Another victory for the Laval Rocket against the Senators has them now tied with Belleville for the final playoff qualification spot in the North Division.
GAME RECAP | Laval Rocket: 3 vs Belleville Senators: 2 (FINAL)
Rocket Lineup
Forward lines
42 Lucas Condotta - 37 Brandon Gignac - 15 Sean Farrell
28 Lias Andersson - 61 Philippe Maillet - 19 Emil Heineman
12 Filip Cederqvist - 27 Mitchell Stephens - 20 Gabriel Bourque
68 Riley McKay - 21 Riley Kidney - 34 Jacob Perreault
Defense pairings
84 William Trudeau - 24 Logan Mailloux
44 Olivier Galipeau - 52 Justin Barron
4 Paquette-Bisson - 64 David Reinbacher
Goaltenders
71 Jakub Dobes
73 Kasimir Kaskisuo
Out of the lineup:
Scratches: Chris Jandric, Arnaud Durandeau, Mattias Norlinder
Injuries: Brady Keeper (lower body), Jared Davidson, Xavier Simoneau (shoulder)
Game Report
Just 24 hours after the Laval Rocket came back from a 2-0 deficit to force overtime and beat the Belleville Senators 3-2, the two teams were back at it in a Saturday night rematch. David Reinbacher's Friday night AHL debut, complete with his first AHL goal which tied the game, created a buzz among the Montreal faithful. All eyes would be on the young defenseman again in game two.
Luckily for Jean-Francois Houle's crew, defenseman William Trudeau was back in the lineup after having left the previous night's game in the first period due to an injury. Jakub Dobes was tapped once again to start in net.
Unlike Friday night, it was Laval who opened the scoring. About five minutes into the game, Emil Heineman tapped the puck over the line after it Mads Sogaard had attempted to stop it. The Rocket had an energetic start to the game and seemed to have better control of the pace and puck for the opening 10 minutes or so.
But more trips to the penalty box gave Belleville some momentum, and they began to apply much more pressure as the minutes ticked by. Brandon Gignac ended up in the penalty box late in the period, and Zach Ostapchuk neatly deflected a puck from the slot to tie the game just 42 seconds before intermission.
The Senators gifted Laval an early second period power play, and the Rocket wasted no time in taking advantage of the opportunity. Philippe Maillet scored his 18th goal of the season to give his team the lead once again. Brandon Gignac added a power play tally of his own later in the period to extend Laval's lead to 3-1.
In a somewhat surprising turn of events, Mads Sogaard did not return to Belleville's crease for the third period. He was replaced by Leevi Merilainen. Most of the period was pretty uneventful, until Belleville pulled within one goal just four minutes before the end of regulation. Max Guenette deflected a puck past Dobes to make the final minutes of the third period a little more urgent for Laval, but they did prevail.
New Video: David Reinbacher Joins the Laval Rocket
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il_ivJDNpXc[/embed]
Game Statistics
Rocket (29-25-6-2)
Shots: 22
Power play: 2-for-2
Penalty minutes: 8
Senators (30-25-3-3)
Shots: 31
Power play: 1-for-3
Penalty minutes: 6
Scoring Summary
Rocket Scorers
1st period: Heineman (13)
2nd period: Maillet (18)-PPG, Gignac (18)-PPG
3rd period: No scoring
OT: n/a
SO: n/a
Senators Scorers
1st period: Ostapchuk (14)-PPG
2nd period: No scoring
3rd period: Guenette (6)
OT: n/a
SO: n/a
Goaltenders
LAV: Dobes (W) 21-14-6-1
BEL: Sogaard (Merilainen) (L) 14-9-3-2
Players of the Game
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Looking Back
Did you miss the Rocket's last game? Catch up on the recap here: Reinbacher Scores In AHL Debut | RECAP: LAV @ BEL
Up Next
The Rocket wrap up their weekend with a rematch against the Marlies on Sunday afternoon.
Puck drop on Sunday, March 24th, is scheduled for 4:00 pm ET at Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto, ON.
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.
