ROCKET
Laval

3-2

SENATORS
Belleville

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Cox – Evans – Grenier
Belzile – Vejdemo – Alain
Shinkaruk – Audette – Jevpalovs
Kile – Pezzetta – Waked[/one_half]

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

Goaltenders:
LaCouvee
McNiven

Scratches:

Ryan Culkin, Marco Roy, Morgan Adams-Moisan, Hayden Verbeek

Injury List:

Gustav Olofsson (shoulder), Noah Juulsen (eye), Michael McCarron (shoulder)

Game Report

The Laval Rocket kicked off the first of a back-to-back road series against the Belleville Senators on Friday night looking to get back in the win column. Hunter Shinkaruk returned to the lineup from injury, and Connor LaCouvee was given the nod to start in net for the visiting team.

For the first seven or so minutes of the opening period, the game seemed a bit tentative with both teams playing it safe and not getting much of anything dangerous on each other’s netminders. Then Jean-Christophe Beaudin scored his first goal with Belleville as he found the back of the net off a feed from down low by Joseph LaBate.

The game featured two fights, a tilt between Andreas Englund and Alexandre Grenier in the first period which Englund easily won, and a matchup between Drake Batherson and David Sklenicka in the second period as an answer to a hit on Nick Paul that left him a bit shaken.

The Rocket put the pressure on the home team in the middle frame and started capitalizing on power play opportunities. Lukas Vejdemo scored on the man advantage, as did Joe Cox who buried a rebound given up by Marcus Hogberg.

But with just 22 seconds remaining in the period, LaBate potted the equalizer when he fired a wrister from the faceoff circle that sailed past LaCouvee.

Not much happened in either the third period or in overtime, and so the game was decided in the shootout. Daniel Audette scored on Hogberg, and the Senators couldn’t put two pucks past LaCouvee which handed Laval the victory.

There will be plenty of energy on the ice as these two teams meet each other again on Saturday night for the 12th and final time this season.

Plus/Minus

▲    Jox Cox, Cale Fleury, Jake Evans

▼    Alexandre Grenier, Brett Lernout

Stars of the Game

1. Daniel Audette  LAV
2. Jean-Christophe Beaudin  BEL
3. Joe Cox  LAV

Interviews conducted by Amy Johnson for AHL Report

RECAP | Crunch – Rocket: Vejdemo Scores Late, Laval Can’t Finish https://t.co/0Vu4Ki5I79 pic.twitter.com/hJmFYC7a8u

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) March 14, 2019

Wondering how to get all the perks of our credentialed coverage?
💻 https://t.co/JXHhzMYtQK
📸 https://t.co/e7jr5aLfKO
📸 https://t.co/MSngof8gaR
📹 https://t.co/ax5RQNNY5B
🎙️ Search "Rocket Sports Radio" on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast, TuneIn for podcasts@TheAHLReport

— Amy (@FlyersRule) February 9, 2019

Follow @theAHLReport on Twitter