Game Thoughts: Strong Third Gives Laval the Series Lead

After splitting the first section of the North Division Final in Rochester, Laval returned home on Wednesday to kick off the home segment.  It took a three-goal third-period breakout but the Rocket took care of business with a 4-1 victory.

With Xavier Simoneau not ready to return from his undisclosed injury, Laval’s forward group remained intact with Luke Tuch remaining in the lineup while the back end, which hasn’t been changed at all in the playoffs, remained unchanged once more.  Instead, the only change came between the pipes as the goalie rotation continued with Cayden Primeau getting the nod.  The rest of the team lined up as follows:

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

Engstrom – Reinbacher
Wotherspoon – Lindstrom
Trudeau – Mailloux

Game Thoughts

1) The game couldn’t have gotten off to a better start for the Rocket.  On the opening shift, Lucas Condotta sent a cross-ice feed to Tuch.  He couldn’t corral it and it bounced to David Reinbacher at the point.  His shot was tipped by Tuch and in just 15 seconds into the game.  Probably not how they drew it up (the original play would have been a Grade A chance) but that’s one way to get the fans going early.

2) Lucas Condotta is not known as a high-event type of player.  There are stretches where he can be quietly effective and hardly noticeable.  But he had an eventful start to this one.  Soon after setting up the goal, he got called for a slash on Jack Rathbone, giving Rochester a chance to once again score an early power play goal.  They didn’t and a couple of minutes after that, he drew a tripping call on Isak Rosen.  7:31 into the game, this was about as eventful of a start as it could get for him.

3) Last game, the Rocket showed some signs of defensive weakness when the Americans were pouring it on.  This time, there was more attention to detail early on; it took Rochester more than ten minutes to get a shot on goal.  Meanwhile, Laval looked more poised on some of their breakouts, something that was particularly noteworthy as a younger team playing in front of a home crowd.

4) Unfortunately for Laval, their back end lost its defensive anchor as Tyler Wotherspoon didn’t come out for the second period and was quickly ruled out for the rest of the game.  He was the only Rocket player to play in every game and any sort of absence for him would sting.  However, beyond a couple of plays in tight in the first half of the season, Laval’s defensive play was still pretty sound.

5) Meanwhile, their best chance in the second came from the defence, from basically the most surprising person possible.  A little past the nine-minute mark, Gustav Lindstrom managed to pull Levi out of position, allowing room for a wraparound attempt.  Levi was down and out but Lindstrom couldn’t stuff it home.  Between that and a decent power play before that, that was largely it for Laval’s chances.

6) As the period went on, the Amerks started to assert themselves more.  However, the only time they beat Primeau was as the whistle was going, leading to some chippiness that defined the final few minutes of the frame.  It was in that lens that I think Logan Mailloux’s cross-checking penalty should be viewed.  I’ve been critical of bad penalties he has taken but it’s hard to be critical as it wasn’t much of a cross-check.  But with the officials understandably wanting to calm things down, I get why it was called.

7) After two games that had plenty of offence, it was strange that this one didn’t have much through 40 minutes.  Boy, did that ever change in the third.  A little before the three-minute mark, Adam Engstrom got caught pinching in the offensive zone, then got lost in coverage after recovering, getting pulled out of position in the process.  That allowed Lukas Rousek to come in completely uncovered on the right wing.  Jack Rathbone sent a feed over to Rousek and he beat Primeau high-glove to tie the game.  Hard to fault Primeau much on that one as the defensive miscue led to the chance and that was a high-end shot from Rousek.

8) But two minutes later, Florian Xhekaj showed some higher-level offensive skill than we’re used to seeing from him.  More of a gritty player scoring goals in tight, he blew by Josh Dunne at the offensive blueline, drove the net, and roofed a backhander past Levi.  I think Levi could have played that a little better but full credit nonetheless to Xhekaj, that was a very impressive goal.

9) Barely a minute later, Alex Barre-Boulet gained the zone and sent a cross-ice feed to William Trudeau who was hustling up the ice.  Trudeau isn’t known for his offensive game but he held onto the puck and got one defender to slide out of the way which forced another to come toward him.  That freed up Laurent Dauphin right in front of the net and Trudeau sent a perfect seam pass to the veteran who was right there to tap it in.

10) They weren’t done there.  Four minutes later, Brandon Gignac tried to shoot but sent it more sideways right to Kale Clague.  Clague couldn’t handle it and the puck went right to Joshua Roy who quickly buried it.  That wasn’t a pretty goal by any stretch but it really sealed the win as Rochester didn’t muster up much the rest of the way.

11) In the first two games of the series, the fourth line didn’t see much ice time and was seemingly sheltered.  Tonight, they were used much more often.  Ice times aren’t published but if someone were to tell me they played second-line minutes, I’d believe it.  A very solid game from the prospect trio.

HW Habs 3 Stars

1st Star: Cayden Primeau – After a pair of tougher outings to start the playoffs, this was his best effort by far.  He made several key stops to preserve the 1-0 lead and then was sharp after allowing the Rousek goal, allowing Laval to push back with three in the third.  Now it gets interesting for Pascal Vincent.  Does he stick with the rotation or go back to Primeau to try to end the series on Friday?

Stats: 32 saves on 33 shots, 1.00 GAA, .970 SV%

2nd Star: Florian Xhekaj – Yes, he got the winner which was great.  But Xhekaj was much more disciplined after taking some bad penalties in Rochester.  His line was Laval’s best pretty much all game.  That saw him rewarded with some extra shifts in the third to help close things out defensively.  A solid all-around showing from the rookie.

Stats: 1 goal, +1 rating, 3 shots, 0 PIMS

3rd Star: David Reinbacher – This was one of those games that the Habs would love if he could bottle up.  He had a hand in the opening goal which was nice but he’s here for his defensive play.  He made the right plays at the right time routinely, giving the back end some stability in Wotherspoon’s absence.  It’s performances like this that will have management excited for what’s to come as this was an NHL-calibre defensive effort.

Stats: 1 assist, +2 rating, 1 shot, 0 PIMS