 loss, Laval ends their homestand with 2-2 record. The Rocket have picked up five wins through their first quarter of the season.

Laval heads to Belleville to face the Senators on Friday at 7:05pm Eastern.

Plus / Minus

▲ Jesse Ylonen, Otto Leskinen, Justin Barron

▼ Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Joel Teasdale, Mitchell Stephens, Rem Pitlick, William Trudeau, Anthony Richard