Rocket Lineup

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Cedric Paquette – Jean-Sebastien Dea

Kevin Roy – Nate Schnarr – Jesse Ylonen

Danick Martel – Brandon Gignac – Joel Teasdale

Justin Ducharme – Jean-Christophe Beaudin – Gabriel Bourque

Xavier Ouellet – Nicolas Mattinen

Terrance Amorosa – Louie Belpedio

Dominic Cormier – Olivier Galipeau

Kevin Poulin – Cayden Primeau

Devante Smith-Pelly, Sami Niku, Darien Kielb, Peter Abbandonato

Lukas Vejdemo (upper-body injury), Alex Belzile (lower-body injury), Tobie Paquette-Bisson (undisclosed), Gianni Fairbrother (undisclosed), Josh Brook (lower-body injury), Cameron Hillis, Tory Dello

Game Report

Game Report written by Chris G

The Rocket welcomed the Lehigh Valley Phantoms to Place Bell on Friday. Laval was coming off a 2-1 shootout loss on Wednesday against the Belleville Senators on Wednesday, while Lehigh Valley lost 5-1 to Hershey on the same night. 

The last time that these two teams squared off, the Rocket blew a 3-1 lead, and lost 4-3 to the Flyers AHL affiliate. 

Jean-Francois Houle made several changes to the lineup and forward combinations, hoping to generate more offence from his team. Forward Jean-Christophe Beaudin, and defenceman Dominic Cormier slotted into the formation. Beaudin was scratched on Wednesday and Cormier made his debut with the club. 

Forward Peter Abbandonato was out of the lineup on the day of his 24th birthday, as was defenceman Darien Kielb. 

Kevin Poulin got the start in goal. In his last start, Poulin made 29 saves in Laval’s 5-1 win against Hershey on March 19th. 

First Period

The Rocket obtained an early chance on the power play when Kevin Roy was tripped by Linus Sandin during the second minute of play. Laval was not able to convert on the opportunity. 

It took 7:41 of action before the Phantoms got a shot on Poulin. At the time, Joel Teasdale was in the box serving a tripping penalty. 

Cedric Paquette put Laval on the board at the 10:16 mark when Olivier Galipeau’s shot missed the net, and the puck rolled to Paquette and he tapped it into the open net. The goal extended Paquette’s goal scoring streak to three games. 

Momentum turned Lehigh Valley’s way when Beaudin was called for tripping. Thirty seconds into the man advantage, Adam Johnson’s shot from the faceoff circle was stopped by Poulin and Garrett Wilson whacked the rebound for the tying goal. 

Johnson nearly gave the visitors the lead when he rang a shot straight on the crossbar. The forward capitalized on a mistake made by Nicolas Mattinen in Lehigh Valley’s offensive zone to head on a breakaway against Poulin. 

A scrum at the buzzer, led to Adam Clendening getting sent to the box for two minutes to begin the second period. 

Second Period

Laval took advantage of the power play with a goal scored 32 seconds into the period. Paquette made an accurate pass to Jean-Sebastien Dea from the side of the net to the slot for the goal. 

With 7:30 remaining, Justin Ducharme thought he increased the lead when he put Beaudin’s rebound behind Felix Sandstrom, but the goal was disallowed as the official blew the whistle quickly on the sequence. 

Forty four seconds later, Laval made it 3-1 when Danick Martel beat Sandstrom with a shot that went top shelf. 

At the end of the rink, Poulin made several key saves in the period including on a short handed breakaway by Charlie Gerard. The Place Bell fans chanted the goalie’s name on numerous occasions during the middle frame.

Third Period

Laval extended their lead to three goals during the fifth minute of the period. As the penalty to Garrett McFadden expired, Xavier Ouellet made a cross ice pass from the blue line to Paquette for his second goal of the night. The forward was on top of the crease, and tipped the puck in the goal. Ouellet’s assist was his 10th point in the last 10 games. 

Jean-Christophe Beaudin sealed the victory with 4:52 remaining in the third period. The forward intercepted a clear out attempt before beating Sandstrom between the legs. Beaudin, celebrating his 25th birthday on Friday, was his first since the first game of the regular season on October 15th.

What’s Next?

With the 5-1 victory, Laval has not lost in regulation for the third consecutive match. The Rocket host Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Saturday at 3:00pm eastern. 

Be sure to scroll down to hear post-game interviews with Martel, Louie Belpedio, Paquette and Houle by the AHL Report team and other members of the media. 

Plus / Minus

▲ Kevin Poulin, Louie Belpedio, Jean-Sebastien Dea, Cedric Paquette, Xavier Ouellet

▼ Nicolas Mattinen, Brandon Gignac