ROCKET EARN THIRD CONSECUTIVE VICTORY WITH A 5-1 WIN OVER MONSTERS

The Rocket put together another solid win on the road, sweeping their final two-game series of the season against the Cleveland Monsters with a 5-1 victory at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse arena on Friday night.
After tallying three points against the Monsters on Thursday, Yannick Veilleux continued to tear it up with a goal, bringing his total to five points (4 G, 1 A) over his past three games. The leftwinger established a career-best in goals by passing the 10-goal mark for the first time in his AHL career with 12 in 25 games this season.
First- and third-stars Jake Lucchini and Joe Cox, respectively, tallied a pair of goals each, three of which came in a pivotal third period as the Monsters attempted to make a comeback down by one. With three helpers, second star Laurent Dauphin has registered ten points (5 G, 5 A) in his last seven outings. Alexandre Alain extended his impressive point streak to six games, notching as many points (2 G, 4 A) in that span. Gustav Olofsson (1 A) has been critical on the blue line for the Rocket, notching four assists in his past three games, while Antoine Waked (1 A) and Otto Leskinen (1 A) collected a pair of helpers each against the Monsters this week.
It was also a night of firsts for Joseph Blandisi (1 A) and Nathanael Halbert (1 A) who both recorded their first points as members of the Rocket.
Like last night’s game, the game remained scoreless after 20 minutes, but the Rocket once again struck first past the halfway mark of the game. Alain chipped the puck over to Dauphin near the boards before the latter sent a perfect pass between the dots and through the slot for Cox, who made no mistake to defeat netminder Brad Thiessen blocker side. It wasn’t long before Veilleux, alone near the left faceoff, sent a blast past Thiessen for a 2-0 lead. However, with six seconds left in the second period, Dillon Simpson notched a powerplay marker to cut the Rocket’s lead to one.
Despite the late-period marker, the Monsters were unable to climb their way out of their deficit as Lucchini notched two important goals in the third period to bring the visitors’ tally to 4-1. Cox

added insult to injury by redirecting a shot from Olofsson past Thiessen to lead the Rocket to a 5-1 win. Michael McNiven made several key saves as Cleveland outshot the Rocket 14-7 in the final frame and finished the night with 20 saves.
“I think it’s big for us, coming in here. Our goal all week was to get four points and we were able to do that. […] We’re looking forward to next week. […] I’m having a lot of fun and getting a lot of opportunities. I couldn’t be happier,” said Lucchini after the game.