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Cayden Primeau continued his strong play last week but with Laval’s roster decimated by injuries and recalls, scoring was at a premium and the end result was them securing only a single win and falling out of a playoff spot.

The Week That Was

Mar. 15: Rochester 2, Laval 0 – This game was close throughout with the only goal that beat a goalie being an unassisted shorthanded marker early in the second period.  Primeau made 30 stops in the loss while Malcolm Subban made 29 saves for the shutout.

Mar. 17: Utica 3, Laval 2 – Laval has been good at getting late comebacks lately and they had a pretty good run at another one here.  Pierrick Dube scored early in the third to make it a one-goal game but that’s as close as they were able to get.  It was an opportunity squandered considering Utica’s goalie was their third-stringer with one up with New Jersey and the other injured.

Mar. 18: Laval 4, Utica 1 – This time, the Rocket took advantage of Utica’s goalie situation with their fourth stringer between the pipes.  Laval scored three times in the first capped by Nolan Yaremko’s first goal with the team while Mitchell Stephens was able to restore the three-goal lead midway through the second after the Comets got on the board.  That was enough for this one to have a very comfortable second half leading up to the win.

StatPack

Skaters:

# Player GP G A +/- SOG PIMS
5 Tory Dello 3 1 0 E 6 2
6 Corey Schueneman 3 0 1 E 4 0
8 Madison Bowey 2 0 0 -1 3 2
13 Nicolas Beaudin 1 0 0 E 2 0
14 Jan Mysak 3 0 0 E 6 4
15 Louis Boudon 1 0 0 -1 1 0
18 Danick Martel 2 0 0 -1 2 2
20 Gabriel Bourque 3 0 2 +1 6 2
23 Nolan Yaremko 3 1 0 +2 5 10
24 Joel Teasdale 3 0 0 -1 8 0
27 Mitchell Stephens 3 2 0 E 14 2
29 Mattias Norlinder 3 0 0 +1 2 0
37 Brandon Gignac 1 1 0 +1 2 0
38 Frederic Allard 1 0 0 +3 3 0
42 Lucas Condotta 3 0 1 E 6 4
44 Olivier Galipeau 3 0 1 E 7 2
68 Riley McKay 3 0 0 -1 1 14
81 Xavier Simoneau 3 0 1 -2 3 6
84 William Trudeau 3 0 0 -1 5 0
85 John Parker-Jones 1 0 1 +1 2 0
92 Pierrick Dube 3 1 1 +1 8 0
98 Peter Abbandonato 3 0 1 -3 9 2

Goalies:

# Player Record GAA SV% SO
31 Cayden Primeau 1-2-0 1.70 .946 0

Team Leaders:

Goals: Anthony Richard (24)
Assists: Abbandonato/Richard (31)
Points: Anthony Richard (55)
+/-: Corey Schueneman (+11)
PIMS: Riley McKay (100)
Shots: Anthony Richard (163)

News And Notes

– There was good news and bad news up front when it came to injuries.  Brandon Gignac was able to return to the lineup earlier than expected but he wound up taking the place of Danick Martel who was injured once again.  Meanwhile, Nicolas Beaudin is also dealing with an injury although Laval does have a bit of extra defensive depth at the moment.

– Speaking of that defensive depth, Laval got some more of it with Jayden Struble not burning the first year of his entry-level contract next season.  That allowed him to sign a tryout deal to join the Rocket for the rest of the season.

– Xavier Simoneau is in quite the slump at the moment, going 19 straight games without a goal, spanning two months.

Last Game’s Lines:

Simoneau – Abbandonato – Condotta
Bourque – Stephens – Teasdale
Mysak – Gignac – Dube
McKay – Yaremko – Parker-Jones

Trudeau – Schueneman
Norlinder – Dello  
Galipeau – Allard

The Week Ahead

Wednesday – vs Bridgeport – Like the Rocket, the Islanders are in a tough battle for the final play-in spot so there’s a lot at stake in this one.  Former Hab farmhand Chris Terry leads the way in scoring for them while veteran Cory Schneider is still hanging on and has been part of an effective platoon for Bridgeport this season.

Friday – vs Milwaukee – In an out-of-conference matchup (Laval will get them next week on the road), the Admirals are at the other end of the playoff race as they’re in a three-way battle for first in their division.  If you’re looking for a reason for optimism though, six of their top eight scorers are up with the Predators who were big sellers at the trade deadline.  However, they did recently add one of their top prospects in Joakim Kemell up front while Yaroslav Askarov is certainly capable of winning a game on his own.

Sunday – at Manitoba – After splitting a two-game set in Laval back in January, the Rocket will now play a pair in Winnipeg.  Manitoba is one of the teams in that three-team battle with Milwaukee and unlike the Admirals, the Moose aren’t missing anyone of significance to an NHL recall.  Alex Limoges leads the Moose in scoring while they have three of the top 35 in terms of scoring by a defenceman in the league.

Final Thought

Laval got a small boost on Monday when Emil Heineman was sent to them with his season ending in Sweden.  Having played in the pros overseas, he’s someone that should be a bit more equipped to step in right away and considering the lack of firepower that they have at the moment, he’s someone that should debut in a reasonable spot instead of being mired on the fourth line. 

Don’t get me wrong, Heineman didn’t exactly have a great year in Leksand so expectations shouldn’t be set too high.  He’s still a young prospect, after all.  But he’s a shooter on a team that quite frankly doesn’t have a single high-end shooter at the moment.  That’s a skill that can round out a line and all of a sudden provide a new weapon on a power play that has been hit or miss throughout the season.  Heineman shouldn’t be making or breaking their playoff chances but he’ll give them a pro-level player that should step in right away.  They definitely could use the help.