The road wasn’t as kind to Laval last week as it has been at times this season. They started with a loss and had a clunker in the final game. However, they managed to pick up wins in the other to still salvage a reasonable showing overall.
The Week That Was
Feb. 16: Toronto 4, Laval 3 (SO) – This was one of those ‘bad with the good’ games. After a scoreless first period, the Marlies scored twice in the opening minute of the second period. But the Rocket came back in the third with a trio of goals in the first seven minutes to grab a surprising lead in a game they didn’t play that well in. Two came from the bottom six which was an added bonus. But Toronto tied it late on the power play with the goalie pulled and scored the only goal of the shootout to get the extra point.
Feb. 20: Laval 3, Rochester 2 (OT) – Things were looking good early as Laval scored twice in the first period and then peppered Devon Levi with 21 shots in the second period (they had all of 22 in 65 minutes against Toronto) but they couldn’t get that extra goal. That came back to bite them in the form of another blown third-period lead. However, this time, the Rocket bounced back with Marc Del Gaizo scoring the winner 83 seconds into overtime.
Feb. 21: Laval 2, Utica 1 (SO) – Outside of the first period, Laval didn’t muster up much in the way of chances. Fortunately, the Comets played just as poorly so both teams came out of regulation with a point they didn’t have much business earning. For context, they managed all of 21 shots in the game against the worst team in the conference, one day after a 21-shot period. Once again, there was only one goal scored in the shootout but this time, it was Samuel Blais who got it, giving the Rocket the win.
Feb. 22: Utica 3, Laval 1 – It was the third game in three nights for the Rocket and they let their fatigue get the better of them in the form of penalties. Eight power plays is hard to overcome most nights and this was no exception, even though the defence held the Comets to just 14 shots. A lot of those came with the man advantage and three of them beat Kaapo Kahkonen. Alex Belzile stopped Nico Daws from getting a shutout with a late goal but that was all they could muster up.
StatPack
Skaters:
| # | Player | GP | G | A | +/- | SOG | PIMS |
| 2 | Marc Del Gaizo | 4 | 1 | 0 | E | 12 | 0 |
| 4 | Tobie Bisson | 4 | 1 | 0 | -1 | 4 | 0 |
| 5 | Nathan Clurman | 3 | 0 | 0 | E | 3 | 0 |
| 6 | Tyler Thorpe | 4 | 0 | 1 | +2 | 2 | 0 |
| 10 | Joshua Roy | 4 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 12 | 16 |
| 15 | Sean Farrell | 4 | 0 | 1 | E | 9 | 2 |
| 17 | Alex Tuch | 2 | 1 | 0 | E | 2 | 2 |
| 18 | Vincent Arseneau | 1 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 1 | 0 |
| 19 | Samuel Blais | 4 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 8 | 8 |
| 22 | Alex Belzile | 4 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 11 | 6 |
| 26 | Will Dineen | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 2 | 0 |
| 27 | Laurent Dauphin | 4 | 0 | 2 | +1 | 11 | 6 |
| 42 | Lucas Condotta | 4 | 0 | 0 | E | 3 | 2 |
| 44 | Josiah Didier | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 1 | 0 |
| 48 | Filip Mesar | 4 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 5 | 0 |
| 49 | Jared Davidson | 3 | 0 | 1 | E | 0 | 0 |
| 56 | Adam Engstrom | 4 | 0 | 1 | +2 | 7 | 0 |
| 62 | Owen Beck | 4 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 3 | 10 |
| 63 | Florian Xhekaj | 4 | 1 | 0 | +2 | 7 | 11 |
| 64 | David Reinbacher | 4 | 0 | 1 | +4 | 3 | 2 |
| 81 | Xavier Simoneau | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 16 |
| 84 | William Trudeau | 4 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 4 | 0 |
Goalies:
| # | Player | Record | GAA | SV% | SO |
| 1 | Jacob Fowler | 0-0-1 | 2.77 | .897 | 0 |
| 34 | Kaapo Kahkonen | 2-1-0 | 1.93 | .900 | 0 |
Shootout – Skaters:
| # | Player | G/ATT |
| 15 | Sean Farrell | 0/2 |
| 19 | Samuel Blais | 1/2 |
| 22 | Alex Belzile | 0/2 |
| 49 | Jared Davidson | 0/1 |
Shootout – Goalies:
| # | Player | SVS/SF |
| 1 | Jacob Fowler | 3/4 |
| 34 | Kaapo Kahkonen | 3/3 |
Team Leaders:
Goals: Alex Belzile (24)
Assists: Laurent Dauphin (41)
Points: Laurent Dauphin (56)
+/-: Laurent Dauphin (+26)
PIMS: Florian Xhekaj (126)
Shots: Laurent Dauphin (129)
News and Notes
– Jacob Fowler missed the last three games due to illness. Hunter Jones was recalled from ECHL Trois-Rivieres but Kaapo Kahkonen played all three games of the three-in-three set.
