Rocket Lineup

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

Gabriel Bourque – Brandon Gignac – Kevin Roy

Joel Teasdale – Danick Martel – Alexandre Fortin

Peter Abbandonato – Devante Smith-Pelly

Xavier Ouellet – Louie Belpedio

Sami Niku – Tory Dello

Terrance Amorosa – Olivier Galipeau

Kevin Poulin – Louis-Philip Guindon

Tristan Berube, Darien Kielb, Corey Schueneman, Shawn St. Amant

Lukas Vejdemo (upper-body injury), Alex Belzile (lower-body injury), Tobie Paquette-Bisson (undisclosed), Gianni Fairbrother (undisclosed), Josh Brook (lower-body injury), Jean-Christophe Beaudin (DTD)

Game Report

Game Report written by Amy Johnson

On Monday night, the Rocket suffered one of their most complete losses yet this season, as the Springfield Thunderbirds downed them 5-2 in the final game of Laval’s homestand. After the game, head coach Jean-Francois Houle used words like “unacceptable”, “passengers”, and “no excuses” to describe his frustration with the team’s performance.

Wednesday night began a three-game road trip for the Quebec team, with their first stop in Rochester to take on the Americans. The Amerks were hot on the Rocket’s heels in the division standings coming into this game, which meant big implications for the outcome.

Kevin Poulin got his fourth consecutive start in net, and Brandon Gignac returned to the lineup from injury. It was Alexandre Fortin‘s 200th AHL game.

First Period

The opening ten minutes of play didn’t give much advantage on either end of the ice. The teams played tightly, and when they did get through to the goaltenders, Poulin and his counterpart, Aaron Dell, came up with the puck.

Both teams took a turn on the power play during the period, but neither find the back of the net on the man advantage. The Rocket hit the post a couple of times, and had a few genuinely good scoring chances, but couldn’t find the finish to score.

Second Period

The second period got started with some excitement as Jesse Ylonen got the Rocket on the board just 46 seconds into the frame. After a Rochester skater had trouble with his skate blade, Ylonen and Rafael Harvey-Pinard turned on the jets. Harvey-Pinard cleanly dished the puck over to his linemate, and Ylonen got around a defenseman and put the puck past Dell. 

Tory Dello added another goal to the board when he banked the puck directly off of Dell from behind the net and it deflected behind the goaltender and into the net.

Laval could have lost some of their shine when Justin Ducharme headed to the box on a high-sticking call, but instead Gignac pounced on a loose puck toward the end of the penalty kill and scored on a shorthanded breakaway.

The Americans got one of those goals back when Sean Malone, playing in his first game back after an extended injury absence, pushed the puck over the line behind Poulin, who didn’t realize it had trickled through him.

Third Period

The opening minutes of the third period were pretty wild for the Rocket. Ylonen scored his second of the night, this time on the power play, after Danick Martel fed him a back pass through the slot.

19 seconds later, it was Ylonen’s turn to feed Harvey-Pinard who came driving in as the trailer and had a yawning net to shoot at to give the Rocket a 5-1 lead.

Just over a minute later, Rochester got one of those goals back when Ethan Prow blasted a shot from the point and Jimmy Schuldt buried the rebound from the circle.

But the scoring didn’t stop there! Laval regained their four-goal lead moments later when Joel Teasdale redirected the puck away from traffic in the crease and Devante Smith-Pelly picked it up to finish it. Martel got on the scoresheet with a goal of his own, when he buried a wrister on a two-on-one breakaway.

Rochester piled on the shots in the final 10 minutes, but Poulin stood strong and the Rocket defense were sturdy. All in all, it was a dominant final 40 minutes of play for Houle’s team and a solid start to the road trip.

What’s Next?

Laval now heads to Pennsylvania for their only visit to Allentown and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Friday night.

Plus / Minus

▲ Jesse Ylonen, Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Danick Martel, Devante Smith-Pelly

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