Rocket Lineup

Yannick Veilleux – Laurent Dauphin – Jan Mysak

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Jordan Weal – Jesse Ylonen

Jake Lucchini – Lukas Vejdemo – Josh Brook

Brandon Baddock – Cameron Hillis – Liam Hawel

Corey Schueneman – Otto Leskinen

Tobie Paquette-Bisson – Cale Fleury

Xavier Ouellet – Gustav Olofsson

Vasily Demchenko – Michael McNiven

Nathanael Halbert, Jacob LeGuerrier, Tristan Pomerleau, Arsen Khisamutdinov, Terrance Amorosa

Ryan Poehling (undisclosed), Joel Teasdale (surgery), Joseph Blandisi (surgery), Michael Pezzetta (surgery)

Game Report

Game Report written by Chris G

The Rocket visited the Coca-Cola Coliseum on Tuesday to face the Marlies. The teams will face off against each other five times over a seven-day span. Laval is coming off a 4-3 loss against Belleville on Friday, while Toronto lost on Sunday 4-3 to Manitoba. 

The last time that the two division rivals faced each other, the Marlies came out on top 4-3 in overtime, despite the Rocket’s 60 shots on goal. 

Yannick Veilleux returned to the lineup after serving a one-game suspension as a consequence of a boarding incident, and Arsen Khisamutdinov was scratched. 

On defence, Cale Fleury returned back to action, after missing the last nine games following an injury that occurred during April 2nd’s game against Stockton. Josh Brook was slotted to play as a forward for the entire match. 

Vasily Demchenko obtained the start between the pipes. In his last appearance, Demchenko stopped 20 pucks in a 4-1 win against Belleville on April 24th.

First Period

Laval opened the scoring at the 16:34 mark when Jesse Ylonen circled the back of the net and found Rafael Harvey-Pinard in the slot for the goal. The goal snapped Harvey-Pinard’s eight-game drought.  

With 1:29 remaining in the initial frame, Veilleux increased the lead to two goals by scoring his fourth goal in as many games. The sequence began when Fleury delivered a hard hit on Nic Petan, which created a turnover. On the play, Laurent Dauphin extended his point streak to three games with an assist. 

The Rocket dominated the first period, outshooting the Marlies 20-6, including five of them during their two power plays.

Second Period

Laval took a 3-0 lead during the fourth minute of the middle period, when Ylonen scored his ninth of the year. Jordan Weal’s pass was bouncing on the ice when Ylonen put the puck behind Veini Vehvilainen. 

The Rocket continued to dominate the play. They were aggressive towards the puck carrier, and didn’t give the Marlies room to generate any dangerous scoring chances. Toronto’s first shot of the frame came after 11:21 of action.

Third Period

The Marlies closed the gap 12:44 into the third period, when Richard Clune redirected Scott Pooley’s one-timer from the faceoff circle.

Toronto cut the deficit to one goal five minutes later when they pulled their goaltender for an extra attacker. Kalle Kossila beat Jordan Weal on the faceoff and the puck trickled to Petan’s stick and he beat Demchenko glove side. 

In the final minute of regulation, Laurent Dauphin sealed the victory by scoring his fifth of the season into an empty net.

What’s Next?

Laval dominated Toronto through 40 minutes, before the Marlies pushed back in the third. Demchenko made 14 saves in the final 20 minutes to help Laval win 4-2. 

Liam Hawel’s name was added to the injury list as he left the match in the first period and didn’t return. 

The two teams will face each other again on Wednesday at 3:00pm eastern in Toronto.

Be sure to scroll down to hear post-game interviews with Harvey-Pinard, Fleury, Ylonen, and Bouchard by the AHL Report team and other members of the media.

Plus / Minus

▲  Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Jordan Weal, Cale Fleury, Vasily Demchenko, Laurent Dauphin, Jesse Ylonen

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