The Laval Rocket donned a classic retro look on Friday night as they hosted the division-leading Cleveland Monsters for their first matchup of the season.

GAME RECAP | Cleveland Monsters (1) vs Laval Rocket (4)

Rocket Lineup

Forward lines
15 Sean Farrell - 37 Brandon Gignac - 19 Emil Heineman
81 Xavier Simoneau - 61 Philippe Maillet - 28 Lias Andersson
21 Riley Kidney - 27 Mitchell Stephens - 49 Jared Davidson
12 Filip Cederqvist - 42 Lucas Condotta - 20 Gabriel Bourque

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

Goaltenders
71 Jakub Dobes
73 Kasimir Kaskisuo

Out of the lineup:
Scratches: Chris Jandric, Riley McKay, Nathan Legare, Jacob Perreault

Injuries: Brady Keeper (lower body)

Game Report

The Laval Rocket snapped their three-game losing streak with 4-1 win over the Cleveland Monsters on Friday. 

Gabriel Bourque returned to the lineup after missing 10 games with a lower body injury and Kasimir Kaskisuo dressed as the backup netminder after being sidelined for four games with a lower body injury. 

Nathan Legare was scratched and Strauss Mann was assigned to the Trois-Rivieres Lions earlier in the day. 

Newly acquired forward Jacob Perreault was not available on Friday and is questionable for Saturday's rematch. 

Laval had a much better start than on Wednesday and they were rewarded with an early power play goal. The sequence began when Philippe Maillet passed the puck to Logan Mailloux and the defenceman skated to between the faceoff circle for a shot that ended in the back of the net. 

The visitors got on the board during their first power play when Marcus Bjork setup David Jiricek for a one-timer blast that beat Jakub Dobes. 

Less than two minutes later, the Rocket grabbed the lead back on a three-on-one play when Jared Davidson redirected the Riley Kidney pass behind Pavel Cajan. 

The home team added to its lead in the second period when defenceman Marcus Bjork fumbled the disc right to Brandon Gignac in front of the net. The forward did not miss the golden opportunity to score his first goal since February 3rd. 

Later in the period, William Trudeau shot from the blue line went through traffic and right past the unsuspecting netminder and give Jean-Francois Houle's squad a three-goal lead after 40 minutes. 

Laval dodged a bullet in the third period by giving Cleveland consecutive power plays. The shorthanded units limited their opponents to three shots on goal during that stretch and the puck did not bounce in the Monsters favour after hitting a crossbar. 

With the teams directly competing for a playoff spot all obtaining points from their respective matchup on Friday, Laval needed the two points against the division leaders. 

Game Statistics

Rocket (24-24-6-2)
Shots: 27
Power play: 1-for-2
Penalty minutes: 12

Monsters (33-17-3-3)
Shots: 29
Power play: 1-for-4
Penalty minutes: 8

Scoring Summary

Rocket Scorers
1st period: Mailloux (12)-PPG, Davidson (11)
2nd period: Gignac (15), Trudeau (6)
3rd period: No scoring
OT: n/a
SO: n/a

Monsters Scorers
1st period: Jiricek (6)-PPG
2nd period: No scoring
3rd period: No scoring
OT: n/a
SO: n/a

Goaltenders
LAV: Dobes (W) 17-13-6-1
CLE: Cajan (L) 6-7-3-1 

Players of the Game

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Post-Game Interviews

Jean-Francois Houle

Jakub Dobes

Brandon Gignac

William Trudeau

Looking Back

Did you miss the Rocket's last game? Catch up on the recap here: Rocket Grab An Important Point| RECAP: SYR @ LAV

Up Next

The weekend series wraps up between the North Division rivals on Saturday. 

Puck drop on Saturday, March 9th, is scheduled for 3:00 pm ET at Place Bell in Laval, QC.

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