Rocket Weekly: Up To First

It was a light week on the schedule for Laval who only played twice, the second game kicking off a four-game road trip.  However, they put forth a pair of strong efforts to take both games and move into a share of first place in the division.

The Week That Was

Nov. 7: Laval 4, Hartford 2 – The Rocket trailed for a good chunk of this one, including during a first period that saw them struggle considerably.  However, Joshua Roy tied it up in the opening minute of the third period, setting the stage for Alex Belzile’s power play goal with around six minutes left to stand as the winner, giving him some revenge against his former team.

Nov. 9: Laval 3, Belleville 2 – This time, Laval got off to a great start, peppering Hunter Shepard with 23 shots in the first period.  Unfortunately, only one went in and the Sens scored as well, then added one early in the second to take the lead.  But Jared Davidson’s hot streak continued as he tied it midway through the second while Laurent Dauphin got the winner late in the third, giving the Rocket the win against a team that has given them fits.

StatPack

Skaters:

Goalies:

Team Leaders:

Goals: Jared Davidson (9)
Assists: Sean Farrell (8)
Points: Laurent Dauphin (14)
+/-: Laurent Dauphin (+13)
PIMS: Lucas Condotta (26)
Shots: Laurent Dauphin (42)

News and Notes

– After being sent to ECHL Trois-Rivieres, defenceman Wyatte Wylie requested and was granted his release.  He has yet to sign somewhere else.

– Laval converted Josiah Didier’s tryout to a full-season one-way deal so the veteran blueliner will be sticking around as a depth option.

– Jared Davidson’s career-best goal streak is up to six straight games after scoring in both contests last week.

Last Game’s Lines:

Farrell – Dauphin – Roy
Davidson – Belzile – Mesar
Simoneau – Condotta – Beck
Tuch – Xhekaj – Thorpe

Trudeau – Engstrom
Paquette-Bisson – Reinbacher
Del Gaizo  – Clurman

The Week Ahead

Wednesday at Springfield – The road trip continues with a rare morning game (a 10:35 AM ET start) against the Thunderbirds.  Springfield has struggled mightily this season, winning just once in 11 games and have allowed the most goals in the league.  Offensively, they’re led by Matt Luff and Nikita Alexandrov while they recently moved their top-scoring defenceman in a trade with Washington; that blueliner was former Hab Corey Schueneman.

Saturday at Hartford – The Wolf Pack won’t have to wait long to get their chance at revenge after Laval beat them back on Friday.  However, they might not have top scorer Gabriel Perreault available as the Rangers recently recalled him in an effort to help jumpstart their sputtering offence.  After a decent start to their season, they’ve now lost four straight.

Sunday at Providence – A day after the Habs and Bruins battle, their farm teams will get the spotlight.  They’re at the opposite end of the spectrum as Springfield having lost just once in 11 games to sit atop the Eastern Conference.  Their top four fowards are all averaging a point per game or more, headlined by Riley Tufte.  One of their better forwards is former Marlie Alex Steeves but he’s now up with Boston, covering for some of their injured forwards.

Final Thought

It hasn’t been a great start to the season for Florian Xhekaj.  After being a key secondary scorer in the second half of last season, he has managed just a goal and two assists through 12 games.  While that’s disappointing, I’m not sure it rises to the level of concerning just yet.

Last season, Xhekaj scored on 25.3% of his shots.  This is inherently unsustainable.  Even the best selective shooters rarely touch 20% let alone 25%; there was bound to be some regression.  And with the role he has (typically on the fourth line), scoring opportunities aren’t going to be plentiful.  A drop in goals and points would be understandable and perhaps not even worrisome with the right context.

Speaking of that context, here’s another Xhekaj stat.  Through 12 games, he has four minor penalties.  It would be safe to say that he has been asked to concentrate more on staying out of the box given his penchant for taking untimely penalties and a reputation that had him racking up misconducts.  That’s something you want to get under control before getting to the NHL.  I think Xhekaj is trying to find that balance between being physical and aggressive while dialing it down at the same time.  It’s something his brother has been trying to do for a while now with the Habs.

With that in mind, it’s not a big surprise to see him underachieving out of the gate.  When you’re trying to change (or manage) the way you play, there are bound to be some moments of hesitation or uncertainty and that’s going to result in some quieter performances.  It wouldn’t surprise me if that continues for a little while until this style becomes more second nature.  At that point, I think we’ll see an improved version of Xhekaj but it might take a couple more months before that happens with any sort of consistency.  Some patience is going to be required here.