Montreal Canadiens Rocket Fire: Michael Chaput leads the way to victory
By Omar L
The Laval Rocket welcomed the Manitoba Moose to Place Bell this weekend and sent them packing back to the West with losses in both games.
Not a bad way to finish off the final weekend of February for the Laval Rocket. Although the team is out of the race for a playoff spot (currently nine points back of eight in the Eastern Conference at 55 on the season), winning is an important way to build confidence into the program Joël Bouchard and the rest of the Montreal Canadiens organization are trying to implement in the minor league system.
The Manitoba Moose aren’t having as strong as a season as they did last year. They’re one of the bottom teams in the West but are still close to playoff contention. These two games would’ve been a good way to get them into the final seed or bring them closer to the goal, and the Laval Rocket were fortunate to play spoiler.
Game 1
Friday’s game was all Laval for the 60 minutes scoring at even strength, the powerplay, and shorthanded.
Cale Fleury opened the scoring with a tally on the man advantage after Marko Dano was called for tripping. The powerplay as a whole looked very dangerous getting shots on net and quickly recovering the puck for the next opportunity. Fleury himself had two shots before getting the final goal past Eric Comrie.
That was the young defenceman’s fifth goal of his rookie career turning pro, and it got Laval going.
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Manitoba got a chance of their own to capitalize, but it went against them. Nikita Jevapolos intercepted a passing attempt along the boards, and he and Lukas Vejdemo took off. Vejdemo outworked Logan Shaw to centre ice while Jevapolos sent over the perfect pass for an easy tap in goal making it 2-0 Laval.
A lot more took place in the second period including some roughing antics from Brett Lernout and Phelix Martineau against Felix Girard and Jimmy Oligny. However, the Laval Rocket did a good job in limiting chances for the Moose without keeping their foot off the gas.
Maxim Lamarche scored the third and final goal of the game taking advantage of the herd of traffic in front of Comrie.
Michael McNiven stood up for the team as well stopping all 24 shots faced for his eighth win of the season.
Game 2
The Laval Rocket scored as many goals in Saturday’s game and got the same result. Charlie Lindgren was in net for this one and had to stop more than McNiven did (31 saves) but still managed to get the win for his team.
It looked as if the game was going to go sideways after Jake Evans was called early for holding. However, the penalty killing squad got another goal to start the scoring for Laval. Michael Chaput and Lernout got things started to spring Dale Weise on a chance toward Manitoba’s end.
Weise had Chaput with him on the left side of the 2-on-1 but chose to shoot instead. It was the right choice as he beat Mikhail Berdin short side for his third of the season and second with the Laval Rocket. The special teams were on fire this weekend, and most of it came from speed and execution to recognize holes and convert.
The Moose weren’t going to offer up another shutout though scoring 10 minutes later. The hometown kid in Felix Girard tied the game right off of the penalty kill. Charlie Lindgren made the initial save off Alexis D’Aoust’s shot, but Girard was there to score off the rebound.
The game was evenly matched in the second period until Laval came alive again in the third.
Chaput answered quickly after an error from the Moose. Berdin was attempting to play the puck to his defender, but Chaput intercepted it and threw it into the net making it 2-1. A reward for a strong effort over the weekend especially after he was robbed an a grade A chance earlier in the second period.
Alex Kile put the final nail in the coffin charging into the zone with speed and beating Berdin five-hole.
Next. Time for the Habs to hit another gear. dark
That was it for Manitoba, and the Laval Rocket walked away with four points. The team’s next game is Thursday against the Cleaveland Monsters. Who knows if anything changes on the roster because of the Trade Deadline, but it’ll be interesting to see if Laval can have a strong end to a disappointing season.