With some weaker opponents on the schedule last week, the Rocket had a great chance on home ice to get some separation in the division. Instead, they lost all three games and only managed three goals as they failed to take advantage of the soft schedule.
The Week That Was
Jan. 14: Belleville 3, Laval 2 (OT) – Laval has played a lot better than usual against Belleville this season but this wasn’t the case in this game as they didn’t have their best game. Still, Vincent Arseneau gave the Rocket a chance as his first goal of the season early in the third period tied the game and ultimately got it to overtime. But in the extra session, Lassi Thomson was the hero, scoring 99 seconds in to give the Sens the win.
Jan. 16: Manitoba 2, Laval 1 (SO) – Facing a low-scoring team with strong goaltending, offence was going to be at a premium for Laval. To their credit, they peppered Thomas Milic with 27 shots over the first two periods but only Luke Tuch could beat him. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get a second goal from there and the Moose went two-for-three in the shootout to get the win.
Jan. 17: Manitoba 3, Laval 0 – The rematch was an even stingier defensive battle with the game still being goalless halfway in the third period. However, Brad Lambert and Nikita Chibrikov scored a minute and a half apart and then they added an empty-netter for good measure. The game was called early due to a medical emergency in the stands with the fan ultimately passing away on Sunday.
StatPack
Skaters:
| # | Player | GP | G | A | +/- | SOG | PIMS |
| 2 | Marc Del Gaizo | 3 | 0 | 0 | E | 7 | 2 |
| 5 | Nathan Clurman | 3 | 0 | 0 | E | 2 | 0 |
| 6 | Tyler Thorpe | 3 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 4 | 6 |
| 10 | Joshua Roy | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 7 | 0 |
| 15 | Sean Farrell | 3 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 8 | 0 |
| 17 | Alex Tuch | 3 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 3 | 4 |
| 18 | Vincent Arseneau | 2 | 1 | 0 | E | 1 | 2 |
| 22 | Alex Belzile | 3 | 1 | 0 | -1 | 5 | 4 |
| 26 | Will Dineen | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 1 | 0 |
| 27 | Laurent Dauphin | 3 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 6 | 0 |
| 28 | Josh Jacobs | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 0 |
| 42 | Lucas Condotta | 3 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 2 | 0 |
| 44 | Josiah Didier | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 4 | 0 |
| 48 | Filip Mesar | 3 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 3 | 0 |
| 49 | Jared Davidson | 3 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 8 | 0 |
| 56 | Adam Engstrom | 3 | 0 | 2 | -1 | 11 | 0 |
| 62 | Owen Beck | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 3 | 0 |
| 63 | Florian Xhekaj | 3 | 0 | 1 | E | 5 | 4 |
| 64 | David Reinbacher | 3 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 3 | 2 |
| 81 | Xavier Simoneau | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 1 | 0 |
| 84 | William Trudeau | 3 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 6 | 0 |
Goalies:
| # | Player | Record | GAA | SV% | SO |
| 1 | Jacob Fowler | 0-1-0 | 2.06 | .931 | 0 |
| 34 | Kaapo Kahkonen | 0-1-1 | 1.91 | .925 | 0 |
Shootout – Skaters:
| # | Player | G/ATT |
| 10 | Joshua Roy | 0/1 |
| 15 | Sean Farrell | 1/1 |
| 22 | Alex Belzile | 0/1 |
Shootout – Goalies:
| # | Player | SVS/SF |
| 34 | Kaapo Kahkonen | 1/3 |
Team Leaders:
Goals: Alex Belzile (19)
Assists: Laurent Dauphin (29)
Points: Laurent Dauphin (40)
+/-: Laurent Dauphin (+20)
PIMS: Florian Xhekaj (78)
Shots: Alex Belzile (94)
News and Notes
– Laval got some good news on the injury front. Originally ruled out four to six weeks, Joshua Roy returned to the lineup after just 10 days.
– Unfortunately, there was also some bad news injury-wise. Tobie Paquette-Bisson will miss four to six weeks with a lower-body injury sustained while blocking a shot against Syracuse.
– Owen Beck and Jacob Fowler were both sent down from the Habs. In corresponding moves, forward Joe Dunlap and goalie Hunter Jones were sent down to ECHL Trois-Rivieres.
– Speaking of Fowler, he’ll be taking part in the upcoming All-Star Game (or, more accurately, a series of three-on-three games). He’ll be joined from Laval by Adam Engstrom and Laurent Dauphin.
Last Game’s Lines:
Farrell – Dauphin – Belzile
Roy – Beck – Davidson
Condotta – Xhekaj – Tuch
Simoneau – Mesar – Thorpe
Engstrom – Reinbacher
Trudeau – Jacobs
Del Gaizo – Clurman
The Week Ahead
Tuesday/Wednesday at Abbotsford – Last season, the Canucks were the Calder Cup champions. This season, they’re in last place in the Pacific Division and one of the lowest-scoring teams in the league. They do, however, have a point-per-game player (when healthy) in prospect Jonathan Lekkerimaki. Starting goalie Jiri Patera is now up with Vancouver with Nikita Tolopilo, who started against the Habs last week, is now back with them and will likely get at least one of the games.
Saturday at Calgary – The Wranglers have some good veterans leading the way offensively in Rory Kerins, Martin Frk, and Dryden Hunt but keeping the puck out of the net has been a challenge. Veteran Ivan Prosvetov, brought in to challenge for the backup job with the Flames, is now injured with rookie Owen Say struggling in the number one role. Top prospect Matvei Gridin was recalled to the Flames over the weekend but defenceman Zayne Parekh, who you might remember from the World Juniors, is now with the Wranglers on a conditioning assignment.
Final Thought
Considering that Laval is in first place in the North Division (well, tied with Syracuse with a game in hand), it’s hard to sit here and be too upset about the first half of the season. On the other hand, I don’t like how the Rocket have played for a few weeks now.
This past week notwithstanding, they did a good job at squeaking out some wins but this hasn’t been a group that’s been firing on all cylinders for a while. Kaapo Kahkonen has largely given them strong goaltending but the defence has been hit or miss. Meanwhile, Laval can go from having a strong period up front to three or four bad ones in a row and it finally caught up with them this past week. Granted, they’ve been missing some key pieces but right now, the lineup is as good as it has been for a while now. And there are just too many stretches where it almost looks like they’re going through the motions.
The nice thing is that this midseason slump hasn’t come back to bite them, at least yet. Now, the key is turning things around before they fall all the way back to the rest of the pack in a tight division. The next couple of weeks will test their mettle heading into the All-Star break. I’m curious to see how they fare.