Rocket Weekly: Onto the Eastern Conference Final

Laval needed to take two of three games at home against Rochester to move on to the Eastern Conference Final.  One of those games was especially rough but they were sharp in the other two, allowing them to make the final four for the second time in the last four years.

The Week That Was

May 21: Laval 4, Rochester 1 – Talk about starting on a high note at home as Luke Tuch tipped home a point shot just 15 seconds into the game to open up the scoring.  After Rochester tied it early in the third, Florian Xhekaj and Laurent Dauphin scored a little more than a minute apart to get the lead back before Joshua Roy sealed it midway through the frame.  Cayden Primeau was particularly sharp in goal to keep the Americans at bay.

May 23: Rochester 5, Laval 1 – While Primeau was sharp the previous game, Jacob Fowler was not.  He allowed four goals on just 14 shots before the midway mark of the game, ending his night early while by that point, the writing was on the wall that things were heading for a fifth and final game.  The third period became a penalty fest, allowing Laval to take over the penalty minute lead, the title they also ‘won’ during the regular season.

May 25: Laval 5, Rochester 0 – Some line juggling paid off in this one while the power play popped a pair to help the Rocket win the special teams battle.  After being dropped to the second line, Sean Farrell responded with a three-point effort while Joshua Roy scored for the third straight game, a tally that put Laval up four and basically ended any hope of a Rochester comeback.

StatPack

Skaters:

#	Player	GP	G	A	+/-	SOG	PIMS
2	Noel Hoefenmayer	2	0	0	-1	1	10
5	Gustav Lindstrom	3	0	0	+5	1	2
10	Joshua Roy	3	3	2	+3	9	10
11	Rafael Harvey-Pinard	3	0	1	+1	4	12
12	Alex Barre-Boulet	3	1	1	E	4	2
15	Sean Farrell	3	1	2	+2	6	0
17	Alex Tuch	2	1	0	E	3	10
23	Tyler Wotherspoon	1	0	0	E	0	0
24	Logan Mailloux	3	0	1	-2	3	20
27	Laurent Dauphin	3	1	0	E	9	2
37	Brandon Gignac	3	0	0	+2	2	0
42	Lucas Condotta	3	1	1	+2	5	14
49	Jared Davidson	3	0	1	-1	5	10
56	Adam Engstrom	3	0	2	+3	2	0
62	Owen Beck	3	0	0	-1	7	0
63	Florian Xhekaj	3	1	0	-1	6	16
64	David Reinbacher	3	0	2	+3	1	0
65	Zack Hayes	1	0	1	+1	3	0
81	Xavier Simoneau	1	0	1	+1	1	0
84	William Trudeau	2	0	1	E	0	0
91	Oliver Kapanen	3	1	1	+3	5	0

Goalies:

#	Player	Record	GAA	SV%	SO
1	Jacob Fowler	0-1-0	8.17	.714	0
30	Cayden Primeau	2-0-0	0.67	.970	1

Team Leaders:

Goals: Laurent Dauphin (5)
Assists: Alex Barre-Boulet (7)
Points: Alex Barre-Boulet (10)
+/-: Adam Engstrom (+6)
PIMS: Florian Xhekaj (33)
Shots: Laurent Dauphin (31)

News and Notes

– There was some good news on the injury front as Xavier Simoneau was able to return for the final game of the series.  Of course, as has been the case all season long seemingly, there was also some bad news on that front.  Tyler Wotherspoon was injured in Game 3 while William Trudeau was unable to play in Game 5 due to undisclosed injuries.

– Laval has decided to release its taxi squad consisting of forwards Tyler Thorpe, Will Dineen, and Joseph Dunlap along with blueliner Owen Protz.  Notably, Thorpe (entry-level deal), Dineen, and Dunlap (AHL contracts) are all signed for next season already so this isn’t really the end of the road for them with the Rocket.  With Protz’s release, Laval is down to six healthy blueliners so perhaps there’s some good news coming for Trudeau and Wotherspoon.

– There is now a third healthy goalie with the team as the Rocket signed Vincent Duplessis to a PTO.  He spent this season with ECHL Utah and struggled, putting up a 4.47 GAA and a .862 SV% in 20 games.  At first glance, it feels like he’ll be a practice goalie with Cayden Primeau getting some days off.

– Laval signed Laurent Dauphin to a two-year contract extension, meaning he’ll be around through the 2026-27 season.

– Interestingly, each Division Final featured the top two teams from the regular season as there weren’t many upsets to this point of the playoffs.  However, the number two seed won three of the four matchups with Laval’s win over Rochester being the lone exception.

Last Game’s Lines:

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

Hayes – Reinbacher
Hoefenmayer – Mailloux
Engstrom – Lindstrom

The Series Ahead

As we’ve done for the first two rounds, we’ll take a closer look at Laval’s next opponent, the Charlotte Checkers, on Tuesday.  For now, let’s look at the schedule for the Eastern Conference Final.  It’s a return to the standard seven-game format after Laval’s first two series were best-of-fives.  Meanwhile, to limit travel, this will be a 2-3-2 series with Laval’s home games starting and ending the series.

May 28: in Laval
May 29: in Laval
June 1: in Charlotte
June 3: in Charlotte
June 5: in Charlotte*
June 7: in Laval*
June 8: in Laval*

*-if necessary  

Final Thought

Arguably the biggest storyline of the playoffs has been Laval’s goaltending usage.  After Cayden Primeau was recalled following Samuel Montembeault’s injury, Jacob Fowler came in and played quite well, winning all three games against Cleveland.  Understandably, that had some fans wanting Fowler to be the starter against Rochester.  Instead, the two alternated with Primeau playing quite well and Fowler struggling significantly.

While there’s definitely a case to run with Primeau moving forward (one that I’d agree with, for the record), I think the scheduling format is going to favour using both netminders again.  If Laval is able to win the opener on Wednesday, it wouldn’t shock me to see Fowler get the nod the following night over going with a back-to-back for Primeau.  The final two games are also back-to-back so if they don’t want one to play both of those, it seemingly would open up Game 6 as an option for Fowler as well.  And if you’ve done the math by now, Primeau got the odds last round and Fowler the evens and if the plan is to have Fowler in those two home games, there’s a good chance he’s getting one on the road as well.  Odds and evens again looks like a legitimate possibility.

Of course, best-laid plans can change in a hurry.  But right now, 48 hours or so out from the series opener, I can’t help but think the goalie rotation might be continuing a little while longer.