Rocket Lineup

Anthony Richard – Alex Belzile – Xavier Simoneau

Joel Teasdale – Peter Abbandonato – Gabriel Bourque

Lucas Condotta – Mitchell Stephens – Nate Schnarr

Pierrick Dube – Anthony Beauregard – Parker-Jones

William Trudeau – Corey Schueneman

Mattias Norlinder – Eric Williams

Olivier Galipeau – Santino Centorame

Kevin Poulin – Joe Vrbetic

Rafael Harvey-Pinard (emergency NHL recall), Rem Pitlick (emergency NHL recall)

Gianni Fairbrother (knee), Madison Bowey (upper-body), Jan Mysak (DTD), Danick Martel (DTD), Otto Leskinen, Brandon Gignac, Tory Dello, Nicolas Beaudin

Game Report

Game Report written by Amy Johnson

The Laval Rocket were back in action on Wednesday night, with a brief one-game road trip to Rochester. Coming off of a home-ice victory over the Cleveland Monsters last Saturday, the Rocket looked to defeat the Americans in their building and put together back-to-back wins.

The lineup for Jean-Francois Houle got thinner yet again, however, when the Montreal Canadiens recalled two more of his forwards this week on an emergency basis. With Juraj Slafkovsky, Joel Armia, and Jake Evans all placed on injured reserve, the Habs were forced to call up Rem Pitlick and Rafael Harvey-Pinard to fill holes in the NHL lineup.

That left Houle with a bare-bones crew, increasingly filled with ECHL callups from Trois-Rivieres. On this night, John Parker-Jones and Pierrick Dube slotted back into the lineup, leaving no healthy scratches on the roster.

First Period

Laval’s top line made sure their team got the game started on the right foot. Just a few minutes after the opening faceoff, Anthony Richard stripped the puck from a Rochester skater and quickly passed it over to a waiting Alex Belzile. The Laval captain ripped a shot over Malcolm Subban to give the Rocket an early 1-0 lead.

About five minutes later, Santino Centorame earned his first point as a member of the Laval Rocket team when he fed Gabriel Bourque a centering shot from the wall. Bourque easily shoveled the puck past Subban to give the Rocket a two-goal lead.

Second Period

Rochester handed Laval a couple of prime power play opportunities to start the second period, and after getting through a bit of five-on-three play with no luck, the Rocket were finally able to capitalize. After a Belzile feed from the slot to the right circle, Anthony Richard launched a one-timer into the back of the Americans’ net.

A mad scramble in Rochester’s crease led to Lucas Condotta scoring his 11th goal of the season as he poked and prodded the puck across the line. Subban wasn’t pleased with the good goal and earned himself an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to put Laval right back on the man-advantage.

The Americans were quite upset when a quick whistle blew just before a loose puck crossed the line into Laval’s net, negating the goal. Minutes later, they made one count when Anders Bjork fought off defensive coverage by Mattias Norlinder to quickly spin and snap the puck past Kevin Poulin.

Third Period

The final 20 minutes of play really tightened up at both ends of the ice. Each team got pretty stingy with shooting lanes, and the amount of post-whistle scrums greatly increased.

Belzile added to his team’s lead when, down two skaters due to a Laval penalty and Rochester’s goaltender pulled for an extra attacker, he easily skated into the Amerks’ zone and potted a shorthanded empty-netter.

But the home team didn’t go away quietly, and managed to light the lamp one more time when Tyson Kozak drove the net with just 57 seconds left on the clock.

What’s Next?

Plus / Minus

▲ Anthony Richard, Peter Abbandonato, Alex Belzile

▼ Eric Williams, Mitchell Stephens, Nate Schnarr