ROCKET
Laval

1-4

COMETS
Utica

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Audette – Evans – Belzile
Kile – Vejdemo – Grenier
Jevpalovs – Roy – Alain
Pezzetta – Verbeek – Adams-Moisan[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Alzner – Fleury
Ouellet – Lernout
Sklenicka – Lamarche[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:
Lindgren
McNiven

Scratches:

Phelix Martineau, Adam Plant, Ryan Culkin

Injury List:

Gustav Olofsson (shoulder), Noah Juulsen (eye), Michael McCarron (shoulder), Antoine Waked (upper body injury), Hunter Shinkaruk (upper body injury)

Game Report

Six games, six losses. That’s the bleak outlook for the Laval Rocket’s record lately, as they arrived in Utica on Wednesday night to continue their road trip.

With news before the game that Hunter Shinkaruk will also be out long-term, due to an upper body injury sustained last weekend when he took a hard hit in the corner against Belleville, the situation at forward continued to get more dire. On the blue line, however, Karl Alzner joined the lineup once again after clearing waivers this week.

The first five minutes of the game were played rather tentatively on both sides of the ice as the teams settled in. Laval even led in shots on goal during this time, but neither team got any really good chances on the goaltenders, Charlie Lindgren and Michael Leighton.

Then Jonah Gadjovich found himself perfectly positioned in the slot to deflect a Jaime Sifers shot from the point to put the Comets on the board first. After that, Laval’s game plan quickly unraveled as the visiting team went on to take three penalties in the period and gave up one goal while on the penalty kill.

The second period provided more of the same, with penalties adding up quickly for both teams, including a total of three penalties taken by the two goaltenders. Both the Comets and the Rocket scored on one of their power play opportunities: Tanner Kero for Utica and Michael Pezzeta for Laval.

Discipline proved to be a problem for the entirety of this game, with Laval taking a total of eight infractions, however they did not give up another goal shorthanded. Evan McEneny wristed the puck through traffic and past Lindgren during one of the brief five-on-five shifts to give Utica a 4-1 lead. The Rocket couldn’t climb out of that three-goal hole, and dropped their seventh consecutive game.

It seems the Rocket continue a downward slide as they get further into this losing streak. It’s a tough mental battle they’ll need to overcome before they arrive in Binghamton to take on the Devils two nights in a row this weekend.

Plus/Minus

▲     Michael Pezzetta

▼     Cale Fleury, Morgan Adams-Moisan, Alexandre Grenier

Stars of the Game

1. Lukas Jasek  UTI
2. Jonah Gadjovich  UTI
3. Michael Leighton  UTI

Interviews conducted by Amy J for AHL Report

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