Rocket Lineup

Joseph Blandisi – Ryan Poehling – Joel Teasdale

Yannick Veilleux – Jordan Weal – Rafael Harvey-Pinard

Brandon Baddock – Laurent Dauphin – Jake Lucchini

Michael Pezzetta – Cameron Hillis – Hayden Verbeek

Corey Schueneman – Otto Leskinen

Tobie Paquette-Bisson – Cale Fleury

Xavier Ouellet – Josh Brook

Cayden Primeau – Michael McNiven

Nathanael Halbert, Jacob Leguerrier, Terrance Amorosa, Tristan Pomerleau, Vasily Demchenko, Liam Hawel, Arsen Khisamutdinov, Cole Caufield (COVID-19 protocol)

Alex Belzile (undisclosed), Lukas Vejdemo (undisclosed), Jan Mysak (undisclosed), Jesse Ylonen (undisclosed)

Game Report

Game Report written by Chris G

The Rocket were back at the Bell Centre on Friday after completing an eight-game road trip in western Canada. The Heat was in town for the first of the three-game set between the two clubs. Laval swept the recent four-game series that took place in Stockton between March 18th and 23rd. 

Laval has won nine of their last 10 games, including a 3-1 win against Manitoba in their last match on Tuesday. Stockton is coming off a 5-2 loss against Toronto on Wednesday. 

Jordan Weal returned to the lineup after missing the last match due to injury. Laurent Dauphin and Xavier Ouellet returned in the lineup after being re-assigned to the AHL earlier in the day from the Canadiens taxi squad. 

Guillaume Brisebois, Liam Hawel, and Arsen Khisamutdinov skipped their turns. Cayden Primeau got the start in net. In his last start, he made 20 saves in a win against Manitoba on Sunday. 

Earlier in the day, the Canadiens announced that they signed Corey Schueneman to a one-year, two-way contract for the 2020-21 season.

First Period

Laval scored the first goal of the match for the 16th time of the season. Brandon Baddock beat Artyom Zagidulin with a wrist shot from the top of the face-off circle. Hayden Verbeek extended his point streak to three games with an assist on the goal.

Later in the period, Yannick Veilleux was invited to drop the gloves by Alex Gallant. The Heat wanted retribution to Veilleux’s kneeing incident that ended Martin Pospisil’s season on March 21st. Veilleux was suspended four games for the act. 

Schueneman and Weal hit posts during the period, and Stockton’s best scoring chance came with 2:38 remaining when Primeau stopped Eetu Tuulola with a glove save on an odd-man rush.

Second Period

The Rocket obtained a dangerous scoring chance from the opening faceoff, when Otto Leskinen found Ryan Poehling open in the offensive zone which led to a 2-on-1 where Joseph Blandisi was stopped by Zagidulin. 

Laval was able to kill consecutive penalties to Blandisi for interference and a bench minor for too many players on the ice. 

Later in the period, it got feisty on the ice, bringing back memories of the Good Friday Massacre at the Montreal Forum in 1984. It started with a hard hit from Gallant on Josh Brook, and Michael Pezzetta came to the defence of his teammate. Simultaneously, Baddock dropped the gloves against Koletrane Wilson.  

Baddock and Wilson were ejected from the game for starting a secondary fight on the play, and Gallant received a game misconduct for obtaining a second major in the match.

Third Period

It was another good start to the period for Laval as Veilleux increased the lead to two goals after 1:41 of play. He picked up a loose puck in front of the crease to bury it behind the goalie. 

Poehling nearly put the game out of reach for the Heat when he obtained a scoring chance that concluded with a shot on the post with 6:57 remaining in regulation.  

Poehling converted on his next opportunity when he redirected Leskinen’s shot into the net while Stockton had the goaltender in the bench for an extra attacker. It was Poehling’s fourth point in the last four games. 

The Heat had a chance to break Primeau’s shutout when Brook was in the box killing a roughing penalty, but the Laval penalty kill unit accomplished their mission.

What’s Next?

Laval’s 3-0 victory extended the team’s sequence to 11 games without a regulation loss. The shutout was Primeau’s second of the year, and his seventh consecutive win, tying the club’s record. 

Cale Fleury left the game during the first period after being on the receiving end of a hard body check. He will be re-evaluated on Saturday.  

The team’s will face each other again on Sunday night at 7:00pm eastern time. 

Be sure to scroll down for full audio from our AHL Report team and other members of the media in post-game interviews with Ouellet , Veilleux , and Bouchard.

Plus / Minus

▲  Ryan Poehling, Cayden Primeau, Laurent Dauphin, Josh Brook

▼  Xavier Ouellet