HabsWorld.net --
Laval had a tough week ahead of them with three matchups against two of the top teams in the conference. While it didn’t start off the greatest, they still came out with five of six points along with a couple of new players.
The Week That Was
March 6: Syracuse 3, Laval 2 (OT) – Early in the game, it looked as if Laval was going to get run out of the rink. Aside from Jakub Dobes, they were largely a no-show. But he held down the fort early, allowing the Rocket to take the lead with a pair of goals in the second. Unfortunately, Gage Concalves’ second of the game tied it early in the third while the Crunch potted the winner late in overtime. Considering they held the lead, losing the second point stings but with how badly they played early on, they fact they got something out of it was encouraging.
March 8: Laval 4, Cleveland 1 – The top team in the North, the Monsters weren’t flying on all cylinders offensively thanks to another strong outing from Dobes and the fact their top scorer (Trey Fix-Wolansky) was up with Columbus. A pair of rookies got the Rocket on the board in the second with goals from Logan Mailloux and Jared Davidson while Brandon Gignac snapped his mini slump early in the third to give Laval a much-needed insurance marker and they were able to hold on from there.
March 9: Laval 5, Cleveland 2 – Gignac was the sparkplug early on, notching a shorthanded marker while Xavier Simoneau added a power play tally in the final minute to tie it up after 20 minutes. Kasimir Kaskisuo shut the door from there while the rookies took care of the rest; Sean Farrell scored on the opening shift of the second while Mailloux added his second in as many games in the third as the insurance tally.
StatPack
Skaters:
| # | Player | GP | G | A | +/- | SOG | PIMS |
| 4 | Tobie Bisson | 3 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 2 | 11 |
| 12 | Filip Cederqvist | 3 | 0 | 0 | E | 8 | 0 |
| 14 | Jan Mysak | 1 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 0 |
| 15 | Sean Farrell | 3 | 1 | 2 | +1 | 7 | 2 |
| 17 | Nathan Legare | 1 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 5 |
| 19 | Emil Heineman | 3 | 0 | 1 | +4 | 9 | 2 |
| 20 | Gabriel Bourque | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 1 | 0 |
| 21 | Riley Kidney | 2 | 0 | 1 | +2 | 2 | 0 |
| 24 | Logan Mailloux | 3 | 2 | 1 | +2 | 3 | 0 |
| 27 | Mitchell Stephens | 3 | 1 | 0 | E | 5 | 0 |
| 28 | Lias Andersson | 2 | 1 | 2 | +2 | 5 | 2 |
| 29 | Mattias Norlinder | 3 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 1 | 0 |
| 34 | Jacob Perreault | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 4 |
| 37 | Brandon Gignac | 3 | 2 | 5 | +6 | 8 | 2 |
| 42 | Lucas Condotta | 3 | 0 | 0 | E | 2 | 0 |
| 44 | Olivier Galipeau | 3 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 1 | 2 |
| 49 | Jared Davidson | 3 | 1 | 1 | E | 6 | 0 |
| 52 | Justin Barron | 3 | 0 | 0 | +3 | 7 | 2 |
| 61 | Philippe Maillet | 3 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 7 | 2 |
| 81 | Xavier Simoneau | 3 | 1 | 1 | E | 5 | 6 |
| 84 | William Trudeau | 3 | 1 | 1 | +2 | 3 | 4 |
Goalies:
| # | Player | Record | GAA | SV% | SO |
| 71 | Jakub Dobes | 1-0-1 | 1.93 | .937 | 0 |
| 73 | Kasimir Kaskisuo | 1-0-0 | 2.00 | .933 | 0 |
Team Leaders:
Goals: Anderson/Gignac/Maillet (16)
Assists: Brandon Gignac (34)
Points: Brandon Gignac (50)
+/-: Olivier Galipeau (+15)
PIMS: Xavier Simoneau (111)
Shots: Logan Mailloux (130)
News and Notes
– Lias Andersson returned to the lineup after missing the Syracuse game due to a one-game suspension.
– Kasimir Kaskisuo returned from his lower-body injury, resulting in Strauss Mann being sent back to ECHL Trois-Rivieres. However, Mann has since been recalled.
– The Habs made a pair of trades, sending Jan Mysak to Anaheim for Jacob Perreault while Nathan Legare went to New Jersey for Arnaud Durandeau. More on those trades shortly.
– Habs assistant GM John Sedgwick had the role of GM for Laval added to his duties.
Last Game’s Lines:
Farrell – Gignac – Heineman
Andersson – Maillet – Simoneau
Davidson – Stephens – Perreault
Cederqvist – Condotta – Bourque
Trudeau – Mailloux
Paquette-Bisson – Barron
Norlinder – Galipeau
The Week Ahead
Wednesday/Friday: vs Bridgeport – The good news is that the Islanders are the weakest team in the conference. The bad news is that they’ve actually started to turn it around in recent weeks, including a win over Laval last month. Ruslan Ishkakov continues to lead the way offensively up front but on the back end, they’ve combined for just 16 goals. For context, Logan Mailloux has 13 on his own.
Sunday: at Toronto – It wasn’t too long ago that the Marlies were in a top-three spot to avoid the play-in round but now they’re the team Laval is trying to catch to get into that best-of-three series. They feature a balanced attack featuring a trio of veterans including former Habs Joseph Blandisi and Logan Shaw and have four players altogether with at least 20 goals. Laval is still looking for its first player to get there.
Final Thought
The Habs made a pair of trades that affected Laval in recent days. From the outside, it’s fair to interpret that Montreal’s GM made one of them and Laval’s made the other.
In the Jan Mysak-Jacob Perreault swap, the Habs are taking a flyer on Perreault being able to become more of the offensive threat he was in junior. It’s far from a guarantee to work given his recent plateau in his development but when you’re moving a prospect who’s far from his peak in value, you’re not going to get a sure thing. I don’t think Mysak got a fair shake with the Rocket this season as he was put into a fourth-line role and given little opportunity to move up the lineup even when his performance warranted it. But Montreal has ample bottom-six prospects so they decided the risk with adding more of a boom or bust player was worth it. I’d say this was a move made by Kent Hughes in consultation with the scouting staff since it involves players that could still have legitimate NHL aspirations.
The same can’t be said for the second trade which saw Nathan Legare moved for Arnaud Durandeau. While Legare is still on his entry-level deal, he didn’t play well in Pittsburgh’s system and didn’t fare much better in Montreal’s. He was basically approaching non-prospect status. That’s where Durandeau already is. He had a strong AHL season last year but is now with his third organization of the season and as a VI-eligible UFA, it could be a fourth soon enough. This is the type of swap where teams generally let their AHL GMs take the lead. If it’s determined that you’re not keeping the guy you have (Legare) and that player has zero real value league-wide, then let new GM John Sedgwick see if he can identify someone who better fits this roster. If Durandeau can simply crack the all-healthy lineup on a regular basis, this move is a small step in the right direction.
