Laval forward Jesse Ylönen had a big Game 2 in a building that has some family history.
A quarter-century ago, Ylönen’s father, Juha, starred during the Springfield Falcons’ run to the 1997 Southern Conference Finals, leading the team with 21 points in 17 games before they fell in Game 7 to the eventual Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears. Juha Ylönen went on to play 341 National Hockey League games with Phoenix, Tampa Bay and Ottawa.
Now Jesse, a 2018 second-round pick by the Montreal Canadiens, is trying to take a similar path playing top-six minutes for the Rocket. Named the first star of last night’s 4-2 Rocket victory with a goal and two assists, the 22-year-old Ylönen has had a solid second season in Laval with 36 points in 52 regular-season games while also posting two goals and three assists in 14 NHL games with the Habs. He is earning that same valuable Calder Cup Playoff experience that his father took in 25 years earlier in Springfield.
In the North Division Finals against the Rochester Americans, the Rocket found themselves up against an opponent that could play run-and-gun hockey. This Springfield series more closely resembles Laval’s first playoff match-up against Syracuse, a battle in which space was tight throughout.
“It’s fun,” Ylönen said of his time in the Calder Cup Playoffs. “Wins don’t come easy. It’s a great challenge, but I really enjoy it.”
Thunderbirds head coach Drew Bannister’s words may well be echoing through his players’ heads on their bus ride to Laval this week.
Bannister has stressed the need for quick starts in the Eastern Conference Finals, and that message will take on even more urgency on the road. The next three games of the Eastern Conference Finals will take place at Place Bell, beginning with Game 3 on Wednesday night. That will be the Thunderbirds’ first in-person look at the playoff atmosphere in Laval, and settling down that crowd quickly will be job one for the visitors.
Springfield has allowed the first goal in back-to-back games to begin the series. During the regular season, the Thunderbirds scored first in 42 of their 76 games, going 25-11-5-1 in those contests.
“I thought the first 10 minutes ― whether it was will, desire, compete ― they were able to roll their way to situations that created more opportunities,” Bannister said of the Rocket’s start to Game 2.
Bannister thought his team was “a little bit disconnected, a little bit frustrated with the game.”
“That was a credit to them and how they played. We’ve got to come out a lot better than we have and find ways to score goals early in the game, build some momentum, and make them chase us.”
― Patrick Williams
