Rocket Lineup

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Jean-Sebastien Dea – Jesse Ylonen

Gabriel Bourque – Peter Abbandonato – Joel Teasdale

Kevin Roy – Danick Martel – Shawn St. Amant

Alexandre Fortin – Cam Hillis – Devante Smith-Pelly

Xavier Ouellet – Louie Belpedio

Sami Niku – Tory Dello

Tobie Paquette-Bisson – Josh Brook

Cayden Primeau – Michael McNiven

Louis-Philip Guindon, Kevin Poulin, Terrance Amorosa, Justin Ducharme, Jean-Christophe Beaudin

Brandon Gignac (upper-body injury), Lukas Vejdemo (upper-body injury), Alex Belzile (lower-body injury), Gianni Fairbrother (upper-body injury)

Game Report

Game Report written by Chris G

The Rocket returned to Place Bell on Friday after collecting four points during a four-game road trip. Laval concluded the road trip on Wednesday with a 6-4 victory in Toronto. For the first time since December, Place Bell was able to host fans at 50-percent capacity. 

The Rocket will remain at home and will be busy as they began a stretch of seven games in 11 days. Belleville was the first team to visit Place Bell for a weekend back-to-back series. The Senators were coming off a 4-1 victory against the Crunch on Tuesday. In their last face-to-face matchup, Belleville handed Laval a 6-1 loss at the CAA Arena. 

Kevin Roy returned to the lineup after coming off the COVID protocol. Cayden Primeau obtained the start in goal. On Wednesday, Primeau stopped 30 pucks in Laval’s victory over Toronto. 

Earlier in the day, Jean-Francois Houle confirmed that there are no more players on the COVID protocol list. Justin Ducharme, Terrance Amorosa, and Kevin Poulin require more practice time before being able to return into game action. Assistant coach Martin Laperriere is the only staff member on the COVID protocol. 

The club also announced that Lukas Vejdemo had a setback in his recovery, and his return has been delayed. Vejdemo has been out with an upper body injury since February 2nd. 

First Period

Belleville got the first dangerous scoring chance eight minutes into the game when Andrew Agozzino took a hard shot that hit the post to the right of Primeau. 

In the next minute, Laval opened the scoring when Devante Smith-Pelly redirected Tobie Paquette-Bisson’s point shot. It was the 29-year old’s first goal in a Rocket uniform, and his first point in eight games. 

The Senators got on the board at the 12:25 mark, when Louie Belpedio’s pass was intercepted and led to a breakaway. Chris Wilkie beat Primeau glove side. 

Smith-Pelly nearly scored again on an odd-man rush, but Filip Gustavsson made the stop. 

During Laval’s only power play of the period, Belpedio nearly made up for his earlier turnover when his shot from the point deflected off a defender and hit the post.

Second Period

The Senators obtained consecutive power play opportunities in the middle frame. After killing Xavier Ouellet’s minor penalty, the Rocket had to run out Josh Brook’s penalty. 

As Belleville was setting up in Laval’s offensive zone with the man advantage, Danick Martel jumped on a loose puck and headed on a breakaway and deked Gustavsson for the shorthanded goal. Martel has scored in consecutive games. 

It was a quiet period for Primeau, as the Senators took only one shot on goal in the last nine minutes, five in total.  

Third Period

The Rocket had an early power play opportunity 13 seconds into the period. Belleville limited Laval to one shot on goal during the minor penalty. 

With 8:45 remaining in the third period, Rafael Harvey-Pinard during an odd man rush made a pass to Jesse Ylonen for a goal. Harvey-Pinard’s assist on the play was his sixth point in the last three games. 

Belleville pulled Gustavsson with 3:30 remaining in regulation, hoping to close the two-goal deficit. Laval’s defence shut down Belleville’s offence, allowing only one shot on goal while being down one player. 

Belpedio sealed the victory with an empty net goal with 52 seconds remaining. 

What’s Next?

Laval’s 4-1 victory extended the winning streak at home to nine games. The team played a good solid game on defence allowing only 20 shots on goal to Belleville. 

The second game of the weekend series is on Saturday at 3:00pm eastern time.

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

Plus / Minus

▲ Alexandre Fortin, Tobie Paquette-Bison, Devante Smith-Pelly

▼ Louie Belpedio