ROCKET
Laval

3-5

THUNDERBIRDS
Springfield

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

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

[one_half_last]Kulak – Lamarche
Olofsson – Lernout
Sklenicka – Fleury[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:
Lindgren
McNiven

Scratches:

Jeremiah Addison, Daniel Audette, Michal Moravcik, Michael Pezzetta, Adam Plant, Etienne Marcoux

Injury List:

Game Report

Game Report written by Chris G

Friday night was the first game of a back-to-back series between the Laval Rocket and the Springfield Thunderbirds. The Rocket headed into the game following a convincing 5-2 win against the Hartford Wolf Pack on Wednesday night. Springfield came into Place Bell without a regulation loss in the first four games of their season.

Michael McCarron opened the scoring 1:24 into the game with a quick, top corner wrist shot. Thunderbirds goaltender Samuel Montembeault was screened by his defensemen on the play. Springfield was indisciplined in the period, giving Laval three power play opportunities, including a 5-on-3 for 29 seconds which the Rocket weren’t able to convert.

Gustav Olofsson left the game during the final moments of the period, which Joel Bouchard confirmed to be a shoulder injury after the game. That’s the same injury Olofsson suffered during a pre-season game earlier this year before being traded to the Montreal Canadiens. Bouchard told the media that Olofsson will be re-evaluated on Saturday.

Brett Kulak seemed to be in a generous mood with turnovers and passed the puck to Jake Horton, who beat Lindgren with a top corner shot to tie the game. At the 8:46 mark, McCarron drove to the net and used his size to score his second goal of the night – just two seconds before Laval’s powerplay expired.

With 5:14 remaining into the period, Kulak wasn’t able to keep the puck in the offensive zone, which led Jonathan Ang on a shorthanded break to beat Charlie Lindgren with a nice deke.

Blaine Byron kept the Springfield scoring going just 34 seconds into the third period when a scramble in front of the net ended with the puck in Laval net. Rocket players seemed to think the puck was kicked in, but to no avail.

After Anthony Greco gave his team a two-goal lead, Alex Belzile tipped in a pass by Kenny Agostino to bring Laval back within one goal. The home team wasn’t able to score a fourth goal, however, to get back into the game.

The Rocket went 1-for-5 on the powerplay, and are 2-for-24 since the start of the season. They have been getting scoring opportunities, but at some point, they will need to be able to finish if they want to have success.  These two teams will face each other again at Place Bell on Saturday at 3:00 pm EST.

▲     Michael McCarron, Alexandre Alain, Lukas Vejdemo

▼     Brett Lernout, Hunter Shinkaruk, Brett Kulak

1. Jonathan Ang  SPR
2. Michael McCarron  LAV
3. Samuel Montembault  SPR

Interviews conducted by Amy Johnson for AHL Report

RECAP | Wolf Pack – Rocket: Chaput, Vejdemo, Penalty Kill Stand Out Against Hartford https://t.co/JNAFY98GlA pic.twitter.com/QgEi6sBupH

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) October 18, 2018

From The Press Box Podcast | Rocket and Phantoms Review, AHL News, more [S2/E5] https://t.co/CreqP1oljO pic.twitter.com/IGtlU0CQLZ

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) October 16, 2018

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