HUDON RECORDS HAT TRICK BUT THE ROCKET FALL 5-4 (OT) TO THE BELLEVILLE SENATORS

LAVAL (November 13, 2019) – The Rocket fell short on their quest for seven straight, in a 5-4 OT loss to the Belleville Senators on Wednesday night. A back-and-forth style hockey game, featuring more late-game heroics courtesy of Charles Hudon, entertained the crowd at Place Bell but the Rocket ultimately ran out of gas in the overtime period squandering the extra point to the Sens. 

The Rocket scored their fourth shorthanded goal of the season to take a 1-0 lead. Kevin Lynch grabbed the puck out of mid-air, settled it on his stick and beat netminder Marcus Hogberg top shelf. Lukas Vejdemo earned a helper on the goal. Charles Hudon doubled his team’s advantage on the powerplay when he sent a laser past Hogberg near the hash marks of the right faceoff circle. Otto Leskinen and Riley Barber, who was back in the lineup after missing six games due to injury, registered assists on the goal. 

The Senators erased the Rocket’s 2-0 lead early in the second period with two quick goals off the sticks of Max Verroneau and Josh Norris. The Rocket earned a golden opportunity to restore their lead with 19.8 seconds left in the period. After being hooked by a Senators player down low, Vejdemo earned a penalty shot but was stopped by the Belleville netminder. After 40 minutes of play, the game remained tied at two-a-piece. 

The Sens grabbed the upper hand early in the final stanza, courtesy of Vitaly Abramov. That lead did not last long, however. In his signature spot on the powerplay, Charles Hudon connected on a cross-ice feed from Matthew Peca and made no mistake on the one-timer to knot the score at 3-3. Shortly after Drake Batherson regained the visitor’s lead, Hudon completed his hat trick in style, creating more late-game heroics when he beat Hogberg from the high slot to force overtime with just over a minute remaining on the clock. 

In the extra frame, Alex Formenton wasted no time, scoring 27 seconds in to secure the win for the Senators. Despite the loss, the single point the Rocket picked up in OT was good enough to vault them into first place in the North Division. 

“When you win six games in a row, the other teams are hungrier against us. They came out strong in the second period with two big goals. We got an important point tonight […] We were down by a goal in the third and I think we did a good job catching up and we need to build on this,” said Charles Hudon, following a three-goal performance. 

Marqueurs/Scorers 

LAV : Lynch (Vejdemo) | Hudon (Leskinen, Barber) | Hudon (Peca, Leskinen) | Hudon (Barber, Leskinen) 

BEL : Veronneau (Formenton, Szwarz) | Norris (Lajoie, Batherson) | Abramov (Jaros, Labrie) | Batherson (Norris) | Formenton (Szwarz, Corrado) 

Unités spéciales/Special teams 

LAV | AN/PP: (2/8) | IN/PK: (3/4) 

BEL | AN/PP: (1/4) | IN/PK: (6/8) 

Gardiens/Goaltenders 

LAV : Primeau (20/25) | BEL : Hogberg (33/37) 

Trois étoiles/Three stars 

1. Formenton – BEL 2. Hudon – LAV 3. Abramov– BEL