| FINAL | 2017-18 Season, Game 18 | Sunday November 19, 2017 Bell MTS Place, Winnipeg, MB |
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ROCKET |
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2-5 |
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MOOSE |
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LineupForward lines and defense pairings: [one_half]Carr – Holland – Terry [one_half_last]Taormina – Lernout Goaltenders: Scratches: Simon Bourque, Thomas Ebbing Injury List: Noah Juulsen (foot), Jeremiah Addison (shoulder), Markus Eisenschmid (lower body) Game ReportFriday night’s game against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms was a miserable affair for the Laval Rocket. Then they boarded a plane and flew to Winnipeg, where a Manitoba Moose team on a two-game winning streak, who had gone 6-2-1-1 in their past 10 games were waiting (along with -19C temps) to greet the Quebec team. The first period was, predictably, a bit quiet and slow with the 2:00pm CT start time. Both teams seemed to skate a bit sluggishly, but the third line came up with a huge play 33 seconds into the game to light a spark. Michael McCarron dug the puck out of a corner and fed a nice tape-to-tape cross-ice pass to Yannick Veilleux who roofed it over Michael Hutchinson for Laval’s first goal of the game. For the remainder of the period, however, Manitoba controlled puck possession most of the way. Michael McNiven looked solid in net, however late in the period when the Moose drove the net hard, a puck slid under McNiven’s pads to make it 1-1. Laval only mustered seven shots on goal in the opening frame. While the opening frame had maintained an air of competitiveness from Laval, the second period turned into another disaster as the team continued to break down defensively and also rotate in and out of the penalty box constantly. McNiven came out of the net to collect a puck behind the net, but it took an awkward bounce off the end boards and shot back in front of the net for an easy Manitoba goal. Then, on a rare Laval power play, McCarron came up clutch again with a short pass from the crease to Daniel Carr in the slot who wristed the puck past Hutchinson. However the penalty parade for the Rocket then picked up the pace again, and the Moose made them pay for it. Two successive goals were scored against the visiting team while they were shorthanded. The worst insult of all came with just 0.7 seconds remaining in the period. Eric Gelinas was soft on a rush to the Laval net, the rest of the Rocket couldn’t catch up fast enough, and they found themselves heading to the dressing room down 5-2. Zach Fucale took up residence in the Laval crease to begin the third period, but he only saw three shots on net in the frame. The Rocket turned up the offense a bit with some solid shifts and getting 16 shots on Hutchinson, but it was too little too late yet again. Tensions began boiling over with plenty of scrums after whistles, but then David Broll got into it with a few Manitoba players and was awarded a roughing minor and a 10-minute misconduct. The Rocket couldn’t mount a comeback in this game and fell 5-2 in their first ever meeting with the Manitoba Moose. These two teams will battle it out again on Tuesday, and in the meantime the Laval players have plenty to think about in terms of shoring up their defense and getting some sustained offensive pressure going, while staying out of the penalty box. ▲ Michael McCarron, David Broll, Daniel Carr ▼ Eric Gelinas, Chris Terry |
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| Statistics | ||
| ROCKET | MOOSE | |
| 29 | Shots | 37 |
| 1 for 2 | Power Play | 2 for 6 |
| 22 | Penalty Minutes | 4 |
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| AHL Three Stars | ||
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| Video highlights |
| Post-game interview | |
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Interviews conducted by Amy Johnson for AHL Report |
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