While the Montreal Canadiens players have been golfing for a while, their farm team players are in the thick of a third-round series as the Laval Rocket battles the Buffalo Sabres farm team, the Rochester Americans in a best-of-five series.
While Pascal Vincent’s men had taken a 1-0 series lead with a 5-4 win in the first game on Wednesday, they were dominated by their host on Friday night. Laval’s man-advantage, which was so efficient in the first match-up, generated two goals on three opportunities, but could not generate a single goal on Friday night.
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While the 5-3 scoreline, which included an empty netter for the Americans, might make it sound like a close game, it wasn’t. The hosts were dominant, putting 36 shots on net while Laval could only muster 19. Their opportunistic play was the sole reason why the score was tied at three all at the start of the third frame.
Jiri Kulich scored the game-winning goal after 12 minutes of play in the third, and Isak Rosen got his second of the night in an empty net with just nine seconds remaining. This was perhaps Jacob Fowler’s less convincing effort since joining the team, the four goals he allowed on 35 shots gave him a .886 save percentage on the night, but the loss shouldn’t be hung at his doorstep.
Given how tame Laval’s attack was, it would be unfair to identify him as the reason for the loss, although there was a shot from far out with no screen at all, which he should have stopped. The performance won’t do anything to end the goaltending debate, however, and I fully expect Cayden Primeau to be back in net for game three on Wednesday night.
It was a very hard night at the office for Oliver Kapanen and Joshua Roy, who both finished the night with a minus-three rating. The penalty kill fell apart, allowing two goals in four opportunities.
Alex Barre-Boulet led all Rocket players with four shots on goal, while Logan Mailloux and David Rainbacher had three, but no one particularly stood out for Vincent’s team. Luke Tuch, who was back in the lineup after missing the last game, got an assist on Lucas Condotta’s goal early in the second frame.
The series, which is now tied 1-1, will head to Laval, where the next two or three games will be played. While Vincent feels like the full four-day break is unnecessary, he fully intends to use it to fix what wasn’t working in game two. This means we should see a much better Laval side when the puck drops in game three.
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