Rocket Lineup

Gabriel Bourque – Jean-Sebastien Dea – Jesse Ylonen

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Jean-Christophe Beaudin – Alex Belzile

Danick Martel – Peter Abbandonato – Kevin Roy

Brandon Baddock – Alexandre Fortin – Joel Teasdale

Gianni Fairbrother – Louie Belpedio

Xavier Ouellet – Tobie Paquette-Bisson

Corey Schueneman – Tory Dello

Kevin Poulin – Louis-Philip Guindon

Sami Niku, Devante Smith-Pelly, Carl Neill, Terrance Amorosa

Josh Brook (surgery), Brandon Gignac (upper-body injury)

Game Report

Game Report written by Amy Johnson

The Rocket found themselves with another weeklong layoff after two games against the Belleville Senators were postponed last weekend. It’s been nine days since Laval’s last game, a 4-3 home victory over the division-leading Utica Comets.

This weekend they find themselves in Texas for the first time in franchise history, finishing out the four-game season series against the Stars. Joel Teasdale made his season debut tonight, finally healthy enough to return to gameplay. 

First Period

Aside from a tripping penalty by Jeremy Gregoire early in the game, there wasn’t much to report on in the opening 10 minutes of the period. The Rocket were unsuccessful on the man-advantage, and the other eight minutes of five-on-five play were uneventful.

Then, at just about the midway mark in the frame, Tory Dello put the puck on net and managed to sneak it past Anton Khudobin for his first goal of the season, and first in the AHL.

The teams then settled back into a rhythm of trading off time in each other’s offensive zones, without much to speak of. Laval was given another power play opportunity, but they weren’t able to add to their goal total.

Second Period

As sleepy as the opening period was, the middle frame was the opposite. Gabriel Bourque took an early holding penalty and the Stars wasted no time in tying the game. Joel L’Esperance banked a puck off of Dello’s skate and in. 

Shortly after, Teasdale took Ty Dellandrea hard into the corner which drew a big scrum. Laval ended up shorthanded as Teasdale sat for boarding, and just nine seconds into that power play Texas scored again. This goal, by Anthony Louis, was deflected off of Gianni Fairbrother‘s skate.

Louis scored again minutes later as he cleaned up a juicy rebound from a sharp angle, giving the Stars a 3-1 lead. With less than four minutes left in the period, Jeremy Gregoire added to the Texas tally to give his team a four-goal advantage heading into intermission.

Third Period

Things didn’t improve for the Rocket in the third period. Just a few minutes after puck drop, Nicholas Caamano lit the lamp with a quick shot that went top corner on Kevin Poulin‘s far side.

Next it was Dellandrea’s turn to find the back of the net, on a highlight-reel goal as he danced around Corey Schueneman and lifted the puck neatly into the Laval net. That sixth goal against was enough to see Poulin pulled from the game, replaced by Louis-Philip Guindon for the first time in a Rocket uniform.

The physicality increased substantially in the final 10 minutes of the game, as Laval’s frustrations began to boil over. Brandon Baddock was handed a double minor for roughing after one scrum, followed shortly by a big tussle involving Gregoire, Danick Martel, both of whom headed to the dressing room early, and a few others.

Baddock soon found himself making an early exit from the game, along with Alex Petrovic, after the latter took issue with the Laval forward’s hit on teammate Josh Melnick. Both received a 10-minute misconduct.

What’s Next?

After the game, Dello commented that he believes Saturday night’s rematch will be equally hot-blooded, probably right off the bat, so Laval will need to come to the rink prepared to play from the opening faceoff if they hope to turn things around from tonight’s outcome.

Be sure to scroll down to hear full audio of post-game interviews with Dello, Teasdale, and Houle conducted by the AHL Report team and other members of the media.

Plus / Minus

▲ Jesse Ylonen, Jean-Sebastien Dea, Louie Belpedio

▼ Brandon Baddock, Kevin Poulin