After dropping two games at home over the weekend, the Laval Rocket kicked off their latest road trip with a big win.

GAME RECAP | Laval Rocket 4 vs Bridgeport Islanders 0

Rocket Lineup

Forward lines
81 Xavier Simoneau - 61 Philippe Maillet - 19 Emil Heineman
15 Sean Farrell - 37 Brandon Gignac - 28 Lias Andersson
49 Jared Davidson - 27 Mitchell Stephens - 12 Filip Cederqvist
68 Riley McKay - 14 Jan Mysak - 17 Nathan Legare

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

Goaltenders
71 Jakub Dobes
38 Strauss Mann

Out of the lineup:
Scratches: Riley Kidney, Chris Jandric, Lucas Condotta

Injuries: Brady Keeper (lower body), Gabriel Bourque, Kasimir Kaskisuo

Game Report

This week, the Laval Rocket find themselves back on the road revisiting a couple of arenas they just played in two weeks ago. Kicking off the three-game trip was a stop back in Bridgeport to face the Islanders.

When these two teams met earlier in the month, the New York Islanders' affiliate defeated Laval in overtime. For tonight's matchup, Jean-Francois Houle welcomed defenseman Mattias Norlinder back into the lineup after the defenseman had been sidelined with an injury. He also opted to make young forward Riley Kidney a healthy scratch, allowing Riley McKay to draw back into game action.

The start of the game was a bit slow, with both teams seeming to take at least the opening five minutes of play to get up to speed. Once the pace picked up, each side exchanged a number of decent scoring chances, but neither team could beat Jakub Dobes or Ken Appleby between the pipes.

In the middle period, the Rocket found themselves shorthanded for the second time in the game and almost also found themselves down by a goal. A quick whistle from the referee came just seconds before one of the Islanders buried the puck into a yawning Laval net.

It was at about this time that the ice began tilting in the Rocket's direction. First, Philippe Maillet opened the game's scoring with a puck over Appleby's shoulder. About 30 seconds later, Jared Davidson blasted a puck from the right circle to extend the lead to 2-0.

The Rocket added two more goals to the scoreboard in short order, by Filip Cederqvist and Emil Heineman, before Appleby was pulled from the game and replaced with Henrik Tikkanen.

Shots on goal were greatly decreased in the third period, but Bridgeport kept the pressure on the Rocket when they could. Despite that, Dobes and his teammates held on to their 4-0 lead, securing the rookie goaltender's first professional shutout.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xKt0hh-PGw[/embed]

Game Statistics

Rocket (23-22-5-2)
Shots: 31
Power play: 0-for-1
Penalty minutes: 6

Islanders (16-29-6-1)
Shots: 35
Power play: 0-for-3
Penalty minutes: 2

Scoring Summary

Rocket Scorers
1st period: No scoring
2nd period: Maillet (14), Davidson (10), Cederqvist (4), Heineman (10)
3rd period: No scoring
OT: n/a
SO: n/a

Islanders Scorers
1st period: No scoring
2nd period: No scoring
3rd period: No scoring
OT: n/a
SO: n/a

Goaltenders
LAV: Dobes (W) 16-11-5-1
BRI: Appleby (Tikkanen) (L) 6-8-0-0

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: Rough Afternoon For the Rocket | RECAP: TOR @ LAV

Up Next

The Rocket continue their road trip this weekend with a stop on Friday to visit the Hartford Wolf Pack.

Puck drop on Friday, March 1st, is scheduled for 7:00 pm ET at XL Center in Hartford, CT.

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.