The Laval Rocket securee a weekend sweep of the home-and-home series against the Belleville Senators.
The Laval Rocket securee a weekend sweep of the home-and-home series against the Belleville Senators.
GAME RECAP | Laval Rocket vs Belleville Senators
Rocket Lineup
Forward lines
81 Xavier Simoneau - 61 Philippe Maillet - 28 Lias Andersson
21 Riley Kidney - 37 Brendan Gignac - 19 Emil Heineman
12 Filip Cederqvist - 42 Lucas Condotta - 20 Gabriel Bourque
49 Jared Davidson - 14 Jan Mysak - 68 Riley McKay
Defense pairings
72 Arber Xhekaj - 24 Logan Mailloux
84 William Trudeau - 4 Paquette-Bisson
13 Nicolas Beaudin - 44 Olivier Galipeau
Goaltenders
73 Kasimir Kaskisuo
71 Jakub Dobes
Out of the lineup:
Scratches: Mattias Norlinder, Strauss Mann
Injuries: Nathan Legare (lower-body), Sean Farrell (upper-body), Brady Keeper (lower body)
Game Report
Friday night's home game against the Senators, a victory for the Laval Rocket, came with plenty of animosity. A total of four official fights were logged on the penalty sheet, along with a multitude of scrums. And that set the stage for what promised to be an anything-but-boring rematch in Belleville on Saturday night.
Just 23 seconds into the game, Logan Mailloux and Zack Ostapchuk picked things up just where they had been left off the night prior, dropping the gloves for a rousing, albeit quick, bout.
A couple of minutes later, Belleville found a way to get on the scoreboard first, when Lassi Thomson fired a wrister from the left circle to beat Kasimir Kaskisuo. Another minute or so after that brought the second fight of the night, this time between Boko Imama and Riley McKay.
The second period was relatively quiet, in comparison, until Matthew Highmore extended Belleville's lead when he got off a quick shot on the rush after a clean cross-ice pass by Garrett Pilon.
Laval did finally get on the board in the final minutes of the period. Just after Jared Davidson exited the penalty box, he joined the rush and tapped in a rebound. Seconds later, and with just under a minute left before intermission, Xavier Simoneau tied the game with a sharp, accurate shot.
About 30 seconds into the third period, Emil Heineman gave the Rocket their first lead of the night when he sniped a shot past Kevin Mandolese. Fireworks erupted again later in the period when Brennan Saulnier took exception to a bit of contact by Kaskisuo and charged the goaltender. Everyone got involved immediately and Saulnier was given a five-minute major for it.
The Laval netminder didn't seem to get rattled at all in the second half of the game, turning aside 45 shots on the night to give the Rocket back-to-back wins.
Game Statistics
Rocket (17-14-4-2)
Shots: 32
Power play: 1-for-3
Penalty minutes: 18
Senators (18-15-2-2)
Shots: 47
Power play: 0-for-2
Penalty minutes: 21
Scoring Summary
Rocket Scorers
1st period: No scoring
2nd period: Davidson (5), Simoneau (5)
3rd period: Heineman (5)-PPG
OT: n/a
SO: n/a
Senators Scorers
1st period: Thomson (4)
2nd period: Highmore (5)
3rd period: No scoring
OT: n/a
SO: n/a
Goaltenders
LAV: Kaskisuo (?) 3-0-0-0
BEL: Mandolese (?) 6-5-1-0
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-2FelHWtOw[/embed]
Rocket Players of the Game
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Looking Back
Did you miss the Rocket's last game? Catch up on the recap here: Three-Point Night For Mysak | RECAP: BEL @ LAV
Up Next
The Rocket return home to Place Bell to prepare for their fourth contest of the month against the Utica Comets.
Puck drop on Wednesday, January 24th, is scheduled for 7:00 pm ET at Place Bell in Laval, QC.
Be sure to bookmark THN.com/Montreal for year-round coverage of the Montreal Canadiens, Laval Rocket, and Habs prospects playing in leagues around the world.
