Curtain Call for the Rocket | RECAP: BEL @ LAV

Forward lines
28 Lias Andersson - 61 Philippe Maillet - 19 Emil Heineman
15 Sean Farrell - 21 Riley Kidney - 16 Arnaud Durandeau
17 Luke Tuch - 42 Lucas Condotta - 20 Gabriel Bourque
12 Filip Cederqvist - 63 Florian Xhekaj - 68 Riley McKay

Defense pairings
84 William Trudeau - 24 Logan Mailloux
4 Tobie Paquette-Bisson - 52 Justin Barron
29 Mattias Norlinder - 44 Olivier Galipeau

Goaltenders
73 Kasimir Kaskisuo
71 Jakub Dobes

Out of the lineup:
Scratches: Joshua Roy (suspension), Strauss Mann

Injuries: Brady Keeper (lower body), Jared Davidson, Xavier Simoneau (shoulder), Brandon Gignac, Mitchell Stephens, Jayden Struble, David Reinbacher, Jacob Perreault

The Laval Rocket wrapped up the 2023-24 season with a 2-1 loss against the Belleville Senators at Place Bell on Saturday. 

With the team eliminated from the playoffs on Friday, Mitchell Stephens, Jayden Struble and David Reinbacher did not dress for the season finale. Joshua Roy missed the contest as he was suspended by the AHL's Player Safety Committee for an elbowing incident in Belleville. Arnaud Durandeau, Riley McKay, Mattias Norlinder and Olivier Galipeau slotted into the lineup in their place. 

The Rocket dominated the first period outshooting their opponents 14-3 and they got rewarded in the final minute when William Trudeau beat Leevi Merilainen glove side with a wrist shot. On the sequence, Lias Andersson obtained his eighth point in the last five games. 

Laval controlled the shot clock 29-11 through 40 minutes but failed to add to their lead in the middle frame. 

Belleville bounced back and tied the contest 1:15 into the third period when Wyatt Bongiovanni won a battle against Philippe Maillet behind the net and found Tarun Fizer in the slot for the goal. 

Less than two minutes later, the Senators capitalized on a penalty to Riley Kidney as Jacob Larsson fed Bongiovanni for a one-timer blast that Kasimir Kaskisuo was not able to stop. 

The Rocket attempted to tie the contest against their division rivals but failed to get any additional pucks to cross the goal line. 

Jean-Francois Houle's squad put up a respectable effort despite its unimportance. The team wanted to win the tilt for the 10,243 fans inside the arena. Belleville turned on the jets in the third period as they're still battling for home ice advantage for the play-in series against the Toronto Marlies. 

Rocket (33-31-6-2)
Shots: 40
Power play: 0-for-3
Penalty minutes: 18

Senators (38-28-3-3)
Shots: 23
Power play: 1-for-3
Penalty minutes: 8

Rocket Scorers
1st period: Trudeau (8)
2nd period: No scoring
3rd period: No scoring
OT: n/a
SO: n/a

Senators Scorers
1st period: No scoring
2nd period: No scoring
3rd period: Fizer (2), Bongiovanni (16)-PPG
OT: n/a
SO: n/a

Goaltenders
LAV: Kaskisuo (L) 7-4-0-0
BEL: Merilainen (W) 10-9-1-1

Jean-Francois Houle

Gabriel Bourque

William Trudeau

Did you miss the Rocket's last game? Catch up on the recap here: Rocket Season Decided In Final Second | RECAP: LAV @ BEL

The Rocket will hold their end-of-season media availability on Sunday morning. 

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