Rocket Weekly: Rebounding on the Road

While Laval kept losing players throughout the week, it didn’t seem to matter much as they picked up a pair of key victories including one over one of the top teams in the AHL to close a back-to-back road set.

The Week That Was

Nov. 12: Springfield 3, Laval 1 – In a rare morning game, both teams came out with the type of energy that is expected from players who are usually just starting their morning skate around this time.  The level of play picked up – especially in the third – but the Rocket couldn’t muster up much beyond Luke Tuch’s first goal of the season in the back half of the third period.  That wasn’t enough as the Rocket started the week with a loss.

Nov. 15: Laval 5, Hartford 2 – In this game, special teams play was a big factor with the teams combining for five goals with the man advantage.  Noted Rocket killer Trey Fix-Wolansky had one for the Wolf Pack to tie the game in the third but power play markers from Lucas Condotta and Alex Belzile gave Laval a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.  For good measure, Condotta added a shorthanded empty-netter.

Nov. 16: Laval 2, Providence 0 – In a back-to-back with travel in less than 24 hours with a weakened roster against the top team in the East, the stage was set for an off game.  It didn’t come.  Jacob Fowler was sharp in goal, out-dueling Mikey DiPietro.  Meanwhile, Joe Dunlap, just recalled to the roster, scored his first career AHL goal in the second period and that held up as the winner with Laurent Dauphin adding the empty netter.

StatPack

Skaters:

Goalies:

Team Leaders:

Goals: Dauphin/Davidson (9)
Assists: Sean Farrell (9)
Points: Laurent Dauphin (16)
+/-: Laurent Dauphin (+13)
PIMS: Florian Xhekaj (42)
Shots: Laurent Dauphin (46)

News and Notes

– Up front, Laval’s forward group was weakened by the recalls of Jared Davidson and Joshua Roy to Montreal.  As a result, Joe Dunlap, Mark Estapa, and Will Dineen were recalled from ECHL Trois-Rivieres.

– Vincent Arseneau will miss up to five weeks due to a lower-body injury.

– Marc Del Gaizo was briefly recalled as well but was subsequently sent back down.

Last Game’s Lines:

Xhekaj – Dauphin – Belzile
Farrell – Beck – Mesar
Simoneau – Condotta – Thorpe
Tuch – Dineen – Dunlap

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

The Week Ahead

Wednesday vs Syracuse – With Tampa Bay dealing with a rash of injuries at the moment, this isn’t necessarily a bad time to be facing them.  The Crunch have a lot of newcomers making a big impact early on with Jakob Pelletier averaging more than a point per game and Nick Abruzzese sitting third in scoring.  Wojciech Stachowiak is another newcomer to keep an eye on, more of an international veteran who made a decent push for a roster spot with Tampa Bay in training camp.

Friday/Saturday vs Belleville – Similar to Syracuse, Laval might be catching the Sens at the right time as injuries have led to some recent recalls including Stephen Halliday, their leading scorer.  They’re also missing Mads Sogaard, their usual starter, due to injury.  Rookie Carter Yakemchuk is off to a solid start in his first professional season, leading all Belleville defencemen with nine points in 15 games.

Final Thought

Three weeks into his season, David Reinbacher has done okay but isn’t standing out much.  For some, this is cause for concern but for others, not a big deal at this point.  Put me in the latter category.

Generally speaking, defencemen take a lot longer than forwards to develop.  (Yes, Lane Hutson is a notable exception.)  But unlike Hutson, Reinbacher is still filling out his frame and is coming off a couple of years with serious injuries.  While they’re not the same type of blueliners, it’s the same argument that came up with Logan Mailloux in terms of missing so many games that he’s further behind than expected in his development.

There’s also the fact that Reinbacher just turned 21.  It feels like he has been around for a while but this is the first season of his entry-level contract.  It’s quite normal for young blueliners to have a full season or even two in the minors.  We’re only a few weeks into his first full AHL campaign.  There’s plenty of runway for things to come around.  It might take 25 games, or 50, or 150.  All of those fall within normal parameters for how many games a blueliner like Reinbacher needs to fully develop.

Would I like to see him being more impactful?  Of course, especially on a back end that isn’t as strong as last year’s.  It’d be great to see Reinbacher play himself into a bigger role.  But for now, him doing okay is perfectly okay.  Yes, others picked behind him are in the NHL but it’s not the matter of who the best short-term NHL player will be but the best long-term one.  Or, the way the Habs seem to draft, the most valuable one factoring in positional scarcity.  We won’t know that answer for several years so I’m not going to get too worried several weeks into the first season of his contract.  He’ll be fine over time.