Montreal Canadiens prospect Joshua Roy was not drafted until the 5th round of the 2021 NHL Draft. He was coming off a decently productive season with the Saint John Sea Dogs and Sherbrooke Phoenix, but there were questions about his game.
The questions were more about his off-ice performance and not necessarily what he did on the ice. He did score 22 goals and 35 points in 35 games last season, but more was expected after he was the first overall pick in the 2019 QMJHL Entry Draft.
Roy not quite reaching the extremely lofty expectations set out for him in his first two QMJHL seasons were blamed on a lack of dedication to his fitness and diet. In the 2021 offseason he committed to eating and training better, after being drafted in the 5th round by the Canadiens, and it immediately paid off.
Roy is on a dangerous Sherbrooke Phoenix team that is led by the best line in the league which features Roy on the right wing, Xavier Parent (someone the Canadiens should sign) on the left side and Julien Anctil down the middle. They have split them up a little bit to spread out the scoring, but they have remained linemates basically the whole season.
And why not? They started the year hot and just never slowed down. Roy finished the season with 51 goals and 119 points which put him atop the league at season’s end.
A flip from the regular season to the postseason has not slowed Roy’s production at all. He has continued exactly where he left off, and after two playoff games he is sitting second in the league in scoring, just one point back of his linemate Parent. Meanwhile, Anctil is leading the playoffs in goals at the moment.
The Phoenix finished first in the QMJHL’s Western Conference and face the Baie-Comeau-Comeau Drakkar in the opening round which is a Best-of-5. The series is basically over after two games as the Phoenix offence has overwhelmed the Drakkar. That should have been expected with the Phoenix finishing 40 points ahead of Baie-Comeau-Comeau in the regular season.
The Phoenix have not disappointed. They won Game 1 by a 7-0 score, keeping things interesting by only taking a 1-0 lead after one period, but exploding for four goals in the second and another pair in the third period.
Roy scored a pair of those goals and added two assists as well. He was named the game’s second star behind Parent who had two goals and three helpers. Game 2 was a tighter contest, with the Phoenix scoring an empty netter late to win it 4-1. Roy assisted on all three goals that the Drakkar goaltender allowed.
That gives him seven points in just two playoff games. His 50 goal regular season showed he’s a gifted goal scorer and his 68 assists prove he is quite capable of getting the puck to his teammates in scoring areas.
He has continued to do that in the playoffs, and now has two goals and seven points in just two games. Game 3 of the series takes place tonight in Baie-Comeau-Comeau and the Phoenix have a chance to advance to the second round in this Best-of-5 first round series.
After winning the regular season scoring title, you have to start wondering if the Canadiens prospect is on his way to doing the same in the playoffs.
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