Stephens Scores Hat Trick, Rocket Win | SPR @ LAV
GAME RECAP | Springfield Thunderbirds: 4 vs Laval Rocket: 7 (FINAL)
Laval Rocket vs Springfield Thunderbirds
© Rocket Sports
Rocket Lineup
Forward lines
15 Sean Farrell - 61 Philippe Maillet - 19 Emil Heineman
28 Lias Andersson - 27 Mitchell Stephens - 16 Arnaud Durandeau
20 Gabriel Bourque - 42 Lucas Condotta - 12 Filip Cederqvist
68 Riley McKay - 21 Riley Kidney - 34 Jacob Perreault
Defense pairings
84 William Trudeau - 24 Logan Mailloux
4 Tobie Paquette-Bisson - 64 David Reinbacher
29 Mattias Norlinder - 44 Olivier Galipeau
Goaltenders
71 Jakub Dobes
73 Kasimir Kaskiuo
Out of the lineup:
Scratches: Strauss Mann
Injuries: Brady Keeper (lower body), Jared Davidson, Xavier Simoneau (shoulder), Brandon Gignac
Game Report
The Laval Rocket ended their four game homestand with a 7-4 victory against the Springfield Thunderbirds on Saturday. The win snapped Laval's losing streak to two games and extended Springfield's losing streak to four games.
Laval Rocket vs Springfield Thunderbirds
Photo by LAURENT CORBEIL / Arena du Rocket Inc.
Jean-Francois Houle was forced to make changes to his lineup as Justin Barron was recalled by the Montreal Canadiens earlier in the day and Brandon Gignac was sidelined with a lower body injury that occurred in the second period of Friday's game.
There was a lots of intensity to start the afternoon with two fights early on in a span of six seconds. The first fight was initiated after Tobie Paquette-Bisson delivered a hit on former Canadiens draft pick Will Bitten. Bisson had to answer to his hit by dropping the gloves against Sam Bitten, Will's younger brother.
On the ensuing faceoff, Riley McKay and Brayden Guy decided to fight as soon as the puck was dropped. With his major penalty, McKay broke a franchise record for most penalty minutes in a season, surpassing the mark of 121 set by Michael McCarron in 2017-18.
Laval got on the board less than two minutes later when Vadim Zherenko stopped Lias Andersson's shot and Mitchell Stephens was in the blue paint for the rebound goal. It was Stephens first goal since March 6th.
The home team added to their lead later when Stephens found David Reinbacher at the faceoff dot and the defenceman took a wrist shot that ended in the back of the net for his first goal at Place Bell.
The Monsters cut the lead in half on their first power play when Mikhail Abramov completed a tic-tac-toe to beat Dobes.
Indiscipline cost the Canadiens AHL affiliate as the Thunderbirds took advantage of a two-man advantage to control the play in the offensive zone and Adam Gaudette scored three seconds after the expiration of the first penalty.
The Rocket's second line continued driving the offence when Stephens forechecking created a turnover that led to Andersson feeding Arnaud Durandeau in the slot for his first goal since his arrival.
Philippe Maillet increased the lead back to two goals 1:06 later by burying a one-timer and become the team's first 20-goal scorer of the year.
The Thunderbirds answered back with consecutive goals. First, Gaudette reached the 40-goal plateau with a penalty shot goal and 45 seconds later Joseph Duszak capitalized on a defensive breakdown to bring the teams back at square one through 40 minutes.
The home team broke the tie in the third period when Olivier Galipeau took a shot that hit Leo Loof on the face and the puck ended up on Durandeau's blade and he buried it.
Midway through the period, Laval took advantage of their fourth power play as Stephens redirected Logan Mailloux's shot behind Vadim Zherenko.
Stephens sealed the victory with his third of the afternoon with an empty net goal with 1:11 remaining.
It was an exciting game for the 10,293 fans at Place Bell with lots of ups and down. The newly formed line of Stephens, Andersson and Durandeau carried the squad to obtain the two points.
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On the other end of the spectrum, the Rocket was indisciplined that negated two of their power play and they blew two two-goal leads.
New Video: Laval Rocket On Shaky Ground
Game Statistics
Rocket (32-28-6-2)
Shots: 37
Power play: 1-for-4
Penalty minutes: 32
Thunderbirds (29-33-3-2)
Shots: 35
Power play: 2-for-5
Penalty minutes: 40
Scoring Summary
Rocket Scorers
1st period: Stephens (9), Reinbacher (2)
2nd period: Durandeau (5), Maillet (20)
3rd period: Durandeau (6), Stephens (10)-PPG, Stephens (11)-ENG
OT: n/a
SO: n/a
Thunderbirds Scorers
1st period: Abramov (13)-PPG
2nd period: Gaudette (39)-PPG, Gaudette (40)-PS, Duszak (8)
3rd period: No scoring
OT: n/a
SO: n/a
Goaltenders
LAV: Dobes (W) 23-16-6-1
SPR: Zherenko (L) 12-12-1-1
Players of the Game
- Mitchell Stephens: Dominated the game with three goals, two assists, seven shots on goal and plus-7
- Arnaud Durandeau: Two goals, three points, six shots on goal and plus-3
- Lias Andersson: Three assists, plus-4
Post-Game Interviews
Jean-Francois Houle
David Reinbacher
Mitchell Stephens
Arnaud Durandeau
Looking Back
Did you miss the Rocket's last game? Catch up on the recap here: Rocket Running Out of Games| RECAP: SYR @ LAV
Up Next
The Rocket have Sunday off before returning to work to prepare for their next game against the Cleveland Monsters.
Puck drop on Thursday, April 11th, is scheduled for 7:00 pm ET at Rocket Mortgage Arena, in Cleveland, OH.
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.
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