Rocket Weekly: Stingy Goaltending and Better Defence
Laval returned home last week to kick off a four-game home stand. They played the first three games of that stretch and they were able to pick up a pair of wins with Jacob Fowler putting up strong performances in both those games.
The Week That Was
Oct. 29: Laval 3, Lehigh Valley 0 – This was probably Laval’s best all-around game of the season. Defensively, they held the Phantoms to just 17 shots while offensively, they had a balanced attack while getting contributions from a trio of prospects in Adam Engstrom, Owen Beck, and Jared Davidson. More performances like this would certainly give them a boost in the standings.
Oct. 31: Rochester 2, Laval 1 – Unfortunately, not every game can be played against a weaker opponent and the Amerks are basically the complete opposite of that. After a goalless 40 minutes, Davidson got the home side on the board early in the third but they weren’t able to hold on. Trevor Kuntar had the winner with just 3:32 left in regulation, spoiling what was a strong performance from Kaapo Kahkonen between the pipes.
Nov. 1: Laval 5, Rochester 2 – The rematch yielded a better outcome, largely thanks to Laurent Dauphin. He scored in the opening minute of the first, the final minute of the game, and potted a pair of power play goals in between for a rare four-goal game. Meanwhile, Davidson added a power play marker of his own as they went 3/5 with the man advantage.
StatPack
Skaters:
| # | Player | GP | G | A | +/- | SOG | PIMS |
| 2 | Marc Del Gaizo | 2 | 0 | 1 | E | 3 | 4 |
| 4 | Tobie Bisson | 3 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 4 | 2 |
| 5 | Nate Clurman | 3 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 4 | 2 |
| 6 | Tyler Thorpe | 2 | 0 | 1 | E | 3 | 4 |
| 10 | Joshua Roy | 2 | 0 | 2 | +2 | 6 | 0 |
| 15 | Sean Farrell | 3 | 0 | 1 | E | 9 | 0 |
| 17 | Alex Tuch | 3 | 0 | 0 | E | 4 | 0 |
| 18 | Vincent Arseneau | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | Alex Belzile | 3 | 0 | 1 | E | 10 | 2 |
| 25 | Ryan O’Rourke | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 1 | 0 |
| 27 | Laurent Dauphin | 3 | 4 | 1 | +4 | 20 | 0 |
| 38 | Wyatte Wylie | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 1 | 0 |
| 42 | Lucas Condotta | 3 | 0 | 2 | +1 | 5 | 0 |
| 44 | Josiah Didier | 2 | 0 | 1 | +2 | 1 | 0 |
| 48 | Filip Mesar | 3 | 0 | 0 | E | 4 | 0 |
| 49 | Jared Davidson | 3 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 13 | 4 |
| 56 | Adam Engstrom | 3 | 1 | 1 | E | 5 | 0 |
| 62 | Owen Beck | 3 | 1 | 0 | -1 | 4 | 2 |
| 63 | Florian Xhekaj | 3 | 0 | 1 | E | 2 | 0 |
| 64 | David Reinbacher | 2 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 0 | 4 |
| 77 | Joe Dunlap | 1 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 1 | 2 |
| 81 | Xavier Simoneau | 3 | 0 | 0 | E | 1 | 2 |
| 84 | William Trudeau | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 0 | 2 |
Goalies:
| # | Player | Record | GAA | SV% | SO |
| 1 | Jacob Fowler | 2-0-0 | 1.00 | .964 | 1 |
| 34 | Kaapo Kahkonen | 0-1-0 | 2.06 | .944 | 0 |
Team Leaders:
Goals: Dauphin/Davidson (7)
Assists: Dauphin/Farrell (5)
Points: Laurent Dauphin (12)
+/-: Laurent Dauphin (+10)
PIMS: Florian Xhekaj (21)
Shots: Laurent Dauphin (35)
News and Notes
– Off the ice, this was a great week for Laval. First, winger Joshua Roy and defenceman Marc Del Gaizo were sent down. Then, the Habs activated and assigned defencemen David Reinbacher and William Trudeau (after he cleared waivers), giving the Rocket three top-four blueliners in the span of just a few days.
– With that extra defensive depth, the Rocket assigned blueliners Darick Louis-Jean, Ryan O’Rourke and Wyatte Wylie to Trois-Rivieres of the ECHL. Meanwhile, defenceman Jacob Dion was released from his PTO.
– Laval also shook up their back-roster forward depth, returning Riley Kidney to the Lions while recalling Joe Dunlap.
– Jared Davidson is now on a career-best four-game goal streak.
Last Game’s Lines:
Farrell – Dauphin – Roy
Davidson – Belzile – Mesar
Simoneau – Condotta – Dunlap
Tuch – Xhekaj – Beck
Trudeau – Engstrom
Paquette-Bisson – Reinbacher
Del Gaizo – Clurman
The Week Ahead
Friday vs Hartford – It’s a revenge game of sorts for Alex Belzile who spent two years with the Wolf Pack and never got an opportunity to suit up for the Rangers. Goals have been hard to come by for Hartford this season although Gabriel Perreault is averaging over a point per game in his first professional season. They also feature Trey Fix-Wolansky who tends to be quite productive when playing against the Rocket. After a slow start that saw them only get a point in one of their first five games, the Wolf Pack have recorded at least a point in four straight outings.
Sunday at Belleville – Not a ton has changed since their last matchup and it’s possible that the Sens send down Leevi Merilainen again to play in this one as they continue to get him some game action without using him much in Ottawa. (I actually thought the Habs might do that with Jakub Dobes a bit but with him playing more regularly, that’s off the table.) Arthur Kaliyev has a point in five of his first seven games after not lasting long in Ottawa while Hayden Hodgson, who has had some run-ins with both Montreal and Laval before, leads the way with 28 penalty minutes.
Final Thought
I noted earlier that Friday’s game could be a revenge game for Alex Belzile. Honestly, I’m hoping he sees it that way as a bit of an extra motivator as this has not been a particularly great start to the season for him. With two goals and four assists in ten games, he hasn’t been the top-line producer that Montreal signed him to be.
With the Habs opting to have Laval be one of the younger teams in the AHL, they need their veterans to be productive players. That helps insulate the youngsters, giving them a chance to start on a lower line and ideally work their way up. With several of the prospects struggling, this is when your veterans can carry a team to some wins. So far, they’re not getting that from Belzile and if they want to get back into that top tier again this season, they need him to lead the way offensively. It’s still early but he has some work to do to live up to his expectations.