Rocket Lineup

Anthony Richard – Alex Belzile – Jesse Ylonen

Gabriel Bourque – Peter Abbandonato – Xavier Simoneau

Lucas Condotta – Mitchell Stephens – Nate Schnarr

Pierrick Dube – Brandon Gignac – John Parker-Jones

William Trudeau – Corey Schueneman

Tory Dello – Madison Bowey

Olivier Galipeau – Santino Centorame

Cayden Primeau – Philippe Desrosiers

Rafael Harvey-Pinard (emergency NHL recall), Rem Pitlick (emergency NHL recall), Eric Williams, Mattias Norlinder (illness)

Gianni Fairbrother (knee), Jan Mysak (DTD), Danick Martel (DTD), Otto Leskinen, Nicolas Beaudin, Gabriel Bourque, Kevin Poulin, Joel Teasdale

Game Report

Game Report written by Amy Johnson

After the better part of week at home to practice and rest, the Laval Rocket hit the road again this weekend for a quick back-to-back series in Toronto before a brief All-Star break. Last weekend, the Rocket capped off a trip to Cleveland with a big victory over the Monsters.

For Friday night’s tilt versus the Marlies, Jean-Francois Houle had his roster bolstered by forwards Jesse Ylonen and Alex Belzile returning from Montreal, as well as Tory Dello, Gabriel Bourque, and Madison Bowey all returning from injury. Toronto also had some reinforcements with goaltender Joseph Woll returning from his lengthy stint with the Maple Leafs.

First Period

From the outset, the Toronto Marlies were in it to win it. And it didn’t help that captain Alex Belzile was called for a penalty 57 seconds into the game. Toronto scored on the power play when Alex Steeves went forehand-backhand and put the puck through Primeau’s pads.

The Marlies continued to pour on the shots in the period, outshooting the Rocket 12-5 in the opening 20 minutes of play. Primeau had to come up with a couple of big stops to keep it a one-goal game.

Second Period

Two penalties in the second period fortunately didn’t come back to haunt the Rocket, and they managed to even the score when Peter Abbandonato found the back of the net.

However, the Marlies kept up the pressure and found another way to score. A long shot deflected off of Mikhail Abramov‘s skate, with just 51 seconds left in the period, sailed directly behind Primeau and over the goal line to make it 2-1 for Toronto.

Third Period

Laval had been able to keep the game pretty close and seemed to have a fighting change, but Toronto simply had the upper hand in puck control, and things started to come undone toward the end of the final frame.

Marshall Rifai extended the Marlies’ lead when he shot the puck into Primeau’s midsection and the puck trickled through his equipment and behind him, into the goal. An empty-net goal by Steeves put an end to any hopes of a comeback for Houle’s team.

What’s Next?

Plus / Minus

▲ Peter Abbandonato, Jesse Ylonen

▼ Cayden Primeau, Alex Belzile, William Trudeau