Jake Lucchini and Joseph Blandisi made their debut with their new team after being acquired from the Penguins on Thursday in a trade for Riley Barber and Phil Varone. The newcomers played together on a line with Matthew Peca. 

Gustav Olovsson returned to the lineup after missing Wednesday’s game with the flu. Cayden Primeau got the start in goal. In his last start, Primeau made 27 saves in a loss against Providence.  

Charles Hudon opened the scoring at 10:16 of the first period on his team’s third shot. Jake Evans redirected Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s shot right to Hudon for his 26th goal of the season. 

Blandisi’s debut with Laval was cut short as he left the game early in the opening frame due to injury. 

Former Canadien Ryan White received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for boarding Evan McEneny at 2:33 of the second period. McEneny was shaken up from the hit and didn’t return to the game. The Rocket weren’t able to capitalize on the opportunity, taking one shot on goal in the five minute sequence. 

The Moose tied the game with 5:14 remaining in the middle frame when C.J. Suess beat Matthew Peca on the faceoff and the puck went to the stick of Kristian Reichel and scored with a hard shot. It was Manitoba’s second shot of the period.  

Laval took the lead while Evans was in the box serving an elbowing penalty. The play started with Olofsson clearing the puck from his own zone that circled the boards that was recovered by Kevin Lynch after Eric Comrie and Leon Gawanke couldn’t handle the puck. Lynch passed the puck to Laurent Dauphin who put the puck in the net after his initial shot was stopped. It was Dauphin’s first goal in 10 games.

With 2:01 remaining in the third period, Evans’ forechecking at the opponent’s blue line led to him skating alone in front of Comrie to score his 14th goal of the season. It was his second goal and has added two assists in two games since returning from Montreal. 

The Moose attempted to repeat Wednesday’s scenario to tie the game in the final moments, however Lynch sealed the game for the Rocket with an empty net goal to snap the six game losing streak. 

After the game, it was announced that Karl Alzner was recalled by the Canadiens and that Primeau will get the start in goal against the Marlies. 

Laval finishes their home stand on Saturday as they host Toronto at 3:00 pm eastern time. Listen to full audio of player and coach post-game interviews in the player below.