Rocket Lineup

Anthony Richard – Peter Abbandonato – Xavier Simoneau

Lucas Condotta – Mitchell Stephens – Nate Schnarr

Joel Teasdale – Brandon Gignac – Pierrick Dube

Ryan Francis – Anthony Beauregard – Parker-Jones

William Trudeau – Corey Schueneman

Mattias Norlinder – Eric Williams

Olivier Galipeau – Santino Centorame

Cayden Primeau – Kevin Poulin

Rafael Harvey-Pinard (emergency NHL recall), Rem Pitlick (emergency NHL recall), Alex Belzile (NHL recall), Philippe Desrosiers

Gianni Fairbrother (knee), Madison Bowey (upper-body), Jan Mysak (DTD), Danick Martel (DTD), Otto Leskinen, Tory Dello, Nicolas Beaudin, Gabriel Bourque

Game Report

Game Report written by Chris G

The Laval Rocket ended a three-game homestand on Wednesday by hosting the Belleville Senators. Laval lost 4-3 in shootout to the Toronto Marlies on Saturday, while Belleville lost to the Hershey Bears to extend their losing streak to five games. Wednesday was the eighth match between the division rivals this season, with Belleville coming on top five times.

One change was made to Jean-Francois Houle’s lineup. Gabriel Bourque was sidelined with a lower body injury, while Brandon Gignac slotted back for the first time since Dec. 21 where he suffered a lower body injury.

Cayden Primeau got his first start in goal since Jan. 6th. Primeau was assigned to Laval earlier in the day from the Montreal Canadiens after acting as Samuel Montembeault’s back since Jan. 9th.

First Period

Pierrick Dube had a good opportunity to open the scoring in the second minute when Gignac set him up on a breakaway. Goaltender Kevin Mandolese made the blocker stop on the sequence.

Laval’s first power play was cut short when Mitchell Stephens got a slashing minor 41 seconds into the man advantage.

Later in the period, Joel Teasdale received a double minor for high sticking. This sequence was Primeau’s first test as Belleville took their first shot on goal 11:46 after puck drop. During the four-minute power play, the Senators took their first five shots on goal in addition to Maxence Guenette ringing the puck off the crossbar.

The Rocket capitalized on their second power play opportunity when Peter Abbandonato set up Teasdale for a blocker side goal. On the sequence, William Trudeau and Abbandonato extended their point streaks to five and four games respectively.

Second Period

Laval opened the period again with a scoring as Xavier Simoneau used his speed to head to the net, but his shot missed the net by inches.

A few minutes later, Anthony Richard set up Abbandonato for a breakaway, but Mandolese made a pad save on the opportunity.

Teasdale did not finish the period after the puck struck him on the face. The forward took off his helmet and dropped his gloves on the ice before heading straight to the dressing room.

During their only power play of the period, Laval took two shots on goal against Belleville’s penalty kill unit.

Abbandonato had another dangerous chance with under five minutes to go when he was in the slot to pick up a rebound but his shot went wide of the net. The physicality picked up between the division rivals as the period progressed.

Third Period

Belleville got into early penalty trouble giving Laval a two-man advantage for 1:01.

With Laval already on the power play, the game heated up when a scrum involving all 10 skaters ensued in front of Belleville’s bench. It all began when Dillon Heatherington jumped on Trudeau. The Senators ended up with an extra minor following the scrum.

The Rocket got the puck behind Mandolese during the power play but the goal was waived off after the officials reviewed the sequence and deemed that Richard kicked the puck into the net.

Belleville had a power play on their own when they got on board. Former Rocket Jake Lucchini beat Primeau with a point shot through traffic.

The teams exchanged chances for the remainder of the period but were not able to settle a winner.

In overtime, Richard’s pass attempt to Mattias Norlinder was intercepted and it led to an odd-man rush for the Senators. Jacob Larsson found Scott Sabourin in the slot for the winning goal.

What’s Next?

With the 2-1 overtime loss, Laval has collected at least one point in their last five games. In his second start since Nov. 25th, Primeau made 30 saves.

The Rocket begin a four-game road trip on Friday against the Cleveland Monsters.

Plus / Minus

▲ Cayden Primeau, Anthony Richard, Peter Abbandonato

▼ Lucas Condotta, Nate Schnarr, Brandon Gignac