Rocket Lineup

Anthony Richard – Peter Abbandonato – Xavier Simoneau

Lucas Condotta – Mitchell Stephens – Nate Schnarr

Joel Teasdale – Brandon Gignac – Pierrick Dube

Ryan Francis – Anthony Beauregard – Parker-Jones

William Trudeau – Corey Schueneman

Mattias Norlinder – Eric Williams

Olivier Galipeau – Santino Centorame

Cayden Primeau – Philippe Desrosiers

Rafael Harvey-Pinard (emergency NHL recall), Rem Pitlick (emergency NHL recall), Alex Belzile (NHL recall), Riley McKay

Gianni Fairbrother (knee), Madison Bowey (upper-body), Jan Mysak (DTD), Danick Martel (DTD), Otto Leskinen, Tory Dello, Nicolas Beaudin, Gabriel Bourque, Kevin Poulin

Game Report

Game Report written by Amy Johnson

After a relatively successful three-game home stand, which closed out with an overtime loss to the Belleville Senators on Wednesday night, the Rocket found themselves back on the road this weekend for a quick back-to-back series in Cleveland to take on the Monsters.

With a roster still at bare-bones level, Jean-Francois Houle found his team traveling without veteran netminder Kevin Poulin, who stayed in Laval due to injury. The tandem of Cayden Primeau and Philippe Desrosiers, recalled from Trois-Rivieres, would manage the crease this weekend. Primeau would get the start in net on Friday night.

First Period

It took less than five minutes for the Rocket to open the scoring. Forward Joel Teasdale, who has been a noticeable producer for Houle in the midst of all the roster turnover, quickly snapped the puck from the left circle. It went bar down and in to give Laval an early 1-0 lead.

A few minutes later, Cleveland’s most prolific scorer, Trey Fix-Wolansky, sent Pierrick Dube awkwardly into the boards. Dube’s teammates quickly came to his defense, and Fix-Wolansky was sent off for boarding.

The Rocket weren’t able to convert on the man-advantage, nor when they had a second opportunity late in the period, but Cleveland found a way to do so at the last possible moment.

With 30 seconds left in the frame, John Parker-Jones took a cross-checking penalty. Laval looked to have at least made it to intermission unscathed, but with less than a second on the clock Fix-Wolansky wired a point shot that beat Primeau.

Second Period

The middle frame was definitely a quieter 20 minutes of play. Both teams had some good chances around the net, with both Primeau and Jet Greaves needing to make some important saves to keep the game knotted at 1-1.

Despite the good shooting attempts, both teams tightened up play and didn’t allow much penetration into the zone. Even with three shared power play chances in the period, no additional goals were scored.

Third Period

The goal lamps got more action in the first few minutes of  the third period. The Rocket regained the lead when Mattias Norlinder wired a laser shot on Greaves and beat the goaltender up high. It was Norlinder’s first goal of the season.

Minutes later, however, Cleveland buried another equalizer when Joona Luoto wrapped the puck around the net and lifted it under Primeau’s arm on the far side.

Laval continued to pile up shots on the Monsters’ net, but at the end of regulation the score remained tied at 2-2.

In overtime, the Monsters finished things off when Marcus Bjork shot the puck from the circle and it deflected off of Josh Dunne‘s skate and into the Laval net. The goal was reviewed and determined to be good.

What’s Next?

Plus / Minus

▲ Mattias Norlinder, Joel Teasdale, Brandon Gignac

▼ Anthony Richard, John Parker-Jones, Santino Centorame