Habs News: NHL, Montreal Canadiens, Laval Rocket, Jean-Francois Houle, Cayden Primeau, Mattias Norlinder, Alex Belzile, Jesse Ylonen
ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA | LAVAL, QC. — On Friday, the Laval Rocket began the club’s first playoff appearance in its five year history in Syracuse against the Crunch. Alex Belzile opened the scoring during the fifth minute, before Syracuse replied with three unanswered goals. The Rocket kept the game close, but the Crunch maintained the lead throughout the contest to win 5-3 in game 1.
“It was a good game. I find that we got a lot of good chances, their goalie made several big saves. I liked our intensity, and our effort. We would have liked to get the victory, we had chances to tie it at the end, but we have to find a way to score more goals,” coach Jean-Francois Houle said postgame.
Defensive breakdowns cost Laval several goals. “We played a good game. We lost a couple of battles, that cost us goals,” Belzile said. Houle and the players were positive for the remainder of the series, as they felt that the team would easily correct the defensive play.
“We’re optimistic for the next games. We didn’t play our best game. We had some good opportunities, we almost scored at the end. Most of the goals were off our sticks. We’re going to build from what we learned today,” defenceman Tobie Paquette-Bisson added.
Bounce Back
Both teams had a lead in Saturday’s game and blew it. The score was 2-2 when forward Brandon Gignac picked up his own rebound and netted the winning goal with 1:47 remaining.
“It’s a big win. It’s not easy to win in this building. Our goal was to come here and win one game. We’ve taken control of this series as we head home,” Houle said. During the regular season, the home team won every regular season between the two squads, excluding the last confrontation where Syracuse sat out several regulars.
“I found that we were more physical from the start of the game, and we scored a big power play goal that helped us, and we were intense,” added Houle.
“All the guys were dialed-in. All the body checks that we finished. They play physical on the other side, but we have big guys to also play physical. It helped us gain momentum in our game,” Gignac said.
Gignac’s goal was his first career goal in AHL playoffs. “In the beginning, I was afraid that he was going to stop it. I was really happy to put it in on the rebound.”
#Rocket Brandon Gignac picks up own rebound for goal vs #Crunch
Assists: Ylonen #GoRocket pic.twitter.com/WlbT182xrb
— Chris G (@ChrisHabs360) May 8, 2022
Primeau Solid Start
Since the start of the season, Jean-Francois Houle would alternate starts between Cayden Primeau and Kevin Poulin regardless of the outcome. The rotation was halted on Friday, when Houle decided to give the start to the veteran.
Poulin led the team with 18 wins, despite playing three games less than Primeau during the regular season. His 2.34 goals-against-average and .920 save percentage was seventh best in the AHL.
On Saturday, Houle turned to Primeau for the start, and the Canadiens prospect delivered. Primeau made 37 saves, including several key stops, and was named the first star in Laval’s victory.
“He was excellent. I found him good, and made important key saves, and he kept us in the game. I’m really proud of his effort,” said the coach.
“He was calm, and very confident. He played a really good game. I’m happy for him, and he helped us get the win,” added forward Gabriel Bourque.
Primeau gave credit to his teammates for his first career AHL playoff win. “It was good to get into a playoff game, but you got to be ready for when your name is called. The guys stepped up big and made some huge blocks.”
Primeau benefitted from watching game 1 from the bench. “Being able to watch the previous game, you get a sense of playoff type of hockey. Syracuse gave us playoff style of hockey all year, that’s just the team they are. It was good preparation, and always fun to play them.”
Norlinder Returns
After joining the Rocket earlier in the week, Mattias Norlinder slotted into the lineup on Saturday as a seventh defenceman. The Canadiens prospect finished the game with two shots on goal, and was on the ice for a goal scored by each team in 12 minutes of ice time.
“He had two good scoring chances on two faceoff plays. He played okay. We will control his ice time a bit, because it’s been a while since he hasn’t played in North America. I think he gave us good hockey, and was okay for a playoff game,” Houle evaluated.
Norlinder played 12 games with the Canadiens and the Rocket between Nov. 18th and Dec. 12th before returning to Sweden. In 21 regular season games with Frolunda HC, he recorded two assists, and collected six assists in nine playoff games.
Belzile Offensive Leader
Through two games, Alex Belzile leads the team offensively with three of the team’s six goals. Friday was Belzile’s first career AHL playoff game in his seventh year in the league.
“I liked his play. He scored an important goal, a nice goal. He won important faceoffs on the penalty kill. A really good game for Alex Belzile,” Houle said on Saturday.
#Rocket Alex Belzile takes advantage of gift for goal vs #Crunch
Assists: unassisted#GoRocket pic.twitter.com/0GUV68tshH
— Chris G (@ChrisHabs360) May 8, 2022
Special Units
The special units have played a key role in the first two games of the series. On Friday, Syracuse scored twice with a man-advantage, including the game winning goal as Danick Martel was in the box serving a bad penalty in the offensive zone.
Laval’s indiscipline continued on Saturday, including two bad penalties by Alex Belzile, and Jesse Ylonen. Contrary to the first game, the Rocket kept the Crunch’s power play off the scoresheet on their five opportunities.
Laval’s power play had success in Syracuse over the weekend, with Belzile and Ylonen scoring with the man advantage in six opportunities.
#Rocket Xavier Ouellet to Jesse Ylonen for one-timer PP goal vs #Crunch
Assists: Ouellet, Harvey-Pinard#GoRocket pic.twitter.com/EqRumGi6vc
— Chris G (@ChrisHabs360) May 7, 2022
Returning Home
The Rocket returned to Laval following Saturday’s victory from Syracuse, satisfied with 1-1 series tied. The team hits the ice on Monday for practice at Place Bell.
Game 3 of the series will be on Thursday in Laval. A large and noisy crowd is expected for the Place Bell’s first playoff game.
“It will be magic. Winning on the road is always difficult, and I’m looking forward to seeing our fans,” Gignac said.
“They showed up all year. You can feel their energy, we thrive off of it. Just being able to give them a playoff game at Place Bell, it’s going to be amazing,” added Primeau.
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By Chris G., Senior Writer
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