Rocket Lineup

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Jordan Weal – Jesse Ylonen

Jake Lucchini – Lukas Vejdemo – Alex Belzile

Joseph Blandisi – Ryan Poehling – Joel Teasdale

Brandon Baddock – Jan Mysak – Arsen Khisamutdinov

Corey Schueneman – Otto Leskinen

Tobie Paquette-Bisson – Cale Fleury

Guillaume Brisebois – Josh Brook

Cayden Primeau – Michael McNiven

Nathanael Halbert, Liam Hawel, Hayden Verbeek, Jacob Leguerrier, Cameron Hillis, Terrance Amorosa, Tristan Pomerleau, Michael Pezzetta, Gustav Olofsson, Yannick Veilleux (suspended)

N/A

Game Report

Game Report written by Chris G

The Rocket began an eight-game road trip on Thursday, starting with a four-game series against the Stockton Heat. The Flames AHL affiliate was relocated to Calgary for the 2020-21 season due to cross-border travel restrictions. It was the first time in history that these two teams faced each other.

Laval was coming off a 3-2 win against Belleville on Monday, while Stockton has won eight of their last nine games. 

Jake Lucchini, Arsen Khisamutdinov, and Jan Mysak returned to the lineup, replacing Yannick Veilleux, Cameron Hillis, and Liam Hawel. Veilleux served the first game of a two-game suspension as a consequence of using an obscene gesture during Sunday’s game against the Toronto Marlies. 

Cayden Primeau got the start in goal. In his last start, Primeau made 25 saves in a win against the Senators.

First Period

Laval got on the board 1:36 into the match during a power play. Otto Leskinen passed the puck to Jordan Weal and he scored with a shot from the top of the face-off circle. It was Leskinen’s third assist in the last three games. 

The visiting team doubled its lead with a second power play goal. Alex Belzile scored his second goal of the season, completing a tic-tac-toe play that began with Weal and Ryan Poehling. It was Poehling’s second assist of the night, and his fifth point in last three contests. 

The Rocket increased their lead to three goals at the 10:19 mark. Rafael Harvey-Pinard got his first point in six games with a pass to Weal who scored his second goal of the night with a shot from the face-off dot to beat Louis Domingue. 

Stockton coach Cail Maclean called a timeout to regroup his troops. At the time, Laval was outshooting them 11-3. The decision brought some energy to the home team as they started putting pressure on Laval, and outshooting them 7-2 until the first intermission.

Second Period

Stockton turned the red light on during the sixth minute of the middle frame, when Alexander Yelesin’s point shot hit Guillaume Brisebois before finding the back of the net. 

Laval wasn’t able to capitalize on a couple of scoring opportunities that were presented to them. Firstly, Brandon Baddock intercepted Martin Pospisil’s pass in the offensive zone, and his shot was stopped by Domingue. Secondly, Leskinen completed a long pass from his own zone to Joseph Blandisi at Stockton’s blue line, but the goaltender made the save. 

Jan Mysak was hit hard by Connor Mackey with under two minutes remaining, in his own zone. The prospect got on his skates after the contact. Only 30 seconds later, Primeau wasn’t able to control a bouncing puck and Luke Philp knocked it into the goal to cut the deficit to one after 40 minutes.

Third Period

Both teams got an opportunity on the power play in the third period but neither was able to convert. 

That was followed by scoring opportunities for each team. During the 10th minute, Primeau made a key right pad save against Eetu Tuulola on a breakaway. Two minutes later, Weal nearly completed his hat trick after redirecting Cale Fleury’s shot from the blue line. 

Stockton threw an extra attacker on the ice with Domingue on the bench during the final minute and they were rewarded with the tying goal, as Matthew Phillips whacked the puck behind Primeau with lots of traffic in the crease with 19 seconds remaining.  

The teams showed patience during the overtime, as they tried to maintain possession of the puck. The first shot of the extra frame was taken 3:12 into play, when Corey Schueneman skated with the puck into the Heat’s zone and made a drop pass to Poehling, who beat Domingue for the game-winning goal with a wrist shot from the face-off circle.

What’s Next?

Poehling’s overtime goal was his third goal in the last three games, and allowed Laval to obtain its first overtime win of the season. 

The Rocket will try to extend their three-game winning streak when they face the Heat again on Saturday at 4:00 pm eastern time at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

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

Plus / Minus

▲  Jordan Weal, Ryan Poehling, Otto Leskinen, Cale Fleury

▼  Jan Mysak, Jake Lucchini, Guillaume Brisebois, Arsen Khisamutdinov