Laval’s road trip ended with a pair of games. The first started in disastrous form before the Rocket pulled off a huge comeback and in the second, some strong goaltending helped them extend their winning streak to five.
The Week That Was
Oct. 16: Rocket 5, Senators 4 (OT) – No matter what the year, Belleville tends to be a thorn in Laval’s side. It looked like that streak would continue as the Senators jumped out to a 4-0 lead barely five minutes into the second period. But, as the Habs did early in the season in Pittsburgh, the Rocket stormed back to tie the game with Filip Mesar getting the equalizer with under three minutes left. Then, on a late power play in overtime, Luke Mittelstadt one-timed home the winner for a surprising two points in the standings.
Oct. 17: Rocket 4, Comets 0 – Kevin Mandolese made his first start for the Rocket and it turned out to be the right decision as he stopped all 25 Utica shots. Meanwhile, special teams played a big role for Laval in this one as they scored two power play goals (including one from Mittelstadt) as well as a late shorthanded marker. His goal came when Comets goalie Jakub Malek took two separate penalties in nine seconds, both for separate stick infractions which is something you don’t see every day. Utica was the last team that hadn’t lost in regulation heading into this one but that’s no longer the case now.
StatPack
Skaters:
| # | Player | GP | G | A | +/- | SOG | PIMS |
| 3 | Luke Mittelstadt | 2 | 2 | 4 | +1 | 4 | 2 |
| 4 | Ethan Samson | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 4 |
| 6 | Brett Berard | 2 | 1 | 0 | -1 | 6 | 2 |
| 12 | Owen Protz | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 3 | 2 |
| 19 | Dillan Bentley | 2 | 0 | 2 | E | 4 | 0 |
| 20 | Josh Nadeau | 2 | 1 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 2 |
| 22 | Alex Belzile | 2 | 0 | 1 | E | 7 | 2 |
| 24 | Israel Mianscum | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | Braden Hache | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 4 | 2 |
| 27 | Laurent Dauphin | 2 | 0 | 2 | +1 | 4 | 2 |
| 36 | Sasha Pastujov | 2 | 1 | 2 | E | 7 | 0 |
| 41 | Hunter McKown | 2 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 1 | 0 |
| 44 | Reilly Walsh | 2 | 1 | 2 | +1 | 4 | 0 |
| 48 | Filip Mesar | 2 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 4 | 2 |
| 49 | Jared Davidson | 2 | 0 | 2 | +1 | 1 | 2 |
| 55 | Maksymilian Szuber | 2 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 5 | 2 |
| 81 | Xavier Simoneau | 2 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 4 | 0 |
| 88 | Samuel Poulin | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 0 |
Goalies:
| # | Player | Record | GAA | SV% | SO |
| 31 | Kevin Mandolese | 1-0-0 | 0.00 | 1.000 | 1 |
| 34 | Kaapo Kahkonen | 1-0-0 | 3.71 | .840 | 0 |
Team Leaders:
Goals: Mittelstadt/Pastujov (4)
Assists: Dauphin/Mittelstadt (9)
Points: Luke Mittelstadt (13)
+/-: Laurent Dauphin (+6)
PIMS: Xavier Simoneau (16)
Shots: Sasha Pastujov (23)
News and Notes
– Owen Beck and David Reinbacher were both recalled to the Habs to cover for injuries with the Canadiens.
– In a corresponding move, winger Alexander Legkov was recalled from ECHL Trois-Rivieres but served as a healthy scratch for both games.
– Luke Mittelstadt now leads all AHL players in points with 13.
– With his goal against Belleville, Hunter McKown snapped a 21-game goalless drought dating back to last season with Cleveland.
Last Game’s Lines:
Pastujov – Dauphin – Belzile
Berard – Poulin – Mesar
Simoneau – Bentley – Nadeau
Mianscum – McKown – Davidson
Mittelstadt – Szuber
Hache – Walsh
Protz – Samson
The Week Ahead
Wednesday vs Syracuse – Laval started the season hosting the Crunch twice before going on a two-week road trip only to return home and play the Crunch again. A bit of strange scheduling there. Syracuse has won three of six to start the season but are only averaging a little over two goals per game early on. Veteran Nick Abruzzese leads the way offensively early on while rookie Sam O’Reilly is off to a quiet start with just two points in his first six games, tying him with former Hab defenceman Jarred Tinordi.
Friday/Saturday vs Hamilton – In their first season since moving from Bridgeport, the farm team of the Islanders is off to a rough start with just one win in six games thus far. They’re scoring at a decent clip but are allowing more than four goals per night. They have three forwards at a point per game or better while rookie Cole Eiserman is close to that mark as well. But veteran goalie Vitek Vanecek is struggling out of the gate which has hindered them.
Final Thought
It’s probably too early to write this and I’m pretty sure I wrote something similar early on last year but it’s at least a little encouraging to see Filip Mesar get off to a better start this season. There’s no denying he has legitimate top-six skill to have some success at that end in the AHL. It’s the struggles in the other facets of the game that didn’t earn him a big leash with former bench boss Pascal Vincent.
It’s unclear if Daniel Jacob will give him a much longer one but I don’t remember there being too many games that Mesar was getting top-six ice time in last season. Yes, some of that is due to injuries and recalls but with four points in six games, he has done enough to warrant a longer look.
Is this the start of a big push to make a case to be up with the Habs at some point? Probably not. But if he can rebuild some value this year, that would still be a good outcome for him. Would that help his trade value? Or would it help his value if he looks to go back overseas as a restricted free agent? Everything is on the table six games in but so far, so good for his start to the season.