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Cayden Primeau was sensational in Rocket victory
Michaël Petit
Cayden Primeau was sensational in Rocket victory
Credit: Tonight, the Laval Rocket played their first home game of the third round of the playoffs against the Rochester Americans. The two clubs shared a win apiece. Since the start of the playoffs, Jacob Fowler and Cayden Primeau have alternated in front of the net, and so far, Fowler has performed better than Primeau. For […]
Tonight, the Laval Rocket played their first home game of the third round of the playoffs against the Rochester Americans. The two clubs shared a win apiece.

Since the start of the playoffs, Jacob Fowler and Cayden Primeau have alternated in front of the net, and so far, Fowler has performed better than Primeau.

For this game, it was Primeau’s job to slow down his opponents and take the series lead.

Interestingly, this season, Primeau has only lost at home to the Cleveland Monsters, once in regulation and once in overtime out of a total of 13 games.

Here is Pascal Vincent’s line-up for Game 3:

This was a game of great importance for Primeau, as he had to come out strong.

Primeau wasn’t tested much in the first half of the first twenty minutes. As usual, Laval quickly set the tone for the game.

However, at the end of the period, Rochester (finally) woke up and bombarded Primeau from all sides.

The visitors had some great chances to score, but Primeau played his best game of the season.

Here’s one of the times he was most tested, in the closing moments of the first period:

It’s hard not to appreciate Primeau’s excellent work in this game, as he clearly kept his team in it until the end.

He seemed confident and we saw the Primeau of the season and not the one from the start of the playoffs.

It was very encouraging to see him go, especially in the second period, which was very busy for the goalkeeper.

After stopping all seven shots in the first 20 minutes, he was sensational with no fewer than 13 other saves in the second.

Primeau was definitely out to prove that he’s the Rocket’s true #1 goalie.

With this performance, it’s safe to say that Primeau could (and should) get the start in the next game of this series.

Just as everything was shaping up to be a perfect game for the Rocket goaltender, with the home side leading 1-0, the Americans finally cracked the Primeau mystery early in the third period.

Fortunately for the Farmington Hills native, his teammates gave him plenty of support, opening the scoring with three goals in five minutes.

Although the third period was all Rocket, the Amerks didn’t let up, testing Primeau in every possible way.

All in all, a successful mission for Primeau, who has (most likely) secured a start in the next game, to be played again in LAval on Friday.

When Primeau is confident (as he was in this game), the Rocket are an extremely dangerous club.

Add to that Jacob Fowler as a backup, and you’ve got some insurance if Primeau doesn’t get the job done.

In addition to the Rocket goalkeeper’s incredible performance (32 saves on 33 shots), the players in front of him also supported him very well with several goals in this convincing 4-1 victory.

Luke Tuch opened the scoring after just 15 seconds by deflecting David Reinbacher’s shot.

After that, all the Rocket’s other goals came in the final twenty minutes with goals from Florian Xhekaj, Laurent Dauphin and Joshua Roy.

In the victory, Tuch stood out from the rest by hitting (hard) everything that moved. If Grant McCagg is to be believed, he could very well cause a surprise at the Habs practice camp and break into the line-up.

Otherwise, Logan Mailloux had a very strong game and is taking on more and more responsibility. At the end of the first period, he was sent into the fray with a defensive mission and he did very well.

He also showed that he can be a true quarterback on the powerplay.

One thing’s for sure: Laval will be very difficult to beat (and eliminate) in the playoffs.

That bodes well for the future of the Habs.


Overtime

– A surprise in the AHL series, the Hershey Bears were swept aside by the Charlotte Checkers. The winner of the Rocket-Americans series will face the Checkers in the Association Finals.

– For ball lovers, here’s the podcast for you:

– The Blue Jays got things going against San Diego.

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