– Adam Engstrom left Sunday’s game with an undisclosed injury. No further information on his injury is available yet.
– Laval had three ‘abuse of officials’ penalties over their four games. Off-hand, I’m not sure they’ve had that many all season between the other games which could be some cause for concern.
Last Game’s Lines:
Farrell – Dauphin – Belzile
Roy – Beck – Mesar
Blais – Condotta – Simoneau
Dineen – Xhekaj – Thorpe
Del Gaizo – Engstrom
Trudeau – Reinbacher
Paquette-Bisson – Didier
The Week Ahead
Wednesday vs Toronto: Yes, them yet again. The Marlies have lost all three games since beating Laval on Family Day but beyond that, not much has changed from their other two matchups earlier this month. The Marlies are now fifth in points percentage which would have them as the road team in the play-in series so they’re going to be motivated to get back on track.
Friday at Rochester: Yes, them again as well for the second straight Friday on the road (a bit of an odd scheduling quirk). They’ve now lost three straight including the overtime game against the Rocket. One notable change roster-wise since then is top defenceman Zach Metsa is back up with Buffalo. With Zach Benson out, it’s possible a forward is also recalled which would further impact Rochester’s lineup.
Saturday at Syracuse: The Crunch have won seven of ten to move into sole possession of second in the North Division and stay within striking distance of Laval (seven points back). Jakob Pelletier is only a few points behind Laurent Dauphin for the league lead in scoring while Conor Geekie is on quite the tear in 2026 with 24 points in 19 games. He was the key prospect acquired for former Hab Mikhail Sergachev. Syracuse is the only team in the division with fewer goals allowed than the Rocket.
Final Thought
When we think about what the Habs (and Laval, by extension) need at the trade deadline, I didn’t think they needed to do anything with their goalies. After this past week, I’m not so sure about that.
When both Jacob Fowler and Kaapo Kahkonen are available, they’re in great shape at the position. But when one of them is out, it has become quite clear that they do not trust Hunter Jones enough to play him when he’s up from Trois-Rivieres. The end result was Kahkonen playing all three games of a three-in-three road set, two of which were against Utica, the worst team in the conference. If you can’t trust your extra goalie to play against the worst team in the conference to stop your backup from playing three games in barely 48 hours (when you’re in first place), when are they ever going to use him?
It’s not like Jones has been playing poorly with the Lions either. He has a 2.00 GAA and a .923 SV% in 21 games in the ECHL. Those are more than solid numbers and while he has been shakier in limited action with Laval, two games is too small of a sample size to be scared off from using him.
So, if it has been determined that Jones can’t be counted on to play, do the Habs or Rocket need to get another goalie into the system? I think they might. It only takes one injury or illness between the two teams to put them back in this situation and with a compressed schedule coming the rest of the way, it could easily happen. Upgrading on Jones as the third-string AHL option might be enough to actually get the coaching staff to trust that goalie and that would be a good thing.
This isn’t something where the Habs need to give up assets or anything. Just try to swing an AHL deal or have a minor league goalie for AHL future considerations tacked onto another deal. It seems like things are set between the pipes but now, a little more depth might go a long way.