Rocket Lineup

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Jean-Sebastien Dea – Danick Martel

Lukas Vejdemo – Brandon Gignac – Jesse Ylonen

Kevin Roy – Nate Schnarr – Joel Teasdale

Lucas Condotta – Jean-Christophe Beaudin – Alex Belzile

Xavier Ouellet – Nicolas Mattinen

Sami Niku – Tory Dello

Tobie Paquette-Bisson – Louie Belpedio

Kevin Poulin – Gabriel Mollot-Hill

Emil Heineman, Olivier Galipeau, Terrance Amorosa, Devante Smith-Pelly, Peter Abbandonato

Gianni Fairbrother (undisclosed), Cameron Hillis, Gabriel Bourque (DTD), Cedric Paquette (DTD)

Game Report

Game Report written by Michael Spinella

On Monday night, the Laval Rocket took a 5-1 victory over the Belleville Senators to start a five-game road trip. With that win, the Rocket headed into Rochester riding a four-game winning-streak. Two of their last four wins came at home against Rochester, and Laval has won each of their four previous matchups against the Amerks going into tonight’s game.

Both Jesse Ylonen and Alex Belzile returned to the Rocket’s lineup for tonight’s affair.  Ylonen was sent back to Laval after a brief stint in the NHL with the Montreal Canadiens, and Belzile returned after missing action due to illness. Earlier in the day it was also announced that goaltender Tristan Berube had been released from a Professional Tryout Agreement.  Gabriel Mollot-Hill, also on a PTO, dressed as the back-up goaltender to Kevin Poulin.

First Period

The Amerks did not waste any time getting on the board, scoring 1:09 into the game. Linus Weissbach scored on the Americans’ first shot of the game.  This came off of a point shot that went through a screened Poulin. Rochester came into this game running at full force and took the early 1-0 lead.

Just over four minutes later, Mark Jankowski scored on the power play.  The Americans, now leading 2-0, continued their high-energy play and controlled much of the play throughout the first half of the opening period.

Laval seemed a bit flat-footed to start the frame, but were finally able to get their first high-danger chance at 12:16. Ylonen was robbed by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen on a wide-open chance in front of the net.  The Amerks’ dominant play didn’t allow the Rocket many scoring chances after that.

The Rocket took three penalties during this lopsided opening period, and allowed the Americans to have 16 shots on goal to just six of their own.

Second Period

Laval did not waste any time after the puck dropped in this period, and scored 1:07 into the middle frame.  Jean-Sebastien Dea beat Luukkonen cleanly with a wrist shot, just at the top of the far-right faceoff circle. The Rocket nearly mirrored Rochester’s start to first period, as they scored on the power play just minutes later. Ylonen tied it up 5:08 into the second period, off of a shot rifled from point.

Penalty trouble would come to haunt the Rocket at the midway point of the game.  The Amerks regained the lead when Sean Malone hammered the puck past Poulin, making it 3-2 for Rochester.  Malone was sitting wide open in front of the net and completed a tic-tac-toe play on the man-advantage.

Scoring chances appeared to be even in this period.  Laval registered another six shots on net and Rochester added seven shots to their total.  Both Luukkonen and Poulin came up strong in the final 10 minutes.  The two teams seemed to exchange high danger opportunities back-and-forth, but the game would remain 3-2 for the Amerks heading into the third.

Third Period

Just over two minutes into the third period, Laval was given a power play when Weissbach took a hooking penalty. The man-advantage was forfeited within seconds, however, when Dea was called for a four-minute high-sticking penalty.  Fortunately, the Americans were unable to capitalize on the power play.  Rochester then continued to maintain possession throughout the first half of the frame.

The Rocket scored on their third powerplay opportunity when Xavier Ouellet’s slapshot made its way past the Amerks’ goaltender. The game was tied 3-3 with less than 10 minutes left to go in regulation time. Both Ylonen and Dea picked up assists, bringing them to multi-point totals on the night.

Laval’s power play was successful on two out of three opportunities in this game.  With just over three minutes left, Rochester took a delay-of-game penalty.  Laval had a great opportunity to take a lead for the first time in this game in the dying minutes, but Luukkonen stood tall and kept the game tied at three to end the third period. 

Both teams exchanged chances at either end of the ice to start overtime, but were unable to get anything going for the majority of the frame. As the clock ticked down, Ryan MacInnis held the puck in the offensive zone. He made a pass to Jack Quinn, who then set up Ethan Prow for a shot.  Prow made no mistake and scored the game-winning goal for Rochester, ending the Rocket’s win-streak at four games.

What’s Next?

The Rocket will head to Cleveland tonight, as a game originally set to play on Friday against the Monsters has been rescheduled for Thursday night, due to an NBA playoff game now taking place on April 13th at the Cleveland arena.

Plus / Minus

▲ Jesse Ylonen, Jean-Sebastien Dea

▼ Louie Belpedio, Nate Schnarr, Lukas Vejdemo