(Laval) It seems that the Laval Rocket has a penchant for extremes. At least that’s the conclusion we can draw from the first five games of his season, especially when we look at the columns of goals scored and goals conceded.
In absolute figures, before the matches on the calendar on Tuesday, the Laval team occupied first place in the American League with a harvest of 23 goals. The problem is that Jean-François Houle’s team also conceded 25 goals, which placed them in last place in this regard in the league.
And you guessed it, the second statistic doesn’t really please the Rocket head coach.
“Until now, we have given up four or five goals per game. It’s sure that it’s hard to win matches when you give up so many goals. The goals conceded must go down,” admitted Houle, who met the media for the first time on Tuesday since his players’ 5-4 loss on Saturday in Belleville.
“Offensively, I think we score enough goals to win games. So for us, it comes down to defense. We have to be sure to be tighter, to play more tightly,” he added.
After limiting the Abbotsford Canucks to fewer than 30 shots in each of their first two games, the Rocket allowed an average of over 36 shots in their other three games.
“We give too many quality shots,” Houle admitted. Three or four fewer shots makes a big difference. »
That said, Houle is certainly not about to hit the panic button. While recognizing that the start of the 2023-24 season looks a bit like last year, the Rocket head coach does not characterize the overall situation as critical.
“Advanced statistics say that we are giving too many excess numbers. So, we will try to make sure we put a player a little higher up in defensive coverage to give fewer surpluses,” first explained Houle, who admits preferring 2-1 or 3-1 victories instead of 6-5.
“Also, we have to break the offensive games of other teams, be a little more aggressive. These are just small things to correct. It’s not critical and we could perhaps have had two more victories if we had managed the match a little better. These are things to learn for a young group. »
Less depth
In addition to having to refine various aspects of his team’s overall game, Houle also has to deal with a smaller group, in terms of numbers, than at the start of training camp.
Following the injury to defender David Savard Monday evening in Buffalo, the Canadian made an emergency recall of Gustav Lindström. At the same time, the Rocket announced that defender Brady Keeper, who suffered an upper-body injury on Saturday, will be sidelined for an indefinite period.
This injury is in addition to those to forwards Jared Davidson (upper body), Gabriel Bourque (lower body) and Emil Heineman (upper body). Rocket officials were unable to specify when all of these players will return to the game.
In addition, on Saturday, the Canadian recalled forward Joel Armia from the Rocket.
At the time of his meeting with journalists on Tuesday, Houle counted on 21 players. Not long ago, it was closer to 30 skaters, and Houle even had to juggle his playing staff to give quality ice time to just about everyone.
” It’s not surprising. That’s the American League, with call-ups and injuries. We had eight extra players, now we have one left. We will surely do a recall today for an attacker. We’re going to call Trois-Rivières and see who played well this weekend,” Houle said during his press briefing.
In the middle of the afternoon, Houle moved from words to action by recalling John Parker-Jones from the Trois-Rivières Lions.
A six-foot, seven-inch, 230-pound colossus, Parker-Jones has two assists in three games with the Lions this season. Last year, the 23-year-old forward appeared in 20 games with the Rocket and had three points, including two goals.