Rocket Lineup

Anthony Richard – Brandon Gignac – Rem Pitlick

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Peter Abbandonato – Xavier Simoneau

Danick Martel – Mitchell Stephens – Jesse Ylonen

Lucas Condotta – Nate Schnarr – Gabriel Bourque

Corey Schueneman – Justin Barron

Mattias Norlinder – Tory Dello

Otto Leskinen – Madison Bowey

Kevin Poulin – Cayden Primeau

Nicolas Beaudin, Jan Mysak, Joel Teasdale, Alex Green

Gianni Fairbrother (knee), William Trudeau (lower-body, out indefinitely), Alex Belzile (DTD)

Game Report

Game Report written by Chris G  

The Laval Rocket hosted the Cleveland Monsters on Saturday in the second game of the weekend series between the division rivals. On Friday, Cleveland scored five power play goals in their 7-3 victory.

Jean-Francois Houle made several changes to the lineup adding more veteran presence. Up front, Nate Schnarr and Danick Martel slotted back into the lineup. Joel Teasdale and Jan Mysak were scratched.

On defence, Nicolas Beaudin sat out the match. Beaudin was benched for most of the third period after serving his third minor penalty yesterday. Tory Dello dressed after being sidelined on Friday.

Kevin Poulin got the start in the goal. In his last start, Poulin allowed three goals in a loss against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

First Period

Laval lost a player from the back end on the opening shift. Mattias Norlinder went to the dressing room 16 seconds into the frame after getting hit in the face by a puck.

After scoring a pair of goals on Friday, David Jiricek added another one to his record. The defenceman blasted a shot from the blue line behind Poulin after a clean faceoff win by the Monsters.

Laval was able to tie the game a few minutes later. The Monsters had killed the first penalty during a 54-second two-man advantage when Xavier Simoneau was at the right place to get Mitchell Stephens‘ rebound for a goal.

The action heated up as the period progressed, which is often the case in back-to-back games. In the final minute, a pair of coincidental minors were called on both teams following post-whistle scrums.

Gabriel Bourque hit the dressing room with one minute remaining and did not return due to injury.

Second Period

The second period began in Cleveland’s favour. Owen Sillinger found himself in the slot and beat Poulin between the pads to break the tie.

Less than three minutes later, Corey Schueneman turned the puck over to Trey Fix-Wolansky and he buried it to increase the lead to two goals.

The momentum switched to Laval’s corner during their man advantage. First, Rafael Harvey-Pinard‘s wrist shot from the slot was stopped by Jet Greaves with his blocker. And moments later, Brandon Gignac beat Greaves with a wrist shot as the penalty was expiring. The goal snapped Gignac’s 10-game scoreless drought.

Thirty-nine seconds later, Lucas Condotta spotted the puck in the blue paint following Madison Bowey‘s shot and tapped it in to tie the game.

Laval obtained another power play before the end of the period, and Peter Abbandonato was stopped by Greaves in back-to-back wrist shots from the faceoff circle.

Third Period

A turnover allowed Cleveland to take the lead again. Otto Leskinen in the offensive zone made a pass right to Tyler Angle. Angle found Sillinger behind Laval’s defence and beat Poulin on a breakaway.

A little over seven minutes later, Martel took advantage of Abbandonato screening Greaves to beat the goalie with a glove side shot.

The teams were not able to break the tie in regulation. A shootout was required as five minutes of three-on-three didn’t settle the score, either.

Gignac recorded the game winner in the eighth round of the shootout.

What’s Next?

Laval’s 5-4 victory was their first win of the season after allowing the first goal of the contest.

The Rocket conclude the homestand on Wednesday at 7:00pm Eastern when the Abbotsford Canucks visit Place Bell.

Be sure to scroll down for audio clips from tonight’s post-game media interviews with Martel, Simoneau, Abbandonato, Poulin, and Houle, conducted by the AHL Report and other members of the press.

Plus / Minus

▲ Tory Dello, Danick Martel, Brandon Gignac, Peter Abbandonato

▼ Corey Schueneman, Rem Pitlick, Nate Schnarr, Justin Barron