Rocket Lineup

Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Mitchell Stephens – Jesse Ylonen

Anthony Richard – Alex Belzile – Danick Martel

Xavier Simoneau – Brandon Gignac – Gabriel Bourque

Lucas Condotta – Jan Mysak – Filip Mesar

Otto Leskinen – Justin Barron

Mattias Norlinder – Tory Dello

Madison Bowey – Alex Green

Cayden Primeau – Kevin Poulin

Brennan Saulnier, Joel Teasdale, Nate Schnarr, Pierrick Dube, Peter Abbandonato

Gianni Fairbrother (knee)

Game Report

Game Report written by Chris G

The Laval Rocket opened their 2022-23 regular season on Friday by hosting the Belleville Senators. Last season, the Rocket made a run to the Eastern Conference Final before losing in seven games to the Springfield Thunderbirds.

Prior to puck drop, Jean-Francois Houle announced the appointment of Gabriel Bourque and Rafael Harvey-Pinard as assistants to team captain Alex Belzile.

Laval lost their two preseason games, including a 6-5 loss to Belleville on Oct. 9th.

Filip Mesar made his AHL career debut on Friday. The Canadiens 2022 first round pick was playing to the right of Lucas Condotta and Jan Mysak.

Cayden Primeau got his first start of the year in Laval’s uniform. The 23-year old struggled in his four preseason appearances in Montreal’s camp, registering 4.68 goals-against-average and .851 save percentage.

First Period

Laval obtained an opportunity in the first minute when Harvey-Pinard’s pass attempt hit Ridly Grieg‘s skate before hitting the post.

Madison Bowey opened the scoring at 4:16 with a shot from the point. Prior to Bowey’s goal, Mitchell Stephens and Jesse Ylonen missed golden opportunities to give Laval a lead. Senators goalie Mads Sogaard got hurt on the sequence and that forced Kevin Mandolese into the action.

Belleville needed one minute to get on the board. Philippe Daoust intercepted Otto Leskinen‘s pass attempt and it led to Jayce Hawryluk put the puck behind Primeau.

Stephens first game in the Rocket’s uniform ended quickly as the veteran received a five minute major and a game misconduct for a cross check.

Good news for the home team is that the shorthanded units successfully killed Belleville’s power play that resulted from the incident.

Second Period

Belleville broke the tie during the eighth minute of the frame when Lassi Thomson knocked a puck into the net from mid-air on a rebound from a stop that Primeau made with his shoulder.

The Senators increased their lead when former Rocket forward Jake Lucchini muscled the puck off Mesar and set up Kristian Rubins for a goal.

The visitors got on the board with a third consecutive goal. While Ylonen was serving a slashing minor, Belzile took an interference penalty to give Belleville a two-man advantage for 1:35. On the ensuing faceoff, Roby Jarventie beat Primeau with a blast from the point.

Brandon Gignac cut Belleville’s lead to 4-2 in the final minute using his speed. The forward took possession of the puck in his own zone and skated to the opposition’s zone before beating Mandolese with a wrist shot.

Third Period

Laval capitalized on a power play to cut the lead to one goal. At 5:04, Harvey-Pinard set up Ylonen for a one-timer blast from the blue line.

The Senators got the goal back midway in the period when Viktor Lodin capitalized on Justin Barron being out of position to circle around Gignac and get room to head to the net and beat Primeau.

With Alex Green in the box, the Rocket took advantage of an offensive zone faceoff to score. Harvey-Pinard redirected Bowey’s point shot to make it 5-4.

The Rocket forced overtime after Bourque completed a tic-tac-toe play that began with Green and Danick Martel.

Belleville dominated the overtime period and Primeau was forced to make several key saves. With 28 seconds remaining, Rourke Chartier ended the game with a top corner glove side goal.

What’s Next?

Laval began the season with a 6-5 overtime loss in front of 9,238 fans at Place Bell. It is expected that the league will review the incident that led to Stephens’ ejection in the first period.

The two teams face off again on Saturday at the CAA Arena at 7:05pm Eastern.

Be sure to scroll down for audio clips from tonight’s post-game media interviews with Gignac, Belzile, Norlinder, Mesar, Richard, and Houle, conducted by the AHL Report and other members of the press.

Plus / Minus

▲ Raphael Harvey-Pinard, Jesse Ylonen, Mattias Norlinder, Brandon Gignac, Anthony Richard

▼ Cayden Primeau, Mitchell Stephens, Otto Leskinen, Justin Barron, Alex Green