Rocket Lineup

Jake Lucchini – Laurent Dauphin – Liam Hawel

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Jordan Weal – Jesse Ylonen

Brandon Baddock – Lukas Vejdemo – Jan Mysak

Arsen Khisamutdinov – Cameron Hillis – Terrance Amorosa (7th D)

Corey Schueneman – Josh Brook

Tobie Paquette-Bisson – Otto Leskinen

Xavier Ouellete – Gustav Olofsson

Michael McNiven – Vasily Demchenko

Nathanael Halbert, Jacob LeGuerrier, Tristan Pomerleau, Yannick Veilleux

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

Game Report

Game Report written by Amy Johnson

The hits just keep on coming for the Laval Rocket. After learning that Joel Teasdale, Michael Pezzetta, and Joseph Blandisi would all need season-ending surgery, it was then announced that Ryan Poehling would need wrist surgery.

Add a one-game suspension for Yannick Veilleux to the mix, and Joel Bouchard was looking at a pretty lean roster for tonight’s game against the Belleville Senators.

First Period

In this last meeting between the Rocket and Senators this season, Belleville took control early while Laval struggled to get organized in their own zone. Despite that, Jake Lucchini lit the lamp first when he made a nice little forehand-backhand move around goaltender Mads Sogaard to put the Rocket on the board.

Just 49 seconds later, however, the Sens struck back when Colby Williams took advantage of a defensive breakdown by Laval and put a wrister top shelf past Michael McNiven.

Brandon Baddock made his presence known when he laid out Cole Cassels with a big open-ice hit in front of the Belleville bench and Curtis Douglas immediately came to the defense of his teammate. The officials immediately broke things up before an actual fight could develop, and Laval ended up on the penalty kill.

The Senators snuck in a late goal with just 33 seconds left on the clock when Egor Sokolov scored his 14th goal of the season, snapping the puck up and over McNiven’s glove.

Second Period

In the “things you didn’t expect to see tonight” department, Josh Brook took his first shift of the middle frame as a forward on the top line with Lucchini and Laurent Dauphin. His next shift earned him a visit to the penalty box for tripping, after which Jordan Weal had a prime scoring opportunity on a shorthanded breakaway but was denied by Sogaard.

Physicality ramped way up in the middle frame, and this time Baddock did actually drop the gloves with none other than Belleville tough guy Joseph LaBate. Lukas Vejdemo also mixed it up at the same time with Jack Dougherty, earning them both a two-minute minor for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Then the ice started to seriously tilt in Belleville’s direction. Jean-Christophe Beaudin buried the puck as he drove the net up the slot and was fed a perfect pass from Douglas down low.

Yet again, in the last minute of the period, Laval allowed another late goal, this time by Logan Brown after a bad clearing attempt.

Third Period

Laval seriously stepped up the energy in the third period, and had chance after chance to score. In fact, in some instances they DID score but didn’t get credit for it. Let’s explain.

Lucchini scored his second goal of the night with a nifty little toe drag into the slot after which he let the puck rip past Sodaar into the corner of the net. 

Then Terrance Amorosa tallied his first AHL goal after Dauphin fed him the puck from below the goal line, pulling the Rocket to within a goal of tying the game.

Controversy soon broke out when it looked like Lucchini had earned himself a hat trick with the equalizing goal, but the officials again said it was not a good goal and play continued. A video replay showed the puck did, in fact, cross the line, but official video review is not available in the AHL this season due to circumstances related to COVID-19 protocols.

What’s Next?

Laval was unable to complete the comeback on this night, dropping their second consecutive game. They’ll have a couple of days of rest and practice before starting a five-game series against the Marlies on Tuesday night in Toronto.

Be sure to scroll down to hear post-game interviews with Lucchini, Amoroso, Dauphin and Bouchard by the AHL Report team and other members of the media.

Plus / Minus

▲  Jake Lucchini, Laurent Dauphin, Jordan Weal

▼  Arsen Khisamutdinov, Tobie Paquette-Bisson