Rocket Weekly: A Split to Start the Season

Laval kicked off its first week of the 2024-25 campaign with a pair of stops on the road.  They took care of business in the opener but weren’t able to muster up much the following night, resulting in a split.

The Week That Was

Oct. 11: Laval 5, Providence 2 – Things didn’t get off to a good start with the Bruins scoring twice in the first 11 minutes.  However, the defence tightened up considerably after that while Jakub Dobes settled in and wound up having a fairly uneventful night.  On the offensive side, the defencemen led the way, contributing four of the five tallies including two from Logan Mailloux.  Adam Engstrom and Filip Mesar picked up their first AHL goals in the victory as well.

Oct. 12: Springfield 3, Laval 1 – This time, it was the Rocket who got on the board first with Jared Davidson potting his first of the season early in the second.  Unfortunately, they couldn’t get another one past Vadim Zherenko.  The Thunderbirds tied it just past the midway mark of the second and then got the eventual winner early in the third to spoil an otherwise solid AHL debut for Connor Hughes between the pipes.

StatPack

Skaters:

#	Player	GP	G	A	+/-	SOG	PIMS
7	Chris Jandric	1	0	1	-1	1	2
10	Joshua Roy	2	0	0	-3	9	0
15	Sean Farrell	2	0	0	-2	3	0
17	Luke Tuch	2	0	0	-1	6	7
18	Vincent Arseneau	1	0	0	+1	0	0
21	Riley Kidney	1	0	0	E	3	0
23	Tyler Wotherspoon	2	0	0	E	2	0
24	Logan Mailloux	2	2	2	+1	3	0
27	Laurent Dauphin	2	0	1	+1	4	2
28	Josh Jacobs	2	0	0	E	2	0
37	Brandon Gignac	2	0	0	-3	6	0
42	Lucas Condotta	2	0	2	E	4	2
48	Filip Mesar	2	1	3	+3	2	4
49	Jared Davidson	2	1	1	+2	8	4
56	Adam Engstrom	2	1	0	+1	3	0
62	Owen Beck	2	0	1	+3	6	2
63	Florian Xhekaj	2	0	0	E	3	0
65	Zack Hayes	1	0	0	+1	1	0
81	Xavier Simoneau	2	0	0	+1	0	2
84	William Trudeau	2	1	0	E	3	0

Goalies:

#	Player	Record	GAA	SV%	SO
31	Connor Hughes	0-1-0	2.06	.920	0
71	Jakub Dobes	1-0-0	2.01	.857	0

Team Leaders:

Goals: Logan Mailloux (2)
Assists: Filip Mesar (3)
Points: Logan Mailloux (4)
+/-: Owen Beck (+3)
PIMS: Luke Tuch (7)
Shots: Joshua Roy (9)

News and Notes

– Laval will have a boost in time for their home opener as the Habs sent Alex Barre-Boulet to the Rocket after he cleared waivers. 

– Gustav Lindstrom wasn’t with the team for the first two road games but was slated to join the Rocket at the start of the week so he should be available moving forward now.

– Lucas Condotta was named team captain while Brandon Gignac and Tyler Wotherspoon will serve as the alternates.

Last Game’s Lines

Farrell – Gignac – Roy
Simoneau – Condotta – Dauphin
Davidson – Beck – Mesar
Kidney – Xhekaj – Tuck

Engstrom – Mailloux
Wotherspoon – Trudeau
Hayes – Jacobs

The Week Ahead

Friday/Saturday: vs Syracuse – The Crunch got off to a good start to their season, winning both games while only allowing one goal in the process.  Meanwhile, a pair of former Habs are tied for the very early team lead offensively with Joel Teasdale and Jesse Ylonen having two points apiece.  Tobie Paquette-Bisson is also with Syracuse after inking a one-year deal with Tampa Bay over the summer. 

Final Thought

Considering we’re only two games into the season, I’m not overly concerned with Joshua Roy’s quiet start.  Yes, that coupled with a bit of an underwhelming preseason is a bit more worrisome but we’re still talking about a few weeks into his sophomore year.

But this is something worth monitoring.  It’s fair to say that things haven’t quite gone as planned for him.  He figured he’d be up with Montreal and now, he’s in Laval.  It’s understandable that he might need a bit of time to get over the disappointment – though Logan Mailloux had a great first game after being demoted – but how quickly will he be able to turn it around? 

There will be blips along the way in player development and Roy is hardly the only one to have one to start his second year.  But can he get things turned around over the next couple of weeks to keep it at a blip or will this drag on?  It’s still very early but this is something worth keeping an eye on in the early going.