The Laval Rocket’s 3-2 victory was marred by an unsightly gesture from Belleville Senators forward Brennan Saulnier.
In the third period, Saulnier went to attack Rocket goalkeeper Kasimir Kaskisuo after an offside call from the officials. The first named struck the second named with a stick after the referees’ whistle.
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Saulnier then went around the net, before pushing the Laval goalkeeper. The latter collapsed and the Rocket players rushed to Saulnier to defend their teammate.
During the sequence, the Belleville club forward received a five-minute penalty for obstruction.
Character
This incident, however, did not distract Kaskisuo, who made 45 saves to allow his team to record a very important victory. The match started badly for the Rocket, as the local favorites fell behind 2-0 after 7:02 in the second period.
That said, Jean-François Houle’s men never gave up and scored three goals without reply. Jared Davidson sounded the revolt by reducing the gap by half, while Xavier Simoneau equalized 57 seconds before the end of the second period. Emil Heineman finished the job by scoring the winning goal.
With this victory, Laval has only lost once in its last nine outings. Arber Xhekaj’s teammates will be back in action Wednesday against the Utica Comets.