FINAL – OT | Play-In Round Game 2 | Friday, April 21, 2023

Utica wins best-of-three series 2-0

Rocket Lineup

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Brandon Gignac – Anthony Richard

Emil Heineman – Lucas Condotta – Pierrick Dube

Gabriel Bourque – Peter Abbandonato – Jesse Ylonen

Xavier Simoneau – Danick Martel – Joel Teasdale

William Trudeau – Corey Schueneman

Mattias Norlinder – Frederic Allard

Jayden Struble – Olivier Galipeau

Cayden Primeau – Kevin Poulin

John Parker-Jones, Jakub Dobes, Riley McKay, Jan Mysak, Mitchell Stephens, Nolan Yaremko, Tory Dello

Gianni Fairbrother (knee), Otto Leskinen, Madison Bowey, Nicolas Beaudin

Game Report

Game Report written by Amy Johnson

After falling in the first game of their best-of-three series against the Utica Comets on Wednesday night, the Rocket headed on the road in hopes of extending their season to a winner-takes-all game three.

The scoreboard didn’t register the first goal of the game until the second period, when Frederic Allard found the back of the net for Laval. It seemed as though the visitors would hold onto that slim one-goal lead for a victory, to force game three, but Reilly Walsh changed that in the dying seconds of regulation.

With just two second left on the clock, in a flurry of desperate activity in front of Laval’s net, Walsh managed to get a puck past Cayden Primeau to send the game to overtime.

That momentum for Utica carried over into the extra minutes, and the Comets dominated the puck in the opening minutes. Samuel Laberge didn’t waste any time when he had an opportunity to put another puck past Primeau just 2:45 into OT.

The loss meant Laval’s season came to a quick close in the playoffs, finding themselves without a postseason win in their two games played.

Plus / Minus

▲ Mattias Norlinder, Frederic Allard

▼ Lucas Condotta, Pierrick Dube, Xavier Simoneau