Laval Rocket: Attempting to change the course of the season

The Laval Rocket are going to look for a response in the room against the Devils after coming off one of their most lopsided losses of the year.

The first few games after the All-Star Break were meant to set the tone for the remainder of the season. At that point, the Laval Rocket weren’t too far behind Utica, and with a stretch of wins, the gap could’ve decreased in size. Unfortunately, the four games after the break have all ended the same way, with a loss.

None of the defeats comes even close to the domination that was the 7-1 Marlies thrashing. Andrew Zadarnowski of Habs Eyes on the Prize mentioned that it was a Montreal Canadiens team’s worst loss since the Hamilton Bulldogs were light up 6-0 by the Abbotsford Heat in 2014. There’s not much to say after something like that.

You’d like to see a great sense of urgency from Laval. We can still cut the team some slack considering the Marlies, as well as the Manitoba Moose and Syracuse Crunch, are top teams in the AHL. But the Rocket are too deep in the season for that excuse to hold up. It’s either win and give yourself a chance or lose and continue to fall from here on out.

Charlie Lindgren said it best:

"We’ve got 29 games left, and if we want to make a playoff push we’ve got to get real serious here. We all knew what was at stake with 30 games left to play, and it’s pretty frustrating to see that result back after break. Hopefully we will reset ourselves a little bit but you got to move past it for the next game."

Game On

Which brings us to tonight. The Rocket are heading to the Floyd L Maines Veterans Memorial Arena for a game against the Binghamton Devils. There’s going to be more roles to fill with Nikita Scherbak still up with the Habs while Matt Taormina and Niki Petti are out with injuries.

The Laval Rocket signed Brampton Beast players Chris Leveille and Matt Petgrave to PTOs, so there’s a chance they draw in at some point. It will be a professional debut for both if Sylvain Lefebvre puts them in the lineup. Leveille is on pace to have a career season in points with Brampton as he already has 37 points in 45 games.

Petgrave has gotten attention before coming off a PTO with a Marlies despite not playing a game. The thing that stands out about him is his speed which has caught a lot of players in the ECHL off-guard at times. Slotting in on the bottom pair of the Rocket’s blueline could be a good opportunity for Petgrave to show what he can do at the next level.