A Laval roster which has certainly been thinned out lately had a tough three-in-three stretch last week. They managed to at least keep afloat in the playoff chase as they picked up three of a possible six points on the road.
February 16: Laval 5, Hartford 2 – With the Rocket missing their two top performers offensively, they need the supporting cast to step up if they’re going to win some games. They got exactly that as Jared Davidson, who has been scratched several times this season, picked up a hat-trick to pace Laval while Tobie Paquette-Bisson added one from the back end as well.
February 17: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 6, Laval 3 – A disastrous start to the second period did the Rocket in. The Penguins scored three times in the opening two minutes, erasing Laval’s lead and gaining a lead they never relinquished. Jan Mysak had a pair of goals for the Rocket while Xavier Simoneau had the other.
February 18: Bridgeport 2, Laval 1 (OT) – For a while, it looked like Emil Heineman’s goal late in the first period would be all that Laval needed. However, Daniel Maggio tied it up with a little under seven minutes left in regulation and then added the overtime winner to pick up the extra point. Considering the Islanders are tied for the fewest points in the AHL, this was a squandered opportunity in the standings.
Skaters:
| # | Player | GP | G | A | +/- | SOG | PIMS |
| 4 | Tobie Bisson | 3 | 1 | 0 | E | 4 | 2 |
| 7 | Chris Jandric | 2 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 1 | 2 |
| 12 | Filip Cederqvist | 3 | 0 | 1 | +2 | 1 | 0 |
| 14 | Jan Mysak | 3 | 2 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 6 |
| 17 | Nathan Legare | 3 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 4 | 0 |
| 19 | Emil Heineman | 3 | 1 | 0 | E | 10 | 0 |
| 21 | Riley Kidney | 3 | 0 | 2 | -1 | 5 | 0 |
| 24 | Logan Mailloux | 3 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 7 | 12 |
| 27 | Mitchell Stephens | 3 | 1 | 1 | -2 | 6 | 2 |
| 28 | Lias Andersson | 2 | 0 | 0 | -3 | 2 | 0 |
| 29 | Mattias Norlinder | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 1 | 2 |
| 42 | Lucas Condotta | 3 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 2 | 4 |
| 43 | Alex-Olivier Voyer | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 0 |
| 44 | Olivier Galipeau | 3 | 0 | 2 | +3 | 4 | 2 |
| 49 | Jared Davidson | 3 | 3 | 0 | +1 | 13 | 5 |
| 52 | Justin Barron | 3 | 0 | 2 | E | 5 | 0 |
| 61 | Philippe Maillet | 3 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 3 | 0 |
| 68 | Riley McKay | 3 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 0 | 7 |
| 81 | Xavier Simoneau | 3 | 1 | 1 | -4 | 2 | 14 |
| 84 | William Trudeau | 3 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 3 | 0 |
Goalies:
| # | Player | Record | GAA | SV% | SO |
| 71 | Jakub Dobes | 1-0-1 | 1.95 | .935 | 0 |
| 73 | Kasimir Kaskisuo | 0-1-0 | 4.11 | .862 | 0 |
Team Leaders:
Goals: Brandon Gignac (14)
Assists: Brandon Gignac (28)
Points: Brandon Gignac (42)
+/-: Tobie Paquette-Bisson (+15)
PIMS: Riley McKay (103)
Shots: Joshua Roy (125)
– It was a rough week on the injury front. Gabriel Bourque will be out for the next month with an upper-body injury, Mattias Norlinder suffered a lower-body injury against the Wolf Pack, and Jan Mysak suffered an upper-body injury against the Penguins.
– Despite those injuries, Laval managed to only need to bring up one player from ECHL Trois-Rivieres, winger Alex-Olivier Voyer. I suspect there will be more coming at some point.
– Laval has converted Kasimir Kaskisuo’s contract from a PTO to a full-season agreement. The netminder has a .923 save percentage in seven games since signing back in December.
Last Game’s Lines:
Simoneau – Maillet – Heineman
Davidson – Stephens – Andersson
Kidney – Condotta – Legare
McKay – Mysak – Cederqvist
Trudeau – Barron
Galipeau – Mailloux
Jandric – Paquette-Bisson
Wednesday: vs Hershey – After facing the worst team in the league on Sunday, Laval now faces the best in the Bears. Former Rocket winger Pierrick Dube leads the team in goals with 24 while Clay Stevenson and Hunter Shepard have the two lowest GAAs in the AHL. Hershey will be without its top point-getter, however, as Michael Sgarbossa is up with Washington.
Friday/Saturday: vs Toronto – The two teams have split the season series so far at two wins apiece and realistically, Laval will need to at least manage that to stay within striking distance of the Marlies as they continue to battle for a play-in spot. Not a lot has changed since their last matchup in terms of who’s on Toronto’s roster; while they’re missing some extra blueliners at the moment, that shouldn’t be the case by the time the weekend rolls around.
Is it just me or has Xavier Simoneau’s offensive production largely flown under the radar this season? He enters the week with the second-most assists on the team and is two points out of being in a tie for second on the Rocket in scoring. Until recently, he hasn’t spent a ton of time on the top line either so for him to be this high on the scoring chart, that’s particularly impressive.
Of course, Simoneau plays with plenty of spunk and he’s going toe-to-toe with Riley McKay for the team lead in penalty minutes. That type of grit makes him an intriguing candidate to be brought up if Montreal decides they want to take a look at some other options on the fourth line as injuries and/or trades inevitably come in the coming weeks. When people are mentioning candidates to come up from the Rocket, Simoneau’s name doesn’t come up too often. Maybe it’s about time that changes.
