IMO Mailloux and Tuch were deserving of stars. Dobes over Barre-Boulet though.
And with the number of mistakes made by most of the Rocket I give Dobes a pass on the goal where he failed to cover the puck.
It was truly a tale of two games tonight. Laval was outskated, out chanced and outplayed the first two periods and then largely dominated the third period against a strong Rochester team. In fact, I think this was Laval's best third period so far this early season. It's also good to report that several (most) of Montreal prospects really shone tonight.
Before I give my summary, just a quick comment on the production quality of the Rochester feed. The announcers butchered the pronunciation of Xhekaj and Mailloux's names and the disruptive camera angles repeatedly used at key moments of the game were at best, amateurish.
Like most Laval players,
Beck had a very quiet first part of the game. However as the game proceeded Beck's excellent skating and playmaking had a huge impact on the outcome of the game. Beck made multiple creative passes that led to scoring chances including one rush where he used his speed to drive back opposing defencemen which created space for him to make a pass to a trailing Davidson that resulted in an excellent scoring chance. Beck played in all game situations and was a threat almost every time he was on the ice after the first period. Even his face-off record improved in the second and third periods. This kid is going to be an important player for Montreal going forward.
Roy had a quiet game for him tonight. Typically unnoticeable most of the game, in a flash Roy created a scoring chance because of his hand skills, vision or his anticipation. There were just fewer of those flashes tonight.
Farrell was more noticeable tonight and he used his speed to gain open ice and place himself in a position to take advantage of a couple of excellent Beck set ups. He also used his hand skills to set up Davidson for a great scoring chance. After the first period the line of Beck, Farrell and Davidson was Laval's best line as it created multiple scoring chances, particularly in the third period.
After a very sluggish first period,
Davidson started to come on, showing better straight forward speed and using his shot and play making ability to be one of Laval's more dangerous forwards. Davidson really works well with Beck as their respective skills seem to compliment one another.
Tuch had a very Tuch-like game: excellent skating, strong, intimidating forechecking and physicality in both ends of the ice. The goal he scored was only a bonus. But Tuch's efforts created several other scoring chances. All in all he had a strong game against a quality opponent.
While
Florian Xhekaj had a largely unremarkable game, he was still able to demonstrate his very good straight forward speed against a very fast team. Xhekaj was able to carry the puck through three zones of the ice on a couple of occasions and made several excellent plays that set up a teammate for a scoring chance. Xhekaj is still very weak on face-offs.
Kidney had another good showing tonight as he displayed strong skating and playmaking ability. He also had a couple of scoring chances. Kidney's game continues to grow and if this development continues, and he gets stronger and faster, he may well be pushing for a roster position on the Canadiens some time next year. Such is the level of this kid's talent.
Mailloux easily had his best game of the year. He looked more confident and it showed in his skating, playmaking and defensive play. Mailloux was Montreal's best player tonight. He was not beaten once by an opponent off the rush, he was strong physically both along the boards and in boxing out opposing forwards in front of his net, he showed enough mobility to gain the time and space necessary for him to make an outlet pass to a streaking teammate, he made the right reads that closed the gap on attacking forwards, he showed good recovery speed; he used his long reach to break up passes in both the neutral and defensive zones, he displayed his amazing first/stretch pass, he keyed Laval's very impressive powerplay with great passes and he showed off his excellent shot in almost killing the Rochester goalie and then scoring the all important goal in overtime. This was a great game for Mailloux to build on going forward.
Engstrom was the opposite of most of his teammates as his play in the first period was excellent and dropped off in the second period and rebounded slightly in the third period. Engstrom skated well tonight and was Laval's most mobile defenceman overall as he carried the puck end to end a couple of times and really walked the blueline in the offensive zone showing agility and superior hand skills. But some of his plays were high risk and resulted in turn-overs. But like Mailloux, this was a performance against a very strong opponent that Engstrom can build on going forward.
Trudeau had a competitive performance showing mobility, sound defensive positioning and made a few excellent plays in the offensive zone. Most importantly, Trudeau reduced the blunders in his own zone was not beaten once off the rush.