Rocket Lineup

Matthew Peca – Jake Evans – Alex Belzile

Charles Hudon – Michael McCarron – Riley Barber

Nikita Jevpalovs – Ryan Poehling – Kevin Lynch

Alexandre Alain – Lukas Vejdemo – Joe Cox

Gustav Olofsson – Xavier Ouellet

Otto Leskinen – Noah Juulsen

David Sklenicka – Josh Brook

Cayden Primeau – Charlie Lindgren

Maxim Lamarche, Michael Pezzetta, David Sklenicka, Antoine Waked

William Pelletier (undisclosed), Phil Varone (undisclosed), Dale Weise (day-to-day)

Game Report

With the Laval Rocket currently riding the longest win streak in their young franchise history, the team took to home ice on Wednesday night looking to secure their seventh consecutive victory.

Ryan Poehling had been returned to Laval the previous night from Montreal, and would find himself back in the lineup along with Riley Barber coming off of injury. Dale Weise, however, would not play due an injury sustained during practice the previous day.

The Rocket dominated just about every aspect of the opening 20 minutes of play, from outshooting Belleville 16-5, to putting on such a hard forecheck that the Senators couldn’t recover, to scoring a shorthanded goal thanks to Kevin Lynch, and scoring a power play goal thanks to Charles Hudon.

But Belleville made sure to right the ship out of the gate in the second period, scoring their first goal just 11 seconds into the frame, followed by a power play goal by Josh Norris about a minute later to even the score at 2-2.

After that the two teams were on constant rotation in and out of the penalty box. Barber came close to a go-ahead goal on one of the Laval power plays, but he hit the crossbar and the puck deflected up and over the net. Lukas Vejdemo had a chance to pull his team ahead on a penalty shot late in the period, but Marcus Hogberg denied him the opportunity.

The Senators took their first lead of the game in the third period when Vitaly Abramov toe-dragged around a sprawled out Otto Leskinen and went top shelf on Cayden Primeau. Hudon then scored his second of the night, again on the power play, and again from the right circle.

And so started the scoring back-and-forth. Next came Drake Batherson who drove the net after he fired the puck into the end boards, accepted a Norris pass from below the net, and fired the puck into the Laval net to regain the lead again.

But it was Hudon who stole the show with just 1:05 left in regulation, completing the hat trick to tie the game and force overtime. Unfortunately for the Rocket and their fans, Belleville ended the Laval win streak just 33 seconds into the extra minutes for a 5-4 victory.

Laval still managed to earn a point in this game, which will temporarily give them sole possession of first place in the North Division. However they face two tough opponents this weekend when the Milwaukee Admirals and Bridgeport Sound Tigers come to town.

Plus / Minus

▲  Charles Hudon, Lukas Vejdemo

▼  Ryan Poehling, Xavier Ouellet, Alex Belzile