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Jean-François Houle had told us yesterday that his men were full of confidence and would be playing without any pressure in Springfield last night, having already been able to win a game in enemy territory and it looks like it was true. Laval didn’t exactly start the game well taking a couple of penalties (including a high-sticking double minor to Devante Smith-Pelly) in the opening frame, but once more, the Thunderbirds were unable to capitalize with the extra man and it ended up costing them.
In the 2nd, Danick Martel opened the score, making up for his missed chanced in the last game’s extra-frame as for Springfield, they were held scoreless through 40 minutes thanks to Cayden Primeau. Then, in the final frame, Laval exploded with 4 more goals, including one in an empty net while the Thunderbirds only managed to get the rubber past Primeau once, final score Laval 5 Springfield 1.
The Rocket’s netminder was one of the stars of the game shining once again in the net but his post-game comments were quite clear, the Rocket hasn’t won anything yet. Like his coach, the keeper said that the Habs’ farm team came to Springfield to win 2 games, not 1 and there’s still plenty of work to do. Words of wisdom but it’s hard not to acknowledge how much better Primeau looks in net right now compared to how he looked with the Canadiens during their miserable season. Of course, the AHL caliber isn’t the same as the NHL’s but still, his performance is encouraging. I still believe that the organization needs to resist the temptation of calling him up next season, let him get a full dominant season before attempting to play him in the big league again (health of the CH goaltenders permitting of course).
Unfortunately, during yesterday’s game, the Rocket lost Jesse Ylonen to injury and according to Houle, he’s likely to be unavailable for the next game. Game 7 will now take place in Springfield on Wednesday with a start time at 7:00 PM and the organization most certainly won’t complain if the baby Habs manage to reach the Calder Cup Final.
Elsewhere in the Hockey world, Habs top draft pick in 2020 Kaiden Guhle lead his Edmonton Oil Kings to the WHL Championship last night when they defeated the Seattle Thunderbirds (apparently last night was a big night to be called Thunderbirds). Guhle had such a good playoffs campaign that he was named the MVP on the back of his 8 goals in a single postseason tournament, the most ever scored by an Oil King defender. He will definitely be one of the prospects to watch come training camp, it’s looking more and more likely that he’ll force the Habs’ hand to make room for him in the line up with his sound defensive play, good offensive instinct and physicality. Before then though, he’ll be trying to lead the Oil Kings to a Memorial Cup starting next Monday.
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