Rocket Weekly: A Strong Start to the Playoffs

After getting a bye in the first round, Laval didn’t show much rust as they put forth a solid performance to take their best-of-five series against Syracuse, setting up a battle of the top two teams in the Atlantic Division.

The Series That Was

Apr. 30: Laval 3, Cleveland 2 – The prospects led the way for the Rocket in this one.  After Cleveland opened the scoring in the second, Sean Farrell potted a pair to give the Rocket the lead heading to the third.  Owen Beck doubled the lead which was crucial with Denton Mateychuk scoring with just over two minutes to go.  From there, Jacob Fowler was able to shut things down, earning the win in his AHL playoff debut.

May 2: Laval 4, Cleveland 0 – This was Laval’s most complete game of the series.  They got timely goals early in the first and second to give themselves control, the defence shut things down, giving the Monsters few opportunities and when they got one, Fowler was there to shut them down.  Going on the road, the goal is generally to aim for a split but Laval picked up both games, giving them three chances at home to end the series.

May 4: Cleveland 3, Laval 1 – In the first half of the game, one team played like their season depended on it and the other looked like a team that knew they’d have two more chances to end the series.  Cleveland scored late in the second and twice in the third while Jet Greaves shut down Laval’s late-game push to keep the series alive.

May 6: Laval 4, Cleveland 1 – This time, the Rocket came out much more motivated, putting pressure on Cleveland off the jump.  They were rewarded for their efforts with three goals in the first – two on the power play – which gave them early control and they didn’t look back from there.  The top line led the way with Laurent Dauphin scoring twice while Alex Barre-Boulet added a trio of assists.

StatPack

Skaters:

#	Player	GP	G	A	+/-	SOG	PIMS
5	Gustav Lindstrom	4	1	0	+2	5	0
10	Joshua Roy	4	0	1	E	14	0
11	Rafael Harvey-Pinard	4	0	2	+2	2	4
12	Alex Barre-Boulet	4	1	5	+2	14	2
15	Sean Farrell	4	2	2	+1	12	2
17	Alex Tuch	3	0	0	E	1	0
23	Tyler Wotherspoon	4	0	0	+2	7	2
24	Logan Mailloux	4	1	2	E	14	2
27	Laurent Dauphin	4	3	3	+3	19	2
37	Brandon Gignac	3	0	1	+1	2	0
42	Lucas Condotta	4	1	0	E	5	4
49	Jared Davidson	4	1	0	E	4	8
56	Adam Engstrom	4	0	1	+2	5	2
62	Owen Beck	4	1	0	+1	8	2
63	Florian Xhekaj	4	0	1	E	3	11
64	David Reinbacher	4	0	0	+1	2	4
81	Xavier Simoneau	4	1	1	+1	5	4
84	William Trudeau	4	0	1	+2	4	0
91	Oliver Kapanen	2	0	0	-1	6	0

Goalies:

#	Player	Record	GAA	SV%	SO
1	Jacob Fowler	3-0-0	1.00	.953	1
30	Cayden Primeau	0-1-0	3.22	.880	0

Team Leaders:

Goals: Laurent Dauphin (3)
Assists: Alex Barre-Boulet (5)
Points: Laurent Dauphin (6)
+/-: Laurent Dauphin (+3)
PIMS: Florian Xhekaj (11)
Shots: Laurent Dauphin (19)

News and Notes

– Laval welcomed a pair of key veterans back with winger Rafael Harvey-Pinard and centre Brandon Gignac both returning from extended absences.  As a result, their forward group is entirely outside of tough guy Vincent Arseneau.

– With the Habs getting eliminated from the playoffs, they assigned Oliver Kapanen and Cayden Primeau down to Laval.  In a corresponding move, Laval then returned goalie Luke Cavallin to Trois-Rivieres; he served as the backup for the two games in Cleveland.

– Pending unrestricted free agent goalie Connor Hughes won’t be returning to the Rocket next season.  Instead, he’s heading back overseas after inking a five-year deal with Lausanne in Switzerland.  That’s where he played in 2023-24 when his performance caught the eye of the Habs, earning him a one-year contract last spring.

– Laval has added a bit more defensive depth for the playoffs as they signed 2024 fourth-round pick Owen Protz to a tryout agreement.  He spent the season with OHL Brantford and this will be his first taste of the pros although seeing game action seems quite unlikely barring several injuries.

Last Game’s Lines:

Farrell – Dauphin – Barre-Boulet
Gignac – Kapanen – Roy
Harvey-Pinard – Condotta – Simoneau
Davidson – Xhekaj – Beck

Wotherspoon – Lindstrom
Trudeau – Mailloux
Engstrom – Reinbacher

The Series Ahead

After a long layoff at the end of the regular season, Laval has, well, another long layoff here.  Due to some arena conflicts in Rochester and their decision to decline to play a 2-2-1 over the 2-3 structure, Laval will go more than a week between games (and even longer for the Amerks).  Nonetheless, the schedule has been set, one that features plenty of time between games.

Game 1: May 14 in Rochester
Game 2: May 16 in Rochester
Game 3: May 21 in Laval
Game 4: May 23 in Laval*
Game 5: May 25 in Laval*

*-if necessary

We’ll take a closer look at the two teams closer to puck drop on Wednesday.

Final Thought

While it’s true that in the playoffs, the emphasis shifts more toward winning, that isn’t to say that there aren’t prospects with a lot to prove this postseason.  One player who definitely falls into that category is Joshua Roy.

After a promising rookie year that saw him hold his own in an extended stint with the Habs down the stretch, expectations were pretty high for Roy this year.  But his production only went up a bit while also dealing with an injury.  Meanwhile, his stint with the Canadiens was short-lived and largely uneventful.  It’s not that he took a big step back, he just more or less looked the same as last season.

Assuming the Habs add a couple of forwards this offseason (be it through trade or free agency), there probably isn’t going to be a lot of room for prospects.  Owen Beck has been widely speculated as a candidate for a promotion and now Oliver Kapanen is in the mix.  Speculatively, he should have an inside track at a spot as well, given that he finished the year with the big club and even saw some playoff action.

It would be surprising if there’s a spot for a third youngster with the big club so Roy individually is going to need a big postseason showing to stand out amongst the others to show management that he should be in consideration for one of those potential openings next season.  His performance against Cleveland didn’t exactly do that so he’s going to have to find another gear or at least become more of a contributor against a much more talented Rochester team that was in the mix for first overall late in the year.