ROCKET OUTSHOOT SENATORS 43-17, LOSE 4-3

LAVAL (January 31, 2020) – A sellout crowd of 9,935 was on hand to watch the Rocket and Belleville Senators battle it out in Laval’s 100th regular season home game on Friday night. Despite being heavily outshot, it was the Senators who managed to escape Place Bell with a 4-3 victory over the Rocket to keep pace with a dominant North Division on a busy night around the league. 

After falling behind 3-0, Laval fought hard to bring it to within one, but it was too little, too late for the Rocket who simply ran out of time in this one. Kevin Lynch (1G, 1A), Phil Varone (1G, 1A) and Otto Leskinen (2A) each had two-point nights, while Riley Barber scored his 100th AHL goal, joining Varone as the only active Rocket forwards to reach the century mark. 

The Sens were opportunistic in their attack, scoring four goals on 17 shots – Jordan Murray, Josh Norris, Christian Jaros and Logan Brown were the goal scorers. Alex Formenton added two assists for the visitors, who were able to preserve their four-point lead atop the North Division. A busy night for Joey Daccord at the other end consisted of 43 shots faced, in which 40 were turned aside. 

It was announced late Friday afternoon that the Laval Rocket would host the 2021 AHL All-Star Classic on January 31 & February 1, 2021. It will be the first time the team hosts the annual event, showcasing the league’s top talent and elite prospects. The announcement comes just a week after the 2020 All-Star Classic in Ontario, California, where Charles Hudon represented the Rocket and won the Lucas Oil Accuracy Shooting contest, converting on four of five attempts. 

“I think we were in it for most of the game, but we have to play 60 minutes if we want to win […]. We deserved the victory. We can’t take our foot off the pedal and we need to go all in and be more opportunistic,” said Laurent Dauphin after the game. 

Marqueurs/Scorers 

LAV: Lynch (Jevpalovs, Cox) | Barber (Varone, Leskinen,) | Varone (Lynch, Leskinen) 

BEL: Murray (Formenton, Klimchuk) | Norris (Formenton, Jaros) | Jaros | Brown (Norris, Brannstrom) 

Unités spéciales/Special teams 

LAV | AN/PP: (2/9) | IN/PK: (3/5) 

BEL| AN/PP: (2/5) | IN/PK: (7/9) 

Gardiens/Goaltenders 

LAV: Primeau (13/17) | BEL: Daccord (40/43) 

Trois étoiles/Three stars 

1. Joey Daccord – BEL 2. Alex Formenton – BEL 3. Nikita Jevpalovs – LAV