Game Thoughts: Kapanen’s Late Goal Gives Laval the Opener in Rochester

After a lengthy break, Laval kicked off the North Division Final on Wednesday on the road in Rochester.  Despite featuring two top goalies, this was a back-and-forth high-scoring affair but Oliver Kapanen’s first goal late in the third broke a 4-4 tie to give the Rocket the opening game.

Going into the game, the big question for the Rocket was who would be between the pipes.  Pascal Vincent indicated before the series that both are expected to play at some point but for the opener, it was Cayden Primeau who got the nod.  The rest of the lines remained unchanged from the series-winning game over Cleveland last week and were as follows:

Farrell – Dauphin – Barre-Boulet
Gignac – Kapanen – Roy
Harvey-Pinard – Condotta – Simoneau
Davidson – Xhekaj – Beck

Engstrom – Reinbacher
Trudeau – Mailloux
Wotherspoon – Lindstrom

Game Thoughts

1) With Laval going a little more than a week between games, you’d think that was a long layoff.  And you’d be right.  But Rochester’s was actually much longer; they had been off since ending their first series on May 1st.  I wonder when the last time was that a series started where both teams were off for more than a week and one for nearly two weeks.  Talk about an early momentum killer for both sides.

2) It’s with that last thought that the decision to go back to Primeau made sense.  There’s the idea of riding the hot hand in the playoffs but after a week-plus layoff, there is no hot hand.  In that situation, you reset and go with your starter.  That’s Primeau.

3) Knowing how long the breaks were for both sides, I was hoping to see a largely uneventful first few minutes, allowing everyone to get on the ice and get a shift in quickly.  Laval had other plans.  Logan Mailloux took a needless tripping penalty barely a minute in although beyond a goal post that fooled the in-arena spotlight person and a good chance off a faceoff, the Rocket did well shorthanded.  Joshua Roy then doubled down on the dumb penalties with a cross-check away from the puck.  This time, they paid for it as Lukas Rousek found Kale Clague who one-timed a shot from the point past a screened Primeau.

4) A few minutes later, Clague took a bad penalty of his own, interfering with Alex Barre-Boulet (who did go down a little easy).  Laval’s power play got to work and like Rochester’s goal, it was a point shot getting through, this time from Mailloux who helped make up for his bad penalty earlier.  That goal seemed to settle the Rocket down and from that point on, they were by far the better team in the rest of the period.

5) Eventually, they were rewarded for their efforts with a fourth-line goal.  Owen Beck forced a turnover in the offensive zone and got a quick shot on Devon Levi.  Levi made the stop and Beck sent it cross-crease to Florian Xhekaj who was also stopped.  This time, the rebound kicked out to David Reinbacher who had pinched down and he rifled home a wrister.  Good offensive zone awareness from Reinbacher who doesn’t activate as much offensively as some of the other blueliners do but this was a timely one.

6) The second didn’t see that momentum carry over.  A little past the two-minute mark, Clague found Konsta Helenius in the slot for a quick one-timer that got through a screen and past Primeau.  Helenius is one of four recent first-round picks in Rochester’s lineup; he was the most recent as he was selected just last June.

7) It got worse.  Four and a half minutes later, Joshua Dunne skated in with speed.  His initial shot went nowhere but he bumped into Primeau, knocking him out of position.  Dunne corralled the rebound and tucked it home on a goal that probably wouldn’t have counted in the NHL as that probably would have been a challengeable goalie interference play.

8) Levi made two strong saves soon after that but as Laval was pushing, Xhekaj took a needless roughing penalty, jabbing at Levi when he had the puck covered and then tried to start a fight.  The Rocket killed that off and then got a man advantage of their own when the Americans were called for too many men.  Beck quickly set up Brandon Gignac in the slot for a quick snapper that beat Levi to tie the game.  That was Gignac’s first goal since November 22nd as he missed most of the year due to injury.

9) Once again, Laval managed to get a late goal, this time from the top line.  With a little over 40 seconds left, Sean Farrell’s first shot was stopped but he sent a quick pass out to Barre-Boulet who was crashing the net and he buried the rebound.  That line had been pretty quiet to that point so it was a good time for them to make an impact.

10) It wouldn’t be fair to say that Laval sat back on the lead but they didn’t have the same jump that they finished the second with.  Their best scoring chance in the first half was on a two-on-one that saw Barre-Boulet called for high-sticking.  More accurately, it was for stick-to-the-face as the player he hit was the defender sprawled out to stop the two-on-one; the total elevation of the stick might have been six inches.

11) Laval killed the penalty but eventually, the timidity came back to bite them when Isak Rosen squeaked one through Primeau that the netminder would love to have back.  Seconds later, Vsevelod Komarov denied Oliver Kapanen on an empty net after he beat Levi to a loose puck.  Kapanen wouldn’t be denied, however.  With a little under five minutes left, he tipped a Mailloux point shot home for the eventual winner.  He has played well in his first three AHL games and it was good to see him rewarded.

12) Full marks to the Rocket for shutting things down after that, aside from one sequence in the dying seconds.  They kept up some pressure in the Rochester end late, delaying Levi’s exit.  After a sluggish start to the third, they finished much stronger to earn the win.

HW Habs 3 Stars

1st Star: David Reinbacher – Logan Mailloux had more flashy plays.  Adam Engstrom was more noticeable with his skating.  But in terms of all-around solid and steady play, Reinbacher stood out the most.  Considering he hasn’t played 30 career games yet at the AHL level, getting these extra game reps is very important and his poise is very encouraging.  He made a great read on his goal to jump down low as well.

Stats: 1 goal, even rating, 3 shots, 0 PIMS

2nd Star: Oliver Kapanen – I touched on this above but he has fit in quite well since being sent down following Montreal’s exit from the playoffs (despite jumping in without any practice time to start).  After being more of a role player with the Habs, Kapanen is getting a chance to show his full game, one that has some strong offensive instincts.  He was finally rewarded for his efforts with his winner in the third.

Stats: 1 goal, 1 assist, even rating, 3 shots, 0 PIMS

3rd Star: Owen Beck – Ice time isn’t publicly available but I don’t think he played a ton, even after Xavier Simoneau left in the second and didn’t return, resulting in the fourth line getting spot duty on the third.  But when Beck was out there, a lot of good things happened while he had a hand in both goals.  That’s a good way to make the most of limited minutes.

Stats: 2 assists, even rating, 2 shots, 0 PIMS