Saturday afternoon’s game was a must-win for both the Rocket and Marlies in the deciding fifth game of the series. Laval led for most of the game but couldn’t hold on, falling 3-2 to end their season.
The extended break between games (thanks to Montreal’s schedule against Buffalo) wasn’t enough to allow David Reinbacher to stay in the lineup after exiting Tuesday’s game early. With Marc Del Gaizo being sidelined earlier in the series and Nate Clurman also injured, Pascal Vincent was forced to turn to late-season tryout Aiden Dubinsky for just his second pro game. The rest of the lineup remained intact and lined up as follows:
Blais – Dauphin – Beck
Farrell – Belzile – Roy
Tuch – Condotta – Rohrer
Arseneau – Xhekaj – Thorpe
Engstrom – Didier
Paquette-Bisson – Mittelstadt
Trudeau – Dubinsky
10 Thoughts
1) This is a time when the word mature is getting thrown around a lot in the organization. The Habs, as a young team, are trying to play a mature game and have had some ups and downs in that regard. They did so against Tampa Bay but the Buffalo series isn’t lining up that way. Laval, meanwhile, has run hot and cold on the maturity front in this series against the Marlies. But the best way to describe the start to this game would be to call it mature. There wasn’t any risk-taking, just a lot of fundamentally sound plays. Toronto had just one shot in the first half of the game plus one chance that went wide. They’ll take that defensively at any time while they got a couple of good looks early, including Joshua Roy being stopped by a stretched-out Artur Akhtyamov.
2) Fortunately for the Rocket, they were rewarded for their sound start. A little before the midway mark of the first, Samuel Blais carried the puck through the neutral zone and into Toronto’s end before giving a quick drop pass to Owen Beck. Beck had a bit of time and space to get into shooting range from the left faceoff circle and fired a top-corner wrister past Akhtyamov and in to open up the scoring. Beck definitely has an NHL-level shot but isn’t as inclined to shoot as often as he should be. At this level especially, his shot is a high-end skill that needs to be more utilized.
3) Officiating has been a discussion point in this series given some of the calls that were made. But I’d say Laval benefitted from some odd calls in the first. Alex Belzile and Mason Shaw went off for offsetting minors (the latter for embellishment) but Belzile could have had multiple calls on the play. Later on, there was a delayed call on Samuel Blais but Vinni Lettieri got called for a ticky-tack roughing call well after the play. Four-on-four play didn’t yield much of anything for either side but the Rocket were fortunate not to be killing penalties there.
4) The whistle went against the Rocket early in the second period when Luke Mittelstadt was called for a hold on Luke Haymes in the opening minute. Toronto couldn’t muster up much on the power play aside from Jacob Quillan being able to drive the net late. Once Mittelstadt exited the box, he found himself on a two-on-one with Laurent Dauphin. Instead of shooting or going cross-ice, he opted to drop a pass for a covered Lucas Condotta instead who wasn’t able to get off much of a shot.
5) Soon after, Florian Xhekaj was called for a needless cross-check from behind on Marc Johnstone. Was it a blatant penalty? No. But, like his brother, he’s a penalty machine. Also like his brother, he has not yet learned that he’s going to get the benefit of the doubt and that he’s going to get called if he does anything. He needs to learn not to give the referees a reason to call something. Fortunately, it didn’t matter much as Laval’s penalty kill was solid again.
6) A little past the midway mark, Alex Belzile was cross-checked into the net after the whistle, something that could have been a call but wasn’t. That proved to be notable as on the next shift, Blake Smith took a feed from Noah Chadwick and snuck a low point shot through several players to beat Kaapo Kahkonen. It wasn’t a dangerous shot but Kahkonen didn’t see it; there wasn’t much he could do as a result.
7) Barely a minute later, Johnstone was called for a hook on Vincent Arseneau, sending Laval to their first power play of the afternoon. The first wave struggled considerably to the point where they allowed a pair of rush opportunities for Toronto. Good things happened when the second wave came out, however. Dauphin was able to get a quick feed to Beck, who managed to squeak a low shot through Akhtyamov to restore the lead, one Laval held through to the intermission. They were 20 minutes away from moving on.
8) In our series primer late last month, I noted that the key question in this series was going to be goaltending. Kahkonen had struggled a lot lately and frankly, his performance through the first four games was a little too erratic to be confidence-inspiring. Sadly for Laval, the bad version showed up for the third. After nearly five minutes without a shot for either side, Johnstone won a puck battle behind the net and sent a feed to Reese Johnson in front. He didn’t have a lot of time and didn’t get off a great shot but still got it through Kahkonen to tie the game.
9) Midway through the period, Kahkonen tries to beat Quillan to a loose puck. However, he waited too long to go for it, leaving a wide-open net in the process. But Sean Farrell hustled back and batted the puck out of mid-air before it crossed the goal line to keep the game tied. Laval iced it seconds later and after Alex Belzile got a piece of Akhtyamov after the whistle, the game’s biggest scrum ensued. For the third time, it was evened up, leading to another four-on-four. Because of the icing, the faceoff was back in Laval’s end. Dauphin lost it clean and seconds later, William Villeneuve teed up Lettieri for a one-timer that Kahkonen wasn’t expecting and was way too slow getting across on. Lettieri didn’t miss with the extra space to give Toronto the lead.
10) That goal came with 9:38 left in regulation. Now in desperate need of a goal to tie the game, Laval mustered up all of one whopping shot down the stretch, one from Dauphin with nearly four minutes left. Kahkonen was pulled with a little under two minutes left but it was frustrating to see very little pressure from the Rocket. It was also frustrating that the player who scored both goals in the game wasn’t out there. They went with the veterans up front and they simply didn’t get the job done, ending their season a lot earlier than they hoped.
HW Rocket 3 Stars
1st Star: Owen Beck – This was an easy pick considering he scored both goals for the Rocket in this game. He hadn’t played a lot on the top line this season but there was some chemistry with Blais and Dauphin which was good to see. It’s notable that this came with him on the wing as well as that might be his best path to NHL playing time in the short term.
Stats: 2 goals, +1 rating, 2 shots
2nd Star: Luke Mittelstadt – Man, for a rookie who wasn’t with the team two months ago, Mittelstadt has come a long way. TOI isn’t available publicly but it felt like he was on the ice a ton in this one and really, he didn’t look out of place. It was telling that he was on the ice late with Adam Engstrom when the team needed a goal; that’s how much trust he has earned in a short period of time.
Stats: 0 points, +1 rating, 2 shots, 2 PIMS
3rd Star: Samuel Blais – The second half of the game wasn’t the greatest but Blais stood out positively for several shifts in the first half. I’d like to see what he could do over a full season with the Rocket next season. He may still want to play in the NHL but the fact he cleared waivers (in a roundabout way, at least) suggests that teams view him as a recall, not a regular. If that’s the case, staying at home and being a capable veteran for the Rocket might be the next best thing.
Stats: 2 assists, +1 rating, 1 shot, 2 PIMS