Game Thoughts: Late Penalty Proves Costly as Rochester Ties Series
Following an eventful win in Wednesday’s series opener, Laval looked to make it two straight road wins to start the series on Friday. However, a late power play goal from the Americans was the difference-maker as Rochester picked up the 5-3 win.
Pascal Vincent made a pair of lineup changes for this one, one by choice and one by necessity. The choice was to go back to Jacob Fowler in goal after going with Cayden Primeau in the opener. Meanwhile, with Xavier Simoneau leaving Wednesday’s game early due to injury, Luke Tuch took his place in the lineup, being deployed in the fourth-line spot he spent a lot of the season in. The rest of the team lined up as follows:
Farrell – Dauphin – Barre-Boulet
Gignac – Kapanen – Roy
Harvey-Pinard – Condotta – Beck
Davidson – Xhekaj – Tuch
Engstrom – Reinbacher
Trudeau – Mailloux
Wotherspoon – Lindstrom
Game Thoughts
1) A pregame thought that wasn’t changed by the outcome of the game. I don’t think it would have mattered if Primeau had a shutout in the opener, this was going to be Fowler’s game in order to keep both of them game-ready. And there wasn’t much of a risk of losing the ‘hot hand’ in the sense that even had Fowler played the opener, he would have gone more than a week between games, meaning that any momentum from his solid play against Cleveland would have been lost anyway. I don’t think two extra days off after being off for seven already led to Fowler allowing four goals in this one.
2) Laval started much more disciplined this time and drew the first penalty of the game after taking two quick ones to start on Wednesday. Early on, I really liked Joshua Roy’s net drive, allowing him to get a decent initial shot off plus a good rebound chance. After a fairly quiet first game compared to his linemates, this was a nice sign.
3) Adam Engstrom took a needless cross-checking penalty a couple of minutes later and once again, it was former Hab Kale Clague who made them pay with a blast from the point just six seconds in. Clague then mouthed off to Laval’s bench and in general, he was quite animated in this game. I didn’t like the shift after the goal, one that saw Florian Xhekaj give the Americans another power play for roughing. I know he’s an energy player but he needs to know there are particularly bad times to take penalties and when it might not be worth trying to start something after a whistle. This was one of those times but Laval did kill off the penalty.
4) After another power play yielded little in the way of chances, Laval’s top line was able to get on the board in the back half of the frame. Alex Barre-Boulet got a weak shot off that Laurent Dauphin was able to get a piece of. Devon Levi made the stop but the rebounded banked off Konsta Helenius and in. Not exactly how they drew it up but the Rocket surely felt fortunate to be tied after a rough start to their game overall.
5) The tie didn’t last long, however. On the next shift, Ryan Johnson’s point shot was tipped by Isak Rosen and in. Fowler was square to the initial shot but the tip was in so tight that he wasn’t able to adjust in time.
6) Vincent made an adjustment heading to the second, flipping Beck and Tuch. That paid early dividends. After Jiri Kulich missed the net on a two-on-none, Laval was able to tie it up a couple of minutes later. Tuch deflected Zach Metsa’s breakout pass and the puck bounced to the slot. Lucas Condotta was right there to collect it and made a quick move to beat Levi to tie it up. Two good bounces, two goals for the Rocket.
7) They got another one, sort of. With a little under seven minutes left, Beck took a shot from the slot and the puck bounced to Jared Davidson on the side wall. He got off a weak floater that managed to elude Levi who wasn’t in a great spot to try to stop the puck. Laval still wasn’t playing all that well but somehow had the lead.
8) That goal seemed to get Rochester going even more. For the rest of the period, they were all over the Rocket. Eventually, they were able to tie it up with Lukas Rousek burying a rebound with 40 seconds left in the period. While it was disappointing to cough one up late, I’m sure the coaching staff had to be pleased about being tied heading to the third in a game where the home side was the much better team to that point.
9) I want to highlight a big defensive play from David Reinbacher early in the third. A shot beat Fowler and was heading in but Reinbacher was able to pull it off the goal line. He had a bit of a quiet game overall (and really struggled on the second power play unit) but that was a huge stop.
10) Back in the first period, Xhekaj took a bad penalty. Just past the midway mark of the third, he took an even worse one, hitting Levi for a goalie interference call. This time, they paid for it as Rousek set up Kulich for a hard one-timer from the point that flew past Fowler to give the Amerks the lead. Part of the growing pains is knowing when not to push your luck physically, he’s still working on that.
11) After killing off a late high-sticking penalty from Logan Mailloux (another avoidable one), Laval wasn’t able to muster up too much in terms of trying to tie it up. Eventually, Rochester came out with a two-on-one with Rosen burying the winner. This was far from Laval’s best effort in the playoffs and full credit to the Americans, who were the more desperate team. Still, it’s now a best two-of-three series with all three games at home. That’s not a bad spot to be in at all.
HW Habs 3 Stars
1st Star: Alex Barre-Boulet – Laval’s top line was held quiet for good chunks of the game but there were a few shifts that saw them generate a sustained attack. Barre-Boulet was generally the driver of those shifts, even if the line’s only goal came from Laurent Dauphin. I’d like to see that line do better next game with more favourable matchups but it was a solid effort from Laval’s leading scorer during the season.
Stats: 1 assist, even rating, 4 shots, 0 PIMS
2nd Star: Lucas Condotta – He scored a big goal to tie the game in the second and played with some controlled physicality. His younger teammates want to take note of that. Condotta wasn’t flashy but this is the type of performance that can make him an impactful player even though he’s lower in the lineup than he was for most of the season.
Stats: 1 goal, +1 rating, 1 shot, 0 PIMS
3rd Star: Jared Davidson – I thought he had a bit of a quiet first game given that his style of play and grit lend itself well to a physical series as this has been. But when Beck was moved back to that line, the line played better and Davidson started to stand out a bit more. His goal is what ultimately landed him here over a few other players and it was good to see him take a small step in the right direction.
Stats: 1 goal, +1 rating, 1 shot, 0 PIMS