Cayden Primeau proves his worth, leading Laval Rocket to 3-1 win over Rochester

Primeau made 31 saves Monday to give Laval a 2-0 edge in the best-of-five Calder Cup North Division final.

Author of the article:

Pat Hickey • Montreal Gazette

Publishing date:

May 23, 2022 • 43 minutes ago • 3 minute read • Join the conversation

Brandon Gignac of the Laval Rocket scores on goalie Aaron Dell of the Rochester Americans at Place Bell in Laval on Monday, May 23, 2022. Defenseman Brandon Davidson also tries to stop the shot. Photo by John Kenney /Montreal Gazette

Cayden Primeau has had some disappointments this season, especially when he was called up to the Canadiens, but the 22-year-old says he’s focusing on the here and now.

“I’ve never dwelled on the past,” said Primeau, who had a sellout crowd at Place Bell chanting his name Monday as he led the Laval Rocket to a 3-1 win over the Rochester Americans. He made 31 saves to give Laval a 2-0 edge in the best-of-five Calder Cup North Division final. He lost his shutout when Rochester pulled his goalie and Artu Ruotsalainen scored seconds after a penalty to Sami Niku expired.

Primeau, who said he had to restore his confidence after posting a 1-7-1 record with the Canadiens, has done just that since he replaced Kevin Poulin after the opening game of the first-round series against the Syracuse Crunch. He has a 5-1 record in the postseason and has allowed only 10 goals for a 1.52 goals-against average.

Rocket coach Jean-François Houle said he wanted to see a better start from his team, and the Rocket delivered with a strong first period. Laval outshot Rochester 17-7 and took a 1-0 lead when Brandon Gignac scored at 5:17. Gignac was in front of the net to bury the rebound of Tory Dello’s shot from the point.

Primeau didn’t have a lot of work in that first period, but the Americans stepped up the tempo and dominated the action in the second period after defenseman Louie Belpedio gave Laval a 2-0 lead. The Americans outshot the Rocket 14-7 in the period and Primeau made a number of big saves, including one on a point-blank shot from Lukas Rousek with 16 seconds remaining.

The Americans have had difficulty coping with the Rocket’s speed, and Belpedio scored when he joined the rush and took a drop pass from Cédric Paquette.

Lucas Condotta scored his first professional goal midway through the third period. He joined the Rocket on a pro tryout after he completed his college career at UMass Lowell.

The Rocket opened the Sunday series with a 6-1 victory.

After a sluggish first period, Laval took control with three goals in the second period and added two more in the third. Danick Martel paced the offense with a career-high four goals and Primeau made 31 saves.

“It was an emotional game to start,” said Primeau. “In the playoffs especially, you have to be ready for everything — every game counts. Our start was a bit slow, but nothing could stop us.”

The series moves to Rochester for the next two games, Wednesday and Friday. The Americans must win both games to send the series to a deciding game Sunday in Laval.

For the first time since the opening game of the North Division semifinal against Syracuse, Houle abandoned his strategy of dressing seven defensemen and went with a conventional lineup of six defensemen and 12 forwards. That provided Condotta with a chance to play.

His hand was forced after Mattias Norlinder suffered a head injury when he was hit by Rochester’s Ben Holmstrom in the dying seconds of Game 1. Holmstrom received a minor penalty for a check to the head and a 10-minute misconduct. The only other defenseman on the Laval roster is Gianni Fairbrother, who has returned to practice but hasn’t played since he suffered an upper-body injury on Feb. 5.

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