Laval returned to action after another extended break and between shaking off some rust and a rapidly-growing injured list, they were unable to pick up a win in either of their games although they did manage to accomplish something notable despite the losses.
The Week That Was
May 4: Marlies 4, Rocket 3 (OT) – Laval was well-rested and it showed as they swarmed and attacked Toronto’s end all game long. Unfortunately for the Rocket, Joseph Woll had himself quite the game and made a career-high 57 saves. That was enough for the Marlies as Nic Petan was able to get the winner with just 11 seconds left in overtime. The good news is that the single point was enough to clinch the North Division title.
May 6: Senators 4, Rocket 3 – The defence has been sharp for most of this season but this wasn’t their best effort, nor was it Michael McNiven’s best showing. The end result was Belleville rolling off four goals after Jake Lucchini opened the scoring. Laval did well to make it interesting – Terrance Amorosa had his first career AHL goal and Lucchini had a second one (and had there been video review, a third) but that’s as close as they were able to get.
StatPack
Skaters:
| # | Player | GP | G | A | +/- | SOG | PIMS |
| 4 | Tobie Paquette-Bisson | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 3 | 0 |
| 6 | Corey Schueneman | 2 | 0 | 2 | -1 | 5 | 0 |
| 8 | Josh Brook | 2 | 0 | 1 | E | 7 | 4 |
| 11 | Rafael Harvey-Pinard | 2 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 2 | 0 |
| 12 | Lukas Vejdemo | 2 | 0 | 1 | E | 2 | 2 |
| 15 | Liam Hawel | 2 | 0 | 2 | E | 1 | 0 |
| 16 | Cam Hillis | 2 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 2 |
| 18 | Jan Mysak | 2 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 4 | 0 |
| 19 | Jordan Weal | 2 | 0 | 0 | -3 | 12 | 0 |
| 21 | Terrance Amorosa | 1 | 1 | 0 | E | 2 | 0 |
| 24 | Jake Lucchini | 2 | 2 | 1 | +2 | 11 | 0 |
| 25 | Arsen Khisamutdinov | 2 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 3 | 0 |
| 26 | Jesse Ylonen | 2 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 4 | 0 |
| 27 | Laurent Dauphin | 2 | 0 | 2 | +1 | 5 | 2 |
| 28 | Otto Leskinen | 2 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 2 | 0 |
| 29 | Gustav Olofsson | 2 | 0 | 1 | +2 | 5 | 0 |
| 34 | Brandon Baddock | 2 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 6 | 9 |
| 38 | Yannick Veilleux | 1 | 2 | 0 | -1 | 6 | 7 |
| 43 | Xavier Ouellet | 2 | 1 | 0 | +2 | 9 | 2 |
Goalies:
| # | Player | Record | GAA | SV% | SO |
| 3 | Michael McNiven | 0-1-1 | 3.90 | .862 | 0 |
Team Leaders:
Goals: Poehling/Veilleux (11)
Assists: Jordan Weal (16)
Points: Ryan Poehling (25)
+/-: Otto Leskinen (+15)
PIMS: Yannick Veilleux (57)
Shots: Jordan Weal (71)
News And Notes
– The injury bug hit hard during their break. Joseph Blandisi and Joel Teasdale are done for the year with knee injuries that require surgery while Michael Pezzetta’s season is over due to a facial fracture. With all of the injuries, that earned the three of them a recall to Montreal’s taxi squad with both teams running low on healthy forwards (teams can carry injured players on taxi squads, allowing them to carry less healthy ones there). On top of that, Ryan Poehling needs wrist surgery, ending his year as well.
– The forward group took a further hit when Alex Belzile was recalled to Montreal’s taxi squad although the back end got a boost with Xavier Ouellet coming back.
– Yannick Veilleux was suspended yet again, this time receiving one game for a boarding incident on Toronto’s Joseph Duszak. That was his third suspension of the season. Laval was only carrying 12 available forwards so they were forced to dress seven defencemen against Belleville.
Last Game’s Lines:
Lucchini – Dauphin – Hawel
Harvey-Pinard – Weal – Ylonen
Baddock – Vejdemo – Mysak
Khisamutdinov – Hillis
Schueneman – Brook
Paquette-Bisson – Leskinen
Ouellet – Olofsson
Amorosa
The Week Ahead
May 11/12/14/15/17: vs Toronto (first two away, last three at home) – Get ready for a long look at the Marlies as the original end-of-season schedule has been added to the postponed games, creating a five-game series in the process. Toronto is led offensively by former Hab Kenny Agostino who is averaging more than a point per game but won’t have Frederik Andersen in as he was recalled from his conditioning stint. The question becomes if the Habs will ask Carey Price (if he’s ready by the end of this stretch) to do like Andersen and accept a stint to get some game action in before the playoffs. Getting Cayden Primeau a game might not be a bad idea either to keep him fresh.
Final Thought
With the games meaningless in the standings having already clinched, I’m hoping to see Joel Bouchard lean on the youngsters a little more. The Habs have to decide on contracts for Rafael Harvey-Pinard and Jacob LeGuerrier in the next three weeks. I’d like to think Harvey-Pinard has done enough but he hasn’t signed yet so who knows? As for LeGuerrier, he has hardly played all season. Give him a real look over this stretch. They need to learn more about him than they do Terrance Amorosa or Tobie Paquette-Bisson (who has done well enough to earn an AHL deal for next season in my opinion). What. if anything, can they get from Arsen Khisamutdinov? He has been overmatched this year but with the pressure off, some more ice time wouldn’t hurt. They need to know if he’s still going to be viewed as a prospect or next year’s Hayden Verbeek. Cam Hillis could benefit from a bigger role down the stretch as well. Winning doesn’t matter over this upcoming stretch, development matters more. Here’s hoping the prospects get more playing time as a result.