Only watched the highlights but while Primeau isn't to blame, he certainly was outperformed by the other goalie. Didn't really like 2 of the goals.
I think Laval will be better game 4.
To my regret, I did watch the game and can only say that Cleveland played like their playoffs lives depended on it and Laval didn't. Except for the last 5 minutes, Laval's game had no urgency or speed. One should never overreact to a bad loss (or for that matter an easy win) but if Laval doesn't pick up its intensity, they will lose this series.
Here is my very short overview of our prospects' play.
Each of
Florian Xhekaj, Davidson, Farrell and
Tuch were largely ineffective in this game as they created little, if any, offensive push. While largely invisible and sluggish,
Roy did have a few good shifts where he actually displayed some mobility and used his vision/anticipation to place himself in a position to get away his excellent shot.
Kapanen was, in this writer's opinion, one of Laval's best forwards, playing center on a line with Roy and Beck which was Laval's most dangerous line in this game. Kapanen showed speed, physicality and surprising playmaking ability. He was also good on faceoffs and the coaches recognized this strength and used him often on faceoffs late in the game when Laval had pulled its goalie. I have little doubt that this kid will be pressing hard for a position on the Canadiens next fall.
Beck had another good game as he used his speed on the forecheck and to gain separation and time to make several good plays around the Monsters net which ended up forcing the Cleveland goalie to make a number of good saves. With a little more puck luck, the Kapanen line could have scored a couple of goals tonight.
On defence, the four young defencemen ( Mailloux, Trudeau, Engstrom and Reinbacher) played a steady game. I thought of the four,
Mailloux had the most impactful game, particularly in the offensive zone where he had multiple shooting opportunities from the blueline, particularly on the power play. He even had an excellent rush that forced a Cleveland defenceman to take a penalty. Mailloux made no major gaffs and used his elite passing skills to put pressure on the Monsters' defence.
Trudeau had a rather uneventful game, I saw no major mistakes and he was instrumental in Laval's only goal by going aggressively to the Cleveland net. While
Engstrom displayed his excellent mobility on a number of occasions and was generally solid in the defensive zone, nothing in his game tonight screamed that he is a serious candidate to make the Canadiens in the immediate future. I was really disappointed in
Reinbacher's game. While he was adequate in the defensive zone, when the team needed an offensive lift, Reinbacher was nowhere to be seen. As I noted above, you don't want to overreact but based on his play tonight, it doesn't appear that Reinbacher's is ready for prime time just yet. But it's just one bad game, where few of Laval's players ( prospects and veterans) looked particularly good.
