HabsWorld.net --
After a couple of days off, Laval was back in action on Wednesday to open their series against Charlotte. After starting their last two series strong, they did no such thing in this one, falling 5-1.
Pascal Vincent opted to keep the lineup intact from Sunday, an understandable decision given how well they played to finish the series so while Vincent Arseneau has been cleared to return, he’ll have to wait longer to get into his first postseason game with Laval. Meanwhile, it looked like Jacob Fowler was set to get the start earlier in the day but ultimately, it was indeed Cayden Primeau who got the nod. The rest of the team lined up as follows:
Gignac – Dauphin – Barre-Boulet
Farrell – Kapanen – Roy
Harvey-Pinard – Condotta – Simoneau
Davidson – Xhekaj – Beck
Engstrom – Lindstrom
Hoefenmayer – Mailloux
Hayes – Reinbacher
Game Thoughts
1) It was not the start Laval wanted. After a few decent shifts to start the game in Charlotte’s end, Adam Engstrom lost the puck to Ben Steeves behind the net. He had time to step out uncovered and spotted Sandis Vilmanis charging the net (also largely uncovered). A quick pass across led to an open net and Vilmanis made no mistake to open up the scoring less than two minutes in. So much for hoping the Checkers would be rusty after an extended break.
2) I liked Laval’s response after the goal as Charlotte didn’t get much of anything going in the offensive zone for a while. Unfortunately, they didn’t need too many opportunities before getting on the board again. With the Rocket on a line change, Justin Sourdif skated in from centre and drove wide. He didn’t have the greatest of angles but his shot caught a piece of Noel Hoefenmayer’s stick and just like that, their lead was doubled on all of three shots. It was tipped and well-placed but I think Primeau would say that’s one he probably should have had.
3) Laval got a power play a few minutes later with a chance to tie the game. Instead, they struggled to complete consecutive passes. Couple that with Charlotte being the top shorthanded team in the playoffs and it was not particularly pretty. The second advantage was much worse. Charlotte hit the post and had three other chances as Laval couldn’t complete passes while they were flying out of the way defensively, flailing around in desperation. Their inexperience showed relative to a Checkers team that’s a lot more experienced and structured.
4) The second period didn’t get off to a better start as once again, Charlotte scored before the two-minute mark. Vilmanis had the puck on the right-side boards and sent a perfect cross-ice pass through to Oliver Okuliar who had a tap-in. How that pass got through four players is something the coaches will be wondering. The Checkers were opportunistic in this one, that’s for sure.
5) Once more, Laval’s response was pretty good. Owen Beck had a couple of good looks while Joshua Roy had one soon after. Eventually, Roy was able to thread a cross-ice pass through to Oliver Kapanen who fired it past Kaapo Kahkonen before the six-minute mark to get the Rocket on the board. It was a good pass and a strong shot but again, that pass also probably shouldn’t have gotten through in the first place.
6) A couple of minutes later, Rafael Harvey-Pinard nearly cut the deficit to one as he got the puck all alone just above the crease after a perfect pass from Xavier Simoneau. However, Kahkonen was there to make the stop while Laval couldn’t bury the rebound. One team was opportunistic, the other, not so much. Jared Davidson took a high-sticking call not long after but Charlotte’s power play was similarly ineffective as Laval’s was.
7) The second half of the second period was a little quieter for both sides but I didn’t mind Laval’s play beyond the fact that they were still trailing, they just didn’t have much to show for it. A late power play looked a lot better than the first two but they weren’t able to get much through in the first half of it before the period ended.
8) Any hope of a comeback was quickly dashed, however. On the carryover power play, Roy missed the net early and seconds later, Charlotte had a two-on-one. John Leonard carried the puck in and beat Primeau clean with a shot on another one he’d like back. The Checkers have four shorthanded goals in the playoffs and have only allowed two power play goals. Laval is going to have to find a way to get something going with the man advantage in this series, they rely too much on the power play to win without it.
9) The Rocket had two more man advantages before the midway point of the third. The second unit at least looked competitive on the first one while neither did well on the second chance. They got a third power play of the period soon after and the highlight of that was Sean Farrell shooting a stick away, an obvious penalty, to nullify the advantage. Suffice it to say, this was not their night.
10) Vincent didn’t wave the white flag on this game, pulling Primeau for the extra attacker with four minutes to go. Predictably, given how poorly things went with the extra man on all their power plays, it wasn’t long before Jesse Puljujarvi potted the empty-netter to seal the victory before the Rocket did their best to rack up the penalty minutes. Laval played well enough in stretches to show they’re far from out of this series but they need to clean up some of the little things (and perhaps not allow a goal in the first two minutes of every period again) in Thursday’s rematch.
HW Rocket 3 Stars
1st Star: Oliver Kapanen – His line was Laval’s most consistent on a night where each had its good moments and bad moments. Offensively, he had the lone goal of the game, a couple of other decent looks, and drew a penalty while defensively, he made a good play to break up a scoring chance on one of Charlotte’s many rushes while shorthanded.
Stats: 1 goal, even rating, 1 shot, 0 PIMS
2nd Star: Adam Engstrom – It wasn’t all pretty, especially early on when his turnover led to the first goal plus taking a couple of hard hits but he was also a catalyst for Laval’s attack from the back end. His speed is a weapon on any night but against a Checkers team that isn’t exactly the fastest, it stands out even more. He showed some flashes of taking advantage of that, hopefully they can build on that.
Stats: 0 points, -1 rating, 3 shots, 0 PIMS
3rd Star: Xavier Simoneau – He brings a spark to the third line, a trio that was Laval’s best in the early going of the game. Simoneau made a couple of plays that could have led to goals and got under the skin of some players. Not a bad opening game of the series for him overall.
Stats: 0 points, even rating, 3 shots, 16 PIMS
