ROCKET
Laval

5-1

MONSTERS
Cleveland

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Chaput – Evans – Belzile
Scherbak – Vejdemo – Jevpalovs
Shinkaruk – Froese – Grenier
Audette – McCarron – Alain[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Kulak – Fleury
Moravcik – Lamarche
Sklenicka – Lernout[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:
Lindgren
McNiven

Scratches:

Adam Plant, Ryan Sproul, Antoine Waked, Michael Pezzetta

Injury List:

Gustav Olofsson (shoulder)

Game Report

Game Report written by Chris G

Laval headed to Cleveland for the first time in franchise history to face the Monsters. Friday night was the first in a back-to-back series between these teams. The Rocket came into town riding two consecutive wins against the Utica Comets, while the Monsters had lost their last two games. Michael McCarron returned to the lineup after missing two games with a back injury.

The Rocket scored two goals within the first six minutes of the first period. Maxim Lamarche made an accurate pass from the point to Alexandre Alain who was to the right of Cleveland goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks, scoring for a second time in as many games.

Lamarche began the second scoring play, then Alex Belzile setup Jake Evans on a breakaway and Evans scored, giving him a point in six consecutive games.

With 4:04 remaining in the period, Lukas Vejdemo fought off a defender and managed to complete a pass to Nikita Scherbak who made a nice backhand-forehand move to score his first goal of the season. A scary moment occurred in the final minutes of the period when Scherbak fell on the ice during a Rocket power play and struggled as he headed back to the bench. He didn’t take another shift in the first period, but was back on the ice for the second.

Only one goal was scored in the second period and it was in the final seconds as Sonny Milano potted a rebound from a shot by Kevin Stenlund. It was a power play goal with Hunter Shinkaruk in the penalty box for slashing.

Laval’s best scoring chance of the period came with four minutes remaining as Scherbak setup Shinkaruk for a one-timer, but he took too much time to release the shot and the scoring chance disappeared. Cleveland outplayed Laval through two periods, but Charlie Lindgren kept his team in the game with several key saves.

Laval scored two goals in 48 seconds early in the third period to take a commanding lead. Evans scored a spectacular goal, his second of the game, after accepting Belzile’s pass to give the Rocket a three-goal lead. Vejdemo took advantage of a turnover by Doyle Summerby to put the puck past Kivlenieks. Cleveland wasn’t able to get back into the game after that goal.

The Rocket will try to extend their winning streak to four games on Saturday night as they head back to Quicken Loans Arena to face the Cleveland Monster again at 7pm ET.

▲     Maxim Lamarche, Charlie Lindgren, Michael McCarron, Nikita Sherbak, Jake Evans

▼     David Sklenicka, Hunter Shinkaruk

1. Jake Evans  LAV
2. Charlie Lindgren  LAV
3. Lukas Vejdemo  LAV

Interviews conducted by Amy Johnson for AHL Report

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