Rocket Weekly: Seven Straight Wins for Laval

While the Habs have struggled lately, the same can’t be said for their farm team.  Laval continued its hot stretch, winning three more games to extend the franchise-record streak to seven straight despite some more key players getting injured.

The Week That Was

Oct. 30: Laval 3, Utica 2 – It’s not often teams play each other three straight times but that’s what happened here and once again, it was a one-goal affair.  It was some of the ‘supporting cast’ forwards who led the way in this one with Riley Kidney picking up his first of the season while Jared Davidson added one late in the second.  That looked to be enough for the win with Florian Xhekaj adding an empty-netter, one that ultimately stood as the winner with Utica scoring with just four seconds remaining.

Nov. 1: Laval 2, Providence 1 – Usually in stretches like this, the winning team has a game or two that qualify as a clunker, so to speak.  This was one of those games.  Especially through the first two periods, the Rocket couldn’t muster up much of anything offensively but were still tied.  That paved the way for Owen Beck to score the shorthanded winner early in the third while Connor Hughes was sharp between the pipes.

Nov. 2: Laval 6, Providence 3 – This game was a bit more free-flowing which is generally the opposite of how back-to-backs work.  Vincent Arseneau scored late in the first, banking a pass off a defender and in to keep it tied heading to the second where the key sophomores took over from there.  Logan Mailloux and Joshua Roy (two goals) scored in the second, giving the Rocket a lead they didn’t relinquish from there.

StatPack

Skaters:

Goalies:

Team Leaders:

Goals: Joshua Roy (7)
Assists: Barre-Boulet/Beck/Mailloux (6)
Points: Joshua Roy (10)
+/-: 4 tied with (+6)
PIMS: Luke Tuch (22)
Shots: Joshua Roy (35)

News and Notes

– While Jakub Dobes stayed in for the full game against Utica, he was diagnosed with a lower-body injury the next day and is listed as day-to-day.  Goalie Luke Cavallin was recalled from Trois-Rivieres (ECHL) in a corresponding move.

– Meanwhile, Alex Barre-Boulet missed the Providence games with an upper-body injury and is listed as day-to-day.  As for Jared Davidson, he missed the final game of the week with a lower-body injury.  The team said he’d need further medical evaluation which implies he might be out a bit longer.

– There was some good news on the injury front, however, as Laurent Dauphin and Vincent Arseneau returned from their respective ailments, giving Laval 12 healthy forwards for each game.

– With Logan Mailloux being sent down by the Habs, Laval, in turn, sent Chris Jandric down to Trois-Rivieres.

– Speaking of Mailloux, despite not playing in the Utica game, he was named Player of the Week in the AHL.

Last Game’s Lines

Kidney – Gignac – Roy
Farrell – Condotta – Simoneau
Dauphin – Beck – Beaucage
Arseneau – Xhekaj – Tuch

Wotherspoon – Mailloux
Trudeau – Jacobs
Hayes – Engstrom

The Week Ahead

Friday/Saturday: at Belleville: The Sens are off to a decent start to their season, notching points in seven of their first eight games (though three of those were shootout losses).  They’re currently without starting goalie Mads Sogaard who was injured in their second game of the year and is set to be out a little longer.  Offensively, Cole Reinhardt leads the way despite being up with Ottawa for three of their eight games.  In the other five, he already has ten points.

Final Thought

Heading into the season, I was curious to see how Florian Xhekaj was going to fare early on.  I wasn’t worried about how he’d handle things physically.  After all, he’s a pretty tough customer himself.  But it’s not as if he had shown in the OHL that he had nothing left to learn at that level; he only averaged just over a point per game last year, aided by an above-average shooting percentage.  Players with those numbers don’t often play a big role in the minors so a slow start could have plausibly seen him sent back for his overage year.

I don’t think that’s happening now.  Injuries aside, Pascal Vincent has Xhekaj in a role that allows him to ease into things somewhat while allowing him to play to his strengths.  He’s not just surviving in that role but rather is making a positive difference while even helping out on the penalty kill and playing in late-game defensive situations.  It’s great to see.

What’s even better is Xhekaj is playing the type of role he’d probably have in Montreal.  If you forecast out the lineup down the road, it’s not implausible to think that Xhekaj (and Luke Tuch) are on the fourth line, playing as they are now with the Rocket.  Teams need those players to not just play at five-on-five so his early penalty killing success will only help his cause.  It might not be a big role for him with the Habs down the road but he’s already showing that he can do well in that same role in Laval in his rookie season.  That’s certainly something to be encouraged about.