Rocket Lineup

Gabriel Bourque – Jean-Sebastien Dea – Jesse Ylonen

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Alex Belzile – Joel Teasdale

Danick Martel – Jean-Christophe Beaudin – Kevin Roy

Brandon Baddock – Peter Abbandonato – Devante Smith-Pelly

Xavier Ouellet – Louie Belpedio

Corey Schueneman – Tory Dello

Gianni Fairbrother – Tobie Paquette-Bisson

Louis-Philip Guindon – Kevin Poulin

Alexandre Fortin, Carl Neill, Terrance Amorosa

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

Game Report

Game Report written by Amy Johnson

The Rocket’s first visit to Texas on Friday night wasn’t met with the warmest of welcomes by the Stars, falling 6-1 to Dallas’ AHL affiliate. Jean-Francois Houle‘s team didn’t have much time to dwell on the drubbing, however, as they suited up for a rematch 24 hours later on Saturday night.

After debuting in a Laval jersey late in Friday night’s game, in relief of starter Kevin Poulin, Louis-Philip Guindon got his first AHL start on Saturday. Alexandre Fortin took a seat on the sidelines tonight, with Devante Smith-Pelly drawing back into the lineup. Houle moved Alex Belzile to center, promoting Joel Teasdale to the second line on his wing.

First Period

Friday night’s tilt in Cedar Park certainly had its entertaining moments, as frustrations boiled over and animosities from the first two games in this series were renewed. None of that could be found in the first 20 minutes of the fourth and final game of the season series, though.

There were no goals scored in the opening frame, and each team had just one unsuccessful opportunity on the power play. To his credit, Guindon stood strong during Laval’s singular penalty kill as the Stars peppered him with some dangerous-looking shots.

Second Period

Action definitely picked up in the second period. Anthony Louis took a handling-the-puck penalty less than a minute into the frame, and the Rocket capitalized on the ensuing power play. Captain Xavier Ouellet‘s point shot found its way past Anton Khudobin, starting in net for Texas on back-to-back nights.

Khudobin didn’t like something Belzile did in the crease following the goal, and proceed to cross-check him to the ice. The Stars’ goaltender was assessed two-minute minor penalties for both cross-checking and roughing, giving the Rocket a five-on-three advantage for two minutes.

Just before that five-on-three expired, Jerad Rosburg took a roughing penalty to extend the Laval power play. They scored again on the man advantage, this time a deflected puck courtesy of Jean-Sebastien Dea off of Jesse Ylonen‘s shot. 

As momentum was swinging hard toward the Rocket’s end of the ice, the Stars found some footing and got one of those goals back. Joel L’Esperance extended his point streak to eight games as he put a wrister on net from the high slot and went bar down.

Peter Abbandonato extended the Laval lead to two goals when he found the back of the net off of a point shot, thanks to a Stars turnover forced by Rafael Harvey-Pinard.

With 33 seconds left in the period, more fireworks went off when Tobie Paquette-Bisson laid a big hit on Ty Dellandrea along the boards. Thomas Harley took exception to the hit and immediately dropped the gloves with Bisson. Both skaters headed to the dressing room early to begin their five-for-fighting penalties, although Bisson also received an additional two minutes for interference.

Third Period

The Texas Stars still had a little under a minute and a half of power play time to begin the period, but the Rocket were able to kill it off.  In fact, Laval did a good job on the penalty kill in this period, keeping Texas out of their net through two additional shorthanded situations.

A little more than six minutes before the end of the period, things got interesting when Anthony Louis scored his 12th goal of the season, his seventh against Laval this season, when he fired a wrister from the circle to beat Guindon.

Jeremy Gregoire took a hooking penalty with a little more than two minutes left in the game, which gave Laval a power play to finish out regulation. The Stars tried to mount a comeback, but fell short.

What’s Next?

The Rocket will remain on the road next week, visiting the Utica Comets on Wednesday and Friday, followed by a return to Canada and a trip to Belleville on Saturday to take on the Senators.

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

Plus / Minus

▲ Jesse Ylonen, Xavier Ouellet, Louis-Philip Guindon

▼ Gianni Fairbrother, Devante Smith-Pelly