Rocket Weekly: Some Mid-Month Struggles

Laval’s strong start to the season wasn’t believed to be sustainable and this past week showed that they’re starting to struggle, particularly their top forwards who were held off the scoresheet.  However, an unlikely breakout game from the fourth line helped end the week on a winning note.

The Week That Was

Dec. 11: Rochester 3, Laval 1 – While Laval has had success against Rochester early on this season, they also struggled in those games.  That’s a pattern that’s hard to repeat and this time, the Rocket came up short.  Jared Davidson opened up the scoring but the Amerks scored three unanswered in the second and took control from there.

Dec. 13: Hartford 4, Laval 2 – Things didn’t get off to a good start for the Rocket as Connor Hughes allowed three goals on 11 shots in the first 31 minutes of the game, leading to an early hook.  To their credit, that seemed to wake Laval up as they were much better in the second half and made it interesting in the third period, punctuated by Sean Farrell’s first of the season making it a one-goal contest.  But that’s as close as they could get with the Wolf Pack adding a late empty-netter.

Dec. 14: Laval 6, Bridgeport 2 – This was not a particularly good game for the Rocket in the first 40 minutes.  Despite playing one of the weakest teams in the league, they couldn’t muster up much.  But the proverbial switch was flipped in the third with five goals while outshooting the Islanders 16-1.  Florian Xhekaj had a breakout game with three goals and two assists, doubling his point total in the process.

StatPack

Skaters:

Goalies:

Team Leaders:

Goals: Jared Davidson (12)
Assists: Barre-Boulet/Beck (13)
Points: Owen Beck (20)
+/-: Jared Davidson (+11)
PIMS: Florian Xhekaj (39)
Shots: Joshua Roy (82)

News and Notes

– Jakub Dobes remains listed as day-to-day and didn’t dress for any of the games.  Hunter Jones was recalled from ECHL Trois-Rivieres, giving Laval three healthy netminders on the active roster.

– Defenceman Josh Jacobs sustained an undisclosed injury against Hartford and did not suit up against Bridgeport.  There’s no timeline for how long he might be out for.

– Logan Mailloux’s assist against Bridgeport snapped a seven-game pointless drought.

Last Game’s Lines

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

Hoefenmayer – Lindstrom
Trudeau – Engstrom
Wotherspoon – Mailloux
Hayes

The Week Ahead

Friday vs Belleville – The Sens may sit in fifth in the division but with several games in hand on most teams, they could be much higher depending on how those play out.  They recently welcomed back starting goaltender Mads Sogaard which should help shore things up on that front.  Jeremy Davies leads the way offensively with 18 points while Tyler Boucher, only three years removed from being the tenth-overall pick, has just one goal (and zero assists) in 20 games so far this season.

Sunday vs Springfield – While the Thunderbirds are only holding down a play-in spot right now, they are the hottest team in the league in recent weeks.  Laval might catch a break as Dalibor Dvorsky, Springfield’s top scorer, might be loaned out for the World Juniors by the time this game is played.  A pair of former Habs play prominent roles for them as Matthew Peca is one of their top forwards while Corey Schueneman is among their more important blueliners.

Final Thought

With Laval having lost more than they’ve won over the past ten games, some are wondering what’s happening.  For starters, the Rocket played a bit over their heads early on in the season so they were bound to eventually take a step back.  Not having high-end goaltending pretty much every night can also result in some extra losses and they’ve been dealing with that.

But the main reason for the recent struggles I think comes from the offence.  Alex Barre-Boulet was brought in to be a catalyst for the attack but he hasn’t scored in seven straight and has just three assists over that span.  This is from a player who was contending for the AHL scoring title not long ago.  Joshua Roy only has three points in his last six games so he has cooled off a bit as well.  Meanwhile, you might have caught Logan Mailloux snapping a notable pointless drought earlier as well. 

Not to single out those three players – it’s not all on them, of course – but Laval’s attack has cooled off a bit as of late and it’s not as if they were an offensive juggernaut before then.  Granted, that’s not to be unexpected from a team with a younger core group than most but it means there are going to be more ebbs and flows as a result.  Right now, they’re in a downturn but if their key scorers get back to form, they can turn things around relatively quickly.  Perhaps not to being first in the AHL again but enough to assuage any concerns about them perhaps peaking too soon.