Rocket Lineup

Laurent Dauphin – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Kevin Lynch

Charles Hudon – Ryan Poehling – Alexandre Alain

Yannick Veilleux – Lukas Vejdemo – Antione Waked

Michael Pezzetta – Matthew Peca

Karl Alzner – Cale Fleury

Otto Leskinen – Josh Brook

Gustav Olofsson – Maxim Lamarche

Evan McEneny

Cayden Primeau – Michael McNiven

Keith Kinkaid, Riley Barber, Phil Varone

Noah Juulsen (upper body), Alex Belzile (pectoral surgery), Andrew Sturtz, Hayden Verbeek, Joe Cox, Will Pelletier, Ralph Cuddemi

Game Report

Game Report written by Amy Johnson

The Laval Rocket entered Sunday’s matinee game in Providence four points out of a playoff position, dropping their last four games played, and desperately searching for a win to finish off their five-game road trip. They would face a Bruins team looking to hold on to their playoff spot in the Atlantic, and possibly gain some ground in the standings.

So how did Joel Bouchard configure his team for such an important outing? He opted to make forwards Phil Varone and Riley Barber healthy scratches, inserted Evan McEneny into the lineup as a seventh defenseman. An interesting choice, given that both players have plenty of experience and scoring ability to help the team get a win, especially with one less forward on the ice.

Bouchard also chose to give Cayden Primeau and third consecutive start in net, despite the rookie not getting a win in his last two outings, and left Keith Kinkaid watching from the stands yet again.

Providence took full advantage of the situation from the start, and applied a very heavy forechecking game to the visiting team. The Rocket couldn’t find any way around the Bruins, and both teams had a revolving door to the penalty box. On the sixth penalty of the game, an interference call on Matthew Peca for crashing through Dan Vladar in the crease, the Bruins took a 1-0 lead thanks to Brendan Gaunce.

The second period brought a few less penalties, but Laval still couldn’t get any sustained pressure in the Providence zone. Kevin Lynch had the best chance of the day when he found himself on a shorthanded breakaway, but Vladar stopped the puck easily.

With the Bruins still holding on to a 1-0 lead in the third period, things went south pretty quickly for Laval as Providence scored two quick goals to take a commanding 3-0 lead. The Rocket managed to finally mount some pressure offensively and forced Vladar to make some good saves, but the effort was too little, too late and Laval finished their road trip getting blanked.

After getting just one point out of ten possible on this five-game road trip, the Rocket now head home looking to find some energy, momentum, and victories on home ice. It’s not been an easy couple of weeks for Laval, and they’ll need to find some solutions pretty quickly to get themselves back into a playoff position.

Plus / Minus

▲  Cayden Primeau, Yannick Veilleux

▼  Matthew Peca, Lukas Vejdemo, Gustav Olofsson