A Winning Habit
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Laval Rocket: Extending the winning streak to three in Cleveland

By Omar L

CLEVELAND, OH - NOVEMBER 09: Laval Rocket center Daniel Audette (24) plays the puck as Cleveland Monsters left wing Nathan Gerbe (90) defends during the third period the American Hockey League game between the Laval Rocket and Cleveland Monsters on November 9, 2018, at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, OH. (Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH - NOVEMBER 09: Laval Rocket center Daniel Audette (24) plays the puck as Cleveland Monsters left wing Nathan Gerbe (90) defends during the third period the American Hockey League game between the Laval Rocket and Cleveland Monsters on November 9, 2018, at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, OH. (Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The Laval Rocket came out with two wins over the weekend thanks to the efforts of Michael Chaput and the next set of challengers are the Cleveland Monsters.

There have been a few alterations for the Laval Rocket since the NHL Trade Deadline passed. The Montreal Canadiens traded Michael Chaput to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for Jordan Weal who is up with the team at the moment.

Chaput was one of the team’s leaders despite not spending too much time there with his own call-ups. However, he contributed a good deal offensively putting up ten goals and six assists in 24 games. Chaput wasn’t the only player to leave as Dale Weise was recalled to the NHL the morning of trade deadline day.

It’ll be up to the remaining players on the team to build off the success they had last season and take it to the Cleaveland Monsters.

Cleaveland is in the same stratosphere as the Rocket. They’re 12th in the Eastern Conference with 59 points on the season. Similar to Laval again, they’re also coming off two victories and are hungry for a third.

The scoring is moderately spread out on the Monsters. Zac Dalpe is leading the team in goals at 18 and overall points at 33. Cleaveland is also feeling some of the after-effects of the trade deadline as rookie forward Vitaly Abramov was sent to the Ottawa Senators in the Matt Duchene trade.

With the Chaput departure, some of the team’s scoring leaders will need to kick their production to the next gear. Jake Evans is tied for second in points (30) with linemate Daniel Audette. However, Evans’ production has hit a major cold streak as he has only one assist in his last 18 games. That needs to change for the Rocket to have more success.

If not for the top line and Alex Belzile, who is number one with 13 goals and 29 assists, perhaps the new face on the team could add a spark.

dark. Next. Possible Post-Deadline Additions

Joe Cox was recently signed to a professional contract with the Laval Rocket. There appears to be a lot of skill there as he had 61 points in 55 ECHL games as a member of the Florida Everblades. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of impact he can have on Laval as they have a number of names who have skill.

Time: 7:00 PM EST

Location: Quicken Loans Arena

Broadcast: AHLTV

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