ROCKET
Laval

1-3

COMETS
Utica

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Scherbak – McCarron – Froese
Agostino – Evans – Belzile
Pezzetta – Vejdemo – Jevpalovs
Shinkaruk – Chaput – Grenier[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Plant – Lamarche
Kulak – Sproul
Moravcik – Fleury[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:
Lindgren
McNiven

Scratches:

David Sklenicka, Antoine Waked, Daniel Audette, Brett Lernout, Alexandre Alain

Injury List:

Gustav Olofsson (shoulder)

Game Report

Game Report written Chris G

Several changes were made in the Rocket’s lineup on Friday night as the Comets visited Place Bell in Laval for a back-to-back series. Brett Lernout, David Sklenicka, and Alexandre Alain were healthy scratches, while Alexandre Grenier, Cale Fleury, and Michal Moravcik made their way into the lineup.

Jonathan Dahlen scored the only goal of the first period on a breakaway. Guillaume Brisebois set up his teammate, who got behind Brett Kulak and Ryan Sproul with a long pass from his own defensive zone, and Dahlen put the puck past Charlie Lindgren.

There weren’t many scoring chances for either team in the period, with Alex Belzile getting the best opportunity for the Rocket as he exited the penalty box, but he wasn’t able to capitalize.

The Comets then scored two more goals in the second period. Zack MacEwen was left alone by Nikita Sherbak in front of the net and Jamie Sifers got him the puck to score. Lindgren was pulled after a rebound hit Michael Carcone on the chest and went in the net. Lindgren made 15 saves including an amazing right pad save against Brendan Woods before Michael McNiven got the call to come in relief. “The overall work”, said Bouchard after the game on the reason Lindgren was pulled.

The Rocket’s biggest scoring opportunity of the period came when Kenny Agostino set up Belzile who had an empty net, but he fanned on his shot. Bouchard changed his lines during the period to try to generate some offence, by swapping Sherbak and Hunter Shinkaruk, but the results were the same.

Laval came out strong in the third period and outshot Utica 15-3. Brett Kulak scored on the power play with a shot from the point, after getting a pass from Belzile. The Rocket pressed for the entire period, but weren’t able to score any more goals on Ivan Kulbakov. 

The players held a meeting after the game. “Tonight was unacceptable,” said Agostino afterwards. “It was terrible, it wasn’t a good game by us,” said head coach Joel Bouchard when asked by The AHL Report, “we weren’t ready to play.”

Additionally, Bouchard didn’t seem happy with Scherbak’s performance. “Oof, it was not exactly why the guy was sent for conditioning. To me, its not NHL calibre to play like that [..] he wasn’t very good”, he said. Be sure to listen to the full audio of his interview in the player below.

These two division rivals face each other again Saturday afternoon at 3pm ET in Laval.

▲     Brett Kulak, Kenny Agostino

▼     Maxim Lamarche, Michal Moravcik, Nikita Scherbak, Michael McCarron

1. Jonathan Dahlen  UTI
2. Guillaume Brisebois  UTI
3. Cale Fleury  LAV

Post-game interview with Brett Kulak:

Post-game interview with Kenny Agostino:

Post-game interview with Michael McNiven:

Post-game interview with Alexandre Grenier:

Interviews conducted by Chris G for AHL Report

From The Press Box | Scherbak, Bunnaman, A Look at Rocket & Phantoms [S2/E7] https://t.co/KqTbuLctkd pic.twitter.com/QeUENaFyWY

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