Rocket Lineup

Yannick Veilleux – Laurent Dauphin – Alex Belzile

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Jordan Weal – Jesse Ylonen

Jake Lucchini – Lukas Vejdemo – Josh Brook

Brandon Baddock – Cameron Hillis – Jan Mysak

Corey Schueneman – Otto Leskinen

Tobie Paquette-Bisson – Cale Fleury

Xavier Ouellet – Gustav Olofsson

Michael McNiven – Vasily Demchenko

Nathanael Halbert, Jacob LeGuerrier, Liam Hawel, Arsen Khisamutdinov, Tristan Pomerleau, Cayden Primeau, Terrance Amorosa

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

Game Report

Game Report written by Chris G

The Rocket hosted the Marlies at the Bell Centre for the second time in under 24 hours. On Friday night, Toronto’s Pavol Gogolev scored the winning goal with 1:30 remaining in the second period for the 3-2 win. It was the fourth match between the division rivals this week, with the Marlies victorious in two of the three previous duels. 

Cale Fleury returned into the lineup after sitting out Friday’s contest as part of his recovery plan. Terrance Amorosa was given the afternoon off. No changes were made to the forward group. 

Michael McNiven was manning the net. In his last start, McNiven made 19 saves in Wednesday’s loss to the Marlies.

First Period

The hostility between the clubs was up a notch. There were a lot of scrums after the whistle especially when the line of Yannick Veilleux, Laurent Dauphin, and Alex Belzile were on the ice. The trio had a good performance on Friday’s game. 

Veilleux dropped the gloves against Tyler Gaudet, after the Rocket forward threw some ice on Marlies goaltender Joseph Woll. 

The Marlies opened the scoring while Belzile was serving a tripping minor. Calle Rosen was wide open in the slot and he beat McNiven with a glove side shot. 

Laval obtained several scoring opportunities through 20 minutes. Jordan Weal, Veilleux, Jesse Ylonen, and Rafael Harvey-Pinard all obtained chances that that they weren’t able to capitalize on. 

It was only the sixth time this year that Laval trailed at the conclusion of the first period.

Second Period

Harvey-Pinard tied the game at 1-1 during the first minute of play. The sequence began when Tobie Paquette-Bisson made a long pass to Dauphin, and he setup Harvey-Pinard for a breakaway goal that beat Woll top corner glove side. The assist extended Dauphin’s point streak to six games. 

Josh Brook was used as a forward for a fifth consecutive match, but left the game during the second minute after a hard impact with an opponent in the defensive zone. 

The Marlies took back the lead with at the 9:41 mark when Kalle Kossila was left wide open to the right of McNiven. 

Harvey-Pinard’s goal was Laval’s only shot of the period. The team’s energy level seemed low as they were playing their fourth game in five days, and there were not any spare forwards available to jump in. 

Third Period

The Rocket came out with more energy in the third period and it paid off for them. Laval successfully killed penalties against Harvey-Pinard and Belzile, as McNiven stopped five shots on goal during Toronto’s power plays. Weal and Fleury obtained scoring chances with a man short but Woll prevented both from tying the match. 

Joel Bouchard used his time out with 2:09 remaining in the frame and pulled McNiven for an extra attacker. The tactic helped the home team tie the game at 2-2 with 1:26 remaining, when Belzile’s one-timer hit Dauphin’s arm and the puck rolled to Weal in front of an empty net for his seventh goal of the year. That brought an end to his five-game drought, and Belzile’s assist was his seventh point in the last five games. 

In overtime, the Rocket obtained a couple of scoring chances before Gogolev skated the puck into the offensive zone, and picked up his own rebound to score the winner. Gogolev has scored the winning goal in Toronto’s three wins this week. 

What’s Next?

Laval’s loss was their fifth in the last six games. After the game, the coach said he was happy with the team’s effort level. 

The Rocket will be off on Sunday before wrapping up the season on Monday night when they host the Marlies again at the Bell Centre.  

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

Plus / Minus

▲   Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Michael McNiven

▼   Alex Belzile, Brandon Baddock, Lukas Vejdemo, Xavier Ouellet