ROCKET
Laval

6-5

MOOSE
Manitoba

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Audette – Evans – Froese
Jevpalovs – Vejdemo – Grenier
Belzile – Kile – Alain
Pezzetta – Verbeek – Waked[/one_half]

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

Goaltenders:
Lindgren
McNiven

Scratches:

Michal Moravcik, Phelix Martineau, Connor LaCouvee, Adam Plant

Injury List:

Gustav Olofsson (shoulder), Noah Juulsen (undisclosed), Michael McCarron (undisclosed), Hunter Shinkaruk (undisclosed)

Game Report

When the Rocket faced the Moose on Thursday night for their first matchup against Manitoba this season, they likely didn’t expect to be shut out by a team at the bottom of the league standings but that’s exactly what happened.

With most of their North Division rivals winning games on Friday night, putting Laval further out of playoff contention, it was important for the team to get started the right away for their rematch against the Moose on Saturday night.

Manitoba had a different idea. They knew that, more often than not, when they score first they usually win, so Brent Pedersen took a feed from behind Charlie Lindgren‘s net and wristed the puck top shelf less than two minutes into the game.

But Laval didn’t sit back and instead brought plenty of offensive pressure to the Moose as they went on to outshoot Manitoba 13-6 in the first period. The power play units were active for both teams as the penalty boxes seemed to be constantly filled, and three goals were scored in the period on the man advantage.

First it was Alex Belzile who evened the score at 1-1 when he deflected the puck past Eric Comrie to tie the game. Jansen Harkins had an answer for that on the next Manitoba power play as he shot a big wrister from the circle that sailed over Lindgren’s left shoulder. Finally, with 14 seconds left in the period, Daniel Audette finished a beauty centering pass by Jake Evans to tie the game at 2-2 heading into intermission.

Alexandre Alain found himself in the penalty box early in the second period, but Laval’s special teams continued to excel in the game and managed to pot a shorthanded goal thanks to Antoine Waked putting a rebound into the net off of a shot by Lukas Vejdemo.

With the Rocket continue their parade to the penalty box, Manitoba was bound to take advantage and it was Michael Spacek who eventually fired home the equalizer to put the score at 3-3. Logan Stanley restored the Moose’s lead to 4-3 when he blasted a shot from the point past a well-screened Lindgren to end the period.

Laval scored two quick goal to begin the final frame, a second on the night for Daniel Audette and one by Nikita Jevpalovs and then the game finally settled down for a bit. Penalties disappeared and both teams started to play a bit more cautiously. With just about four minutes left in the game, however, Marko Dano found his way past Lindgren to tie the game once again.

There were plenty of good scoring chances for Manitoba in the overtime minutes, but Lindgren stood tall and made some huge saves to keep Laval in it.  Audette earned his first star rating on the night as he found the back of the net once more, in the shootout, to seal a victory for the Rocket.

Laval manages to get two out of four possible points in Manitoba, but remains at the bottom of the North Division standings. They’ll need to rest and regroup as they look ahead to a busy three-game week, beginning with a home game against Belleville on Wednesday night.

▲     Charlie Lindgren, Daniel Audette, Lukas Vejdemo, Antoine Waked

▼     Alexandre Alain, Cale Fleury, Alexandre Grenier

1. Daniel Audette  LAV
2. Jansen Harkins  MB
3. Jake Evans  LAV

Interviews conducted by Amy Johnson for AHL Report

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