Rocket comes up brief in its bid to achieve Calder Cup ultimate

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The Laval Rocket’s hopes for a Calder Cup title have been dashed Wednesday night time when the Springfield Thunderbirds thumped the guests 4-0 in Sport 7 of their best-of-seven Jap Convention ultimate collection on the MassMutual Centre.

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Charlie Lindgren, a former Canadiens prospect who spent a lot of the previous 4 seasons in Laval, made 34 saves for the shutout.

Springfield will face the Chicago Wolves within the Calder Cup ultimate. The Wolves, who defeated the Stockton
Warmth 3-0 Tuesday to win the Western Convention ultimate in six video games, may have home-ice-advantage within the best-of seven collection, which begins Sunday at Allstate Area in Rosemont, Ailing.

It appeared inevitable the Rocket would quit a power-play aim after going by way of the primary six video games of this collection unscathed and former Canadien Matthew Peca gave the Thunderbirds a 1-0 lead when he scored at 6:45 of the primary interval. The aim got here eight seconds after Brandon Gignac was whistled off for hooking.

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And Nathan Todd made it 3-0 when he scored a power-play aim late within the second interval,

The Rocket had killed 29 consecutive energy performs within the first six video games towards Springfield, which had scored on 38 per cent of its alternatives within the first two rounds of the playoffs.

The Rocket was outshot 15-8 within the first interval and had its finest moments throughout an early energy play once they examined Lindgren with 4 photographs, together with Grade A scoring possibilities from Cédric Paquette and Gabriel Bourque. Primeau saved the sport shut by stopping former Montreal farmhand Will Bitten on a breakaway halfway by way of the interval.

Laval was outplayed by a fair wider margin within the second interval. The Rocket was outshot 20-13, however these numbers seemed first rate solely as a result of Laval fired eight photographs throughout an unsuccessful energy play late within the interval, which offered Lindgren together with his finest moments.

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After the sport, Laval head coach Jean-François Houle mentioned he was pleased with his group. “We by no means gave up and I appreciated the way in which the fellows performed for one another.

“They scored a few power-play targets and that’s going to occur,” Houle added. “However we killed 29 straight and completed at 93 per cent (for the collection).”

Springfield coach Drew Bannister made a calculated gamble by beginning Lindgren in aim over 21-year-old rookie Joel Hofer, who had the a lot better numbers coming into the sport. However Hofer was lit up for 4 targets in a 5-1 loss in Sport 6 Monday night time and that tipped the scales in favour of the extra skilled Lindgren.

Primeau did what he has executed all through the playoffs, making sufficient saves to offer the Rocket an opportunity to win, however he didn’t get a lot assist towards the Thunderbirds, who averaged greater than six targets a recreation within the first two rounds of the playoffs. In the course of the playoffs, Primeau went a good distance towards restoring his confidence, which was shattered throughout a stint with the Canadiens throughout which he posted a 1-7-1 report and was pulled from 5 of his 9 begins.

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Between the 2 power-play targets, he surrendered a aim to Dakota Joshua, who additionally added an empty-net aim to finish the scoring. Primeau completed with 36 saves.

With Jesse Ylönen out after struggling an upper-body harm in Sport 6, Houle turned to Peter Abbandonato. He thought of utilizing QMJHL scoring champion Joshua Roy, however mentioned he felt it might be a troublesome place for an 18-year-old and went with the extra skilled Abbandonato,

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