FINAL | North Division Semifinal – Game 4 | Saturday, May 14, 2022

Best-of-five series tied 2-2

Rocket Lineup

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Jean-Sebastien Dea – Alex Belzile

Gabriel Bourque – Nate Schnarr – Joel Teasdale

Brandon Gignac – Cedric Paquette – Jesse Ylonen

Danick Martel – Mattias Norlinder (7th defenseman) – Devante Smith-Pelly

Xavier Ouellet – Louie Belpedio

Sami Niku – Tory Dello

Corey Schueneman – Tobie Paquette-Bisson

Cayden Primeau – Kevin Poulin

Olivier Galipeau, Peter Abbandonato, Terrance Amorosa, Nicolas Mattinen, Owen Savory, Cameron Hillis, Gabriel Mollott-Hill, Lucas Condotta, Kevin Roy, Alexandre Fortin, Emil Heineman, Justin Ducharme, Max Kaufman, Jean-Christophe Beaudin

Gianni Fairbrother (undisclosed), Lukas Vejdemo (lower body)

Game Report

Game Report written by Chris G

Game four of the series between the Laval Rocket and Syracuse Crunch was played in front of a sold-out crowd at Place Bell. The Rocket were looking to close out the best-of-five series with a win on Saturday afternoon, after winning Thursday’s match in standout fashion.

Jean-Francois Houle kept together the same lineup that won the last two games. The coach’s recipe has been to dress 11 forwards and seven defencemen. 

Cayden Primeau got the start in goal. In two starts in this series, Primeau has registered two wins, 1.50 goals-against-average, .952 save percentage, and was named first, and third star, respectively, in his two starts. 

First Period

Despite both teams managing to control stretches of play in the offensive zone, it took 3:56 before the afternoon’s first shot on goal. 

The Crunch opened the scoring at 5:35 when Anthony Richard won his one-on-one battle against Mattias Norlinder, and set up Cole Koepke for the goal. 

Hugo Alnefelt came into the game in relief of Max Lagace at 10:14, after Gabriel Dumont pushed Alex Belzile onto his own goaltender. In addition to losing their starting netminder, Dumont was penalized on the sequence. 

On the ensuing power play, Jean-Sebastien Dea and Jesse Ylonen hit the posts on consecutive shots.  

Overall, Syracuse outplayed Laval through 20 minutes, but the Rocket obtained most of the quality scoring chances.

Second Period

There were no goals scored in the second period, but the Crunch controlled the majority of the frame. 

Primeau was forced to make key stops early into the frame when Daniel Walcott was alone in the slot. Moments later, he stopped Remi Elie’s one-timer from the faceoff circle. 

Laval’s most dangerous stretch of the period happened while Brandon Gignac served a tripping minor.

The Rocket lost two centres for a portion of the period, as Nate Schnarr and Cedric Paquette missed time. Schnarr returned to action before the end of the period, while Paquette did not make an additional appearance before the intermission. 

Third Period

Paquette was back on the bench for the start of the third period, and was sent to the penalty box after an altercation with Walcott in front of Primeau’s net. 

During the man-advantage, Elie took advantage of Primeau being out of position to increase the lead to two goals. Dumont made contact with the Rocket’s goalie, but after discussion the officials confirmed the call on the ice.

At 6:24, Anthony Richard took advantage of Sami Niku’s turnover and scored with a wrist shot that beat Primeau on the blocker side. 

Houle pulled Primeau with four minutes remaining, but Laval was not able to get any pucks behind Alnefelt.

What’s Next?

Syracuse’s 3-0 victory was their first win at Place Bell in six opportunities this year. 

Laval will travel to Syracuse on Sunday, and practice on Monday. The series winner will be determined on Tuesday, when the Rocket are in Syracuse for game five. 

Be sure to scroll down to hear post-game interviews with Xavier Ouellet, Alex Belzile, Rafael Harvey-Pinard, and Houle by the AHL Report team and other members of the media. 

Plus / Minus

▲ Cayden Primeau, Louie Belpedio, Jean-Sebastien Dea

▼ Corey Schueneman, Sami Niku, Joel Teasdale, Jesse Ylonen, Mattias Norlinder, Nate Schnarr