Rocket Weekly: Lack of Discipline Proves Costly
A lack of discipline certainly proved costly for Laval last week as an on-ice incident led to four suspensions. Still, they managed to hold onto first in the division after picking up three points in three games.
The Week That Was
Dec. 10: Toronto 5, Laval 4 (SO) – The Habs weren’t the only team to blow a three-goal first-period lead last week. The Rocket got off to a great start with three goals in the first and ultimately held the lead for most of the game with Luke Tuch’s second-period tally looking like it would be the winner until former Hab Logan Shaw tied the game up with 1:09 left in the third. It took six rounds of the shootout for one player to score with Luke Haymes giving the Marlies the extra point.
Dec. 12: Laval 5, Toronto 2 – The rematch saw Laval get a four-goal lead this time around, including Tuch score his second in as many games as he continues to try to overcome a slow start. However, things got out of hand at the end of the second period with plenty of secondary altercations leading to supplemental discipline. In the meantime, the Rocket’s performance in the third wasn’t sharp but it was enough to secure the split.
Dec. 13: Bridgeport 2, Laval 1 – Reduced to icing several ECHL recalls to fill out their roster, Laval had all of seven shots in the first 40 minutes. Hunter Jones allowed one soft goal but was quite sharp overall, allowing the Rocket to keep close. However, despite a flurry in the third period, they couldn’t get the equalizer.
StatPack
Skaters:
| # | Player | GP | G | A | +/- | SOG | PIMS |
| 2 | Marc Del Gaizo | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 3 | 0 |
| 4 | Tobie Bisson | 3 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 2 | 4 |
| 5 | Nate Clurman | 2 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Tyler Thorpe | 3 | 0 | 3 | +2 | 4 | 17 |
| 10 | Joshua Roy | 2 | 1 | 1 | -3 | 4 | 2 |
| 15 | Sean Farrell | 3 | 1 | 1 | -1 | 5 | 4 |
| 17 | Alex Tuch | 3 | 2 | 0 | +1 | 3 | 2 |
| 19 | Samuel Blais | 2 | 1 | 1 | -2 | 9 | 0 |
| 21 | Riley Kidney | 1 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 2 |
| 22 | Alex Belzile | 2 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 4 | 15 |
| 24 | Israel Mianscum | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 5 |
| 25 | Ryan O’Rourke | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 2 | 0 |
| 26 | Will Dineen | 3 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 3 | 2 |
| 27 | Laurent Dauphin | 2 | 1 | 2 | E | 7 | 0 |
| 28 | Josh Jacobs | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 0 |
| 42 | Lucas Condotta | 3 | 1 | 0 | E | 4 | 4 |
| 44 | Josiah Didier | 3 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 6 | 2 |
| 48 | Filip Mesar | 3 | 0 | 2 | +1 | 5 | 0 |
| 63 | Florian Xhekaj | 3 | 0 | 2 | -1 | 3 | 15 |
| 64 | David Reinbacher | 3 | 0 | 1 | E | 5 | 0 |
| 77 | Joe Dunlap | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 2 | 0 |
| 81 | Xavier Simoneau | 3 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 1 | 2 |
| 84 | William Trudeau | 3 | 1 | 1 | -1 | 8 | 12 |
Goalies:
| # | Player | Record | GAA | SV% | SO |
| 29 | Hunter Jones | 0-1-0 | 2.07 | .944 | 0 |
| 34 | Kaapo Kahkonen | 1-0-1 | 2.92 | .878 | 0 |
Shootout – Skaters:
| # | Player | G/ATT |
| 10 | Joshua Roy | 0/1 |
| 15 | Sean Farrell | 0/1 |
| 19 | Samuel Blais | 0/1 |
| 22 | Alex Belzile | 0/1 |
| 27 | Laurent Dauphin | 0/1 |
| 63 | Florian Xhekaj | 0/1 |
Shootout – Goalies:
| # | Player | SVS/SF |
| 34 | Kaapo Kahkonen | 5/6 |
Team Leaders:
Goals: Alex Belzile (12)
Assists: Laurent Dauphin (21)
Points: Laurent Dauphin (31)
+/-: Laurent Dauphin (+21)
PIMS: Florian Xhekaj (61)
Shots: Belzile/Dauphin (66)
News and Notes
– As a result of secondary altercations against Toronto in which they left the bench to participate, Laurent Dauphin, Alex Belzile, and Joshua Roy all received three-game suspensions. Samuel Blais also received a one-game ban.
– To get enough players to ice a full lineup, Joe Dunlap, Riley Kidney, and Israel Mianscum were all recalled from ECHL Trois-Rivieres. Meanwhile, Josh Jacobs was cleared to return after missing nearly a year due to injury.
– Additionally, Hunter Jones and Ryan O’Rourke were brought up earlier in the week to cover the promotions of Jacob Fowler, Owen Beck, and Adam Engstrom to Montreal. O’Rourke is believed to be in talks with a team in Sweden but with a path for some regular playing time, perhaps he’ll stick around for the time being.
– Marc Del Gaizo is out with an upper-body injury sustained on a hit from Michael Pezzetta which sparked the whole fracas in the second game against Toronto. (Pezzetta received a three-game ban himself for the hit.)
Last Game’s Lines:
Farrell – Xhekaj – Mesar
Simoneau – Condotta – Thorpe
Kidney – Dineen – Tuch
Mianscum – Dunlap
Paquette-Bisson – Reinbacher
Trudeau – Didier
O’Rourke – Clurman
Jacobs
The Week Ahead
Thursday/Saturday at Cleveland – The intrigue for these games picked up when Samuel Montembeault agreed to a conditioning stint with the expectation he’ll make both starts, playing behind a defence that’s missing two of its better options in Engstrom and Del Gaizo. But if the Habs want to give him a confidence boost, this might be the team to try it against as the Monsters are averaging just 2.43 goals per game though they are one of the stingier teams defensively as well. Former Flyer Ivan Fedotov is their starting goalie (buried in the minors thanks to a bloated contract) so there should be at least one matchup of a pair of NHL netminders out of this set.
Final Thought
With Samuel Montembeault now with the Rocket for a few days, the talk has turned to what the expectations should be for him against Cleveland. Honestly, probably not much. He hasn’t made a start in two weeks and is coming off a bad illness so he’s going to be rusty.
I’m not sure his success will be viewed by the goals allowed or win columns. Montembeault’s positioning and puck tracking have been weak this year, as has his rebound control. They’re going to be looking for improvements in those areas. If something bad happens, can he bounce back or will it snowball as it often has this year?
Yes, wins are nice and after leaving some points on the table last week, getting some points to stay atop the division would be ideal. But this has the feeling of a ‘process over results’ type of assignment for Montreal’s starting netminder (at least until recently).