ROCKET
Laval

1-4

MARLIES
Toronto

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Rychel – Cracknell – Terry
Boucher – McCarron – Waked
Petti – Eisenschmid – Gregoire
Broll – Blain – Ebbing[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Parisi – Taormina
Gelinas – Bourque
Boutet – Corrin[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:
Fucale
McNiven

Scratches:

Yannick Veilleux (lower body), Daniel Audette (lower body), Stefan Leblanc

Injury List:

Jeremiah Addison (shoulder)

Game Report

The last time the Rocket visited Toronto things didn’t go well for Laval and this time around it seemed the visiting team was determined to not let the opening 20 minutes slip away so easily as they took the ice at the Air Canada Centre for a special weekday matinee game.

The pace of the game was fast, and while the Rocket kept up with Toronto very well, they found themselves playing defense much more than they likely wanted to. Zach Fucale had to be sharp early on as the Marlies hit the post a few times and got some quality shots right on the goaltender.

On the other side of the ice, it took more than ten minutes for Laval to register their first shot on goal, which didn’t bode well for what was to come. Toronto would eventually score first, when former Rocket Kyle Baun dished the puck to Tyler Moore in the slot who wristed it right past Fucale.

But Laval wasn’t going to let that deter them. Adam Cracknell and Chris Terry took a two-on-one down the ice just 30 seconds later, during which Cracknell ripped a shot from the circle to even the score at 1-1.  Baun was all smiles a few minutes later as he and former teammate David Broll mixed it up a bit after a whistle.

With just over a minute remaining in the period, Dimitri Timashov completed a nice drop pass to Colin Greening on the rush and Greening buried the puck low.

The second period brought no scoring, but it did feature plenty of action in the penalty boxes. Both teams took two minor penalties in the period but their power play units came up empty-handed on the man advantages.

A lot of north-south hockey was on display in this period, although Laval got a few prime scoring chances including a really nice wraparound attempt by Michael McCarron. Garret Sparks got his skate over to the post just in the nick of time, however, and denied the Rocket forward a goal.

Andreas Johnsson extended the Toronto lead early in the third period when he sniped one off a quick cross-ice feed on the power play. The Rocket continued to create chances for themselves, and Garret Sparks started giving up some juicy rebounds, but the Laval group couldn’t find a way to finish any of the opportunities. Any empty-net goal by Justin Holl put the final stamp on this one.

These two rivals won’t have long to wait before meeting each other again, as they play at Ricoh Coliseum on Wednesday night. Until then, the Rocket have a day of practice to regroup and focus on the next game.

▲     Adam Cracknell, Chris Terry, Tom Parisi

▼     Eric Gelinas, Etienne Boutet

1. Garret Sparks  TOR
2. Trevor Moore  TOR
3. Timothy Liljegren  TOR

Interviews conducted by Amy Johnson for AHL Report

Athleticism on display from @GSparks40 to turn aside back-to-back chances.#MarliesLive pic.twitter.com/DtPs409A8k

— Toronto Marlies (@TorontoMarlies) March 12, 2018

Habs360 Podcast | Molson Plans to Stay the Course [e239] https://t.co/UDXbJ0Xupz #allhabs #gohabsgo pic.twitter.com/7dwPPaotLF

— All Habs (Canadiens) (@AllHabs) March 11, 2018

Follow @theAHLReport on Twitter