SENATORS
Belleville

2-3

ROCKET
Laval

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]McCormick – O’Brien – Gagne
Paul – Chlapik – Sexton
Ciampini – Reinhart – Rodewald
Dunn – Werek – Randell[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Englund – Burgdoerfer
Sieloff – Harpur
Lajoie – Murray[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:
Taylor
Hogberg

Scratches: Andrew Hammond, Macoy Erkamps, Mike Blunden, Kyle Flanagan

Injured Reserve: Christian Jaros, Willie Corrin, Francis Perron

Game Report

The Belleville Senators were in Quebec Wednesday night to do battle with their division rival, the Laval Rocket. Coming off a 4-3 loss at the hands of the Utica Comets, Belleville were looking to get back in the win column and gain two points on the Rocket in the process.

In the opening frame, the teams went back and forth in the early going. Danny Taylor made a huge stick save on Luc-Olivier Blain to keep Laval off the board and that proved to be huge. Later in the period, Jack Rodewald deflected a Jordan Murray point shot past Charlie Lindgren to make it 1-0.

But in the dying moments of the frame with the Senators on the man advantage, Jeremy Gregoire equalized. It was a beautifully placed wrist shot over the shoulder of Taylor on a two-on-one rush to make it 1-1. After 20 minutes of play, the teams were tied 1-1.

In the second period, the Rocket took control. Just over three minutes in, Kyle Baun scored off a nice feed from Antoine Waked to give Laval their first lead of the night. Later in the frame, the Senators found themselves on another power play. For the second time in the game, Belleville allowed a short-handed goal. It was Daniel Audette who made no mistake to extend the Laval lead to two.

But before the period was out, the Senators got one back. After some solid work on the fore-check from Max Reinhart, Gabriel Gagne found the loose puck in front of the Laval net and beat Lindgren for his 16th of the season. At the end of two periods, the Rocket led 3-2.

The third period was a mostly uneventful frame. Taylor kept the Senators in the game with big saves late, notably a huge stop with his left pad on Markus Eisenschmid. Belleville did come close with a shot from Filip Chlapik that hit the post, but they did not find a way to beat Lindgren for a third time. Laval held on to win this one, 3-2.

The power play was a huge issue for the Senators in this one, allowing two short-handed goals and failing to score on six power play opportunities. Belleville will return home to do battle with another division rival on Friday when they host the Toronto Marlies.

▲ Max Reinhart, Gabriel Gagne, Danny Taylor

▼ Ben Harpur, Filip Chlapik

1. Charlie Lindgren  LAV
2. Daniel Audette  LAV
3. Gabriel Gagne  BEL

Quotes courtesy of AHL Report

I talked about how the penalty kill has been a huge issue for the #BellevilleSens on From the Press Box yesterday, but the power play has been no better. Two short-handed goals against. @TheAHLReport

— Joseph Whalen (@JoeWhalen19) February 15, 2018

RECAP | Senators – Comets: Utica Holds on to Beat Belleville https://t.co/oKmXxIIDAb pic.twitter.com/20JtlTW3oG

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) February 11, 2018

From the Press Box | Rocket Review, Belleville Preview, Danis Retires, Top 5 [Podcast S1/E20] https://t.co/Eu7wAg1ZRY pic.twitter.com/KSw4BnoJ90

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) February 14, 2018

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