ROCKET
Laval

1-2

SOUND TIGERS
Bridgeport

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

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

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

Goaltenders:
Lindgren
McNiven

Scratches:

Adam Plant, Antoine Waked, Michael Pezzetta

Injury List:

Gustav Olofsson (shoulder), Cale Fleury (day-to-day)

Game Report

Game Report written by Chris G

The Bridgeport Sound Tigers were in Place Bell on Friday night to pay visit to the Laval Rocket. Bridgeport, the league’s highest scoring team, headed into the game without a regulation loss in their last six, while Laval is coming off a 6-2 win against Toronto. Nikita Jevpalovs returned to the lineup after missing a game due to injury.

There was no scoring in the first period that had a total of 16 shots on goal. It was a tight period, without many dangerous scoring chances between both teams. Laval’s most dangerous opportunity of the period, came on a 2-on-1 when Michal Moravcik wasn’t able to score on Jeremy Smith following a pass from Michael Chaput.

The Rocket had two powerplay opportunities, but they weren’t able to produce any kind of offence. The first powerplay only lasted 11 seconds as Ryan Sproul took a holding penalty in the neutral zone, negating the man advantage.

The second period played out very similarly to the first. No scoring and not many opportunities for either team. Laval again had two powerplay opportunities and they weren’t able to set up in their opponents zone, taking no shots with the extra attacker on. Just like earlier in the night, a bad penalty cut Laval’s powerplay short as Chaput got called for tripping 27 seconds into his team’s third opportunity.

The highlights of the period came when Michael McCarron dropped the gloves and got the victory against Peter Wotherspoon. It wasn’t a pretty fight, as both players were at the end of their shifts. Charlie Lindgren made a spectacular glove save on a shot from the blue line from Chris Bourque. Bourque shot the puck through traffic as he was trying to prevent the puck from leaving the offensive zone.

The Rocket took three consecutive penalties in the third period, and the Sound Tigers took advantage of a 5-on-3 powerplay lasting for over a minute, as Devon Toews was left alone in the slot and scored with a top-corner glove side shot. Bridgeport continued to put pressure on Lindgren, but the Laval netminder kept his team in the game with several big saves.

Joel Bouchard pulled the goalie for an extra attacker with 2:36 remaining in the period and Laval was buzzing in the offensive zone. After his first two shot attempts were blocked by defenders, Jake Evans scored his sixth goal of the season with 36 seconds left on the clock, to send the teams into overtime.

Lukas Vejdemo had a prime scoring chance in overtime on a 2-on-1, but wasn’t able to put the puck into the net. The game moved on to the first Rocket shootout of the season, but Mike Sislo was the only scorer and extended his team’s streak to seven games without a regulation loss.

Bouchard was satisfied with his team’s performance. “The effort was there, they were engaged,” said Bouchard after the game. “We gave the 5-on-3 and it was costly. [..] The penalty kinda killed us”, he continued.

Laval jumped onto their bus immediately after the game and headed to Syracuse to face the Crunch on Saturday night at 7:00pm ET.

▲     Charlie Lindgren, Jake Evans

▼     Michael Chaput, Ryan Sproul, Alexandre Grenier, Michael McCarron

1. Kieffer Bellows  BRI
2. Charlie Lindgren  LAV
3. Jake Evans  LAV

Post-game interview with Charlie Lindgren:

Post-game interview with Byron Froese:

Post-game interview with Jake Evans:

Interviews conducted by Chris G for AHL Report

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