A difficult start hindered the Belleville Senators as they fell 7-4 to the Laval Rocket on Saturday afternoon at Place Bell.
Laval opened the scoring just 58 seconds into the contest as Anthony Richard capitalized on the man advantage. The Rocket would extend their advantage as Lucas Condotta and Alex Belzile both scored before the 6:27 mark of the period. Belleville would respond with a power play tally of their own when Angus Crookshank collected his ninth of the campaign. Later in the frame, Laval continued their strong offensive play when Richard tallied once again, this time on a shorthanded breakaway before Jesse Ylönen made it 5-1. Which prompted a goaltending change as Mads Søgaard replaced Antoine Bibeau.
In the second period, Belleville showed their resolve and started to mount a comeback as both Rourke Chartier, and Scott Sabourin found the back of the net to make it 5-3 after forty minutes of play.
The high-scoring affair resumed in the third when Rocket forward Brandon Gignac scored at the 9:42 mark of the stanza. However, once again, Belleville answered as Sabourin collected his second of the game with a one-timer from the high slot. Despite a late push from the Senators, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard secured a Laval victory with an empty net goal.
