A win is always a win, especially this deep into the Calder Cup Playoffs, and Springfield snagged a Game 1 victory.
However, Thunderbirds head coach Drew Bannister knows that his team is capable of more, and he wants to see that standard this evening in Game 2 against a speedy group of Rocket forwards. Laval’s transition game has earned praise from elsewhere in the American Hockey League this season, and the Bannister is the latest addition to that chorus.
“We know they’re a real quick hockey team,” Bannister said. “A transition team that can score off the rush. That was one thing that we really focused on. We kind of let them off the hook and made it an easy game in that sense for them, where they were able to use their speed against us to manage the puck.”
In the North Division Finals, Rochester Americans head coach Seth Appert stressed the need to create more traffic in front of Rocket goaltender Cayden Primeau.
Bannister sounded that same message for his team’s offensive-zone play.
“I didn’t think we had enough traffic,” Bannister said. “It was an easier night than most nights when we play. We’ve got to do a better job getting more pucks in and more traffic and trying to create secondary opportunities.”
What they saw was what they got.
With a lengthy break following the North Division Finals, Rocket head coach J-F Houle had ample time to prepare his club for Springfield. That sent the Rocket into Game 1 ready for what the Thunderbirds would present, even though the clubs had only played twice in the regular season.
There were no surprises for Laval from a Thunderbirds club that plays a no-frills, physical system that relies on wearing down opponents.
“We knew this series is going to be a challenge for us,” Rocket forward Rafaël Harvey-Pinard said after Game 1. “They are good in every zone. Good goalie [in Joel Hofer], too. We just have to play a little bit better in our zone, I think, and maybe be a little bit more in their goalie’s face.”
One area in which the Rocket came away quite happy was with the goaltending from Primeau, who held the Thunderbirds scoreless for the first 57 minutes of play. For Primeau, his night continued a trend of dominant postseason play following a challenging third pro season in which he rotated between the Rocket and the parent Montreal Canadiens as part of the often-difficult development path that many goaltenders must manage.
“Cayden has been really good for us,” Houle told reporters.
“He’s been a wall. For sure, he has persevered, and it’s not easy going up, and everything that happened, up and down. But he is showing a lot more maturity. He’s solid back there. He’s mentally ready to play, and he’s showing that he can play at a high level, and that’s a good sign for a young goalie.”
― Patrick Williams
