With the Montreal Canadiens now eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs, all eyes have turned to the prospects. The Laval Rocket have just begun their Calder Cup run, one that could go on for a while. This means that most of the Habs’ best prospects are playing some of the most important hockey of their lives.
Three prospects stood out in particular in Game 2 of the best-of-five series with the Cleveland Monsters. I’m going to rely on clips and give limited opinions on those performances, and I’d also recommend checking out the recaps from Games 1 and 2, which detail the key plays from both games.
Jacob Fowler
I think Fowler is a special goaltender, if not a perfect one. Just like the other prospects, I’m going to show a few clips that outline the good and the bad of his performance in Game 2.
He wasn’t particularly busy on Friday. He saved all 20 of the shots directed his way, and only had to make four or five really tough saves. The story of his game was positioning. He’s not the biggest, most flexible, or fastest goaltender, but his positioning is fantastic. He can struggle a little with rebound control, and his lateral movement was probably his biggest weakness on draft day.
This was his second save of the night, and a good example of the kind of shots he faced.
Laval did a great job of insulating the rookie netminder, keeping chances to the outside and letting Fowler rely on his positioning to fight through traffic and make stops.
The following two clips are examples of an issue I’ve seen in his games with Laval so far: rebound control with the blocker, specifically, on shots near the top of the circle. As a goalie, these angles are tough. If your blocker is anything close to square, then the rebound is going to pop right into the slot, just like it does here, and angling your blocker is obviously dangerous, giving you a smaller surface area to stop the puck with.
Fowler made two huge stops at the end of the night, and this is one of them, but the play was far from over after it was made.
This could have easily ended up differently if Cleveland’s Roman Ahcan (#37 in front of the net) had put forth a stronger effort.
Although the blocker was a bit of a weakness, Fowler’s glove was on display. This was a nice save, albeit with a delayed flourish.
I understand that so far this seems to be more critique than praise, but I need to be clear that Fowler makes a lot of saves look easy. His positioning in traffic is strong. The vast majority of the shots directed at him end up hitting the Rocket crest and falling safely into his pads or onto the ice in front of him, which sometimes creates hysteria, but he hasn’t paid for it thus far.
He was in great position for this screened shot early in the third period when the game was still up for grabs. He faced at least 11 shots from the point and only gave up one rebound for Cleveland to put on net.
Fowler had two saves that really stood out for me. This stop in the second period that went off his mask tricked me at first.
I thought he had gotten lucky; Fowler does have a tendency to shrink down in his net at times (see how small he looks in this clip when his shoulders are hunched?), and I thought that’s what happened here. When I looked closer, I realized that Fowler was shrinking down so he could deflect this puck off the top of his mask. He knew exactly where the rebound went because he sent it there. It was a high-IQ play from the rookie.
This was by far his nicest save of the night. It came in the final minute and showed off some mobility and stretch.
This is exactly the kind of save that some people doubted he’d be able to make in the big leagues. It didn’t seem to be a problem here.
I also want to mention just how resilient he was all night. The Monsters were in his grill all game, and Fowler stood tall. To the Rocket’s credit, they defended their guy all night as well. Here, Hunter McKown catches Fowler with a stick to the head. The result is an all-out scrum in the middle of play.
Fowler is unflappable. He was calm all night, and statistically he was perfect. This should be a fantastic momentum-builder for him.
Logan Mailloux
Mailloux is a double-edged sword right now. In my eyes, he was one of the more dynamic players on the ice in Game 2, at least offensively.
He was credited with three shots on Friday (though he might have had four). All three came from the point, and all three came in the first period. This was his best chance.
Mailloux looked solid quarterbacking the power play. This is where I thought he was best. On the Rocket’s first man advantage, he was limited to playing off the wall, but all his puck touches ended up on Laval sticks.
I could have included two more clips here: a quick backhand bank pass and an accurate pass onto Alex Barré-Boulet’s stick in the left circle.
In the Rocket’s second stab at the man advantage, Mailloux drove play from the point. He was also responsible for the first unit’s best chance here.
There is also the other side of Mailloux. If you watched the Rocket all season long like many of us have, then you’ve seen what I’m about to talk about. He gets caught flatfooted often and in obvious areas.
This clip was due to make another appearance. This is an ugly example of Mailloux getting caught flatfooted and it directly leading to a scoring chance.
Luca Pinelli has decent hands, but Mailloux gets turned inside out too easily here.
I think Mailloux was a net positive on Friday. I said that he stood out, and I stick by that, but his game was certainly far from perfect.
Florian Xhekaj
The Monsters do not like Florian Xhekaj, and that’s a great thing. Xhekaj has the blood of a pest in the body of a beast, and he uses it. He was the most penalized player in the AHL for a reason. He toes the line and plays in the grey.
Xhekaj finished Game 2 with an assist, four penalty minutes, and at least seven hits (and I count them fairly conservatively), while centring the fourth line.
His assist was on the Rocket’s first goal, a cleanly won draw right to Jared Davidson.
Xhekaj spent most of the night battling James Malatesta’s line, and the two players got into it repeatedly. This is where Florian thrives, when he’s engaged with opponents in a scrum. Both of his penalties on Friday came in those situations.
This first was due to the stick that Fowler took up high in the second period.
In this next clip, you’ll see Xhekaj take his second roughing penalty of the game. Both teams had been running at each other for the duration of the play, and things finally came to a head in front of Fowler, with Xhekaj taking exception to first Gavin Brindley, then Malatesta.
I mentioned earlier that Xhekaj had at least seven hits on Friday; it was probably closer to 10 or 12 if you count them like the NHL does. He finished just about every check available to him, plus a little extra most of the time.
This first clip is from right after the Rocket’s first goal; Xhekaj was setting a tone, and he kept it all night.
This is what he spent most of the night doing, playing his role. Xhekaj is on the fourth line to play like it, and that’s what he did.
This is what Cleveland players were dealing with in the offensive zone every time #63 was on the ice.
The Cleveland broadcasters described him as “Fearsome Florian Xhekaj,” and I certainly think it’s fitting. Fearsome Florian only stood out for good reasons; every defensive error was made up for in effort, and none were particularly glaring. He will continue to be a difference-maker in Game 3.
Laval is back in action at home for Game 3 on Sunday. Puck drop is scheduled for 3 PM ET. It’s unconfirmed whether Fowler will get the start, but it seems likely he will have the chance to finish off the series he started.
