(ROCHESTER, NY) Revenge is a dish that, like leftover pizza, is best eaten cold. Jean-Sébastien Dea hopes to get his – his revenge, not his pizza from the day before – on Wednesday evening.
Posted at 1:53 p.m.
Dea and the Laval Rocket will try to eliminate the Rochester Americans and thus advance to the Eastern Conference final. The Rocket leads the series 2-0 and since it’s a 3 of 5 format, the Laval residents could finish as early as Wednesday.
For Dea, it would be an opportunity to send his former bosses on vacation. The 28-year-old Quebecer played two seasons, from 2019 to 2021, in the Buffalo Sabers organization. He spent most of his time with the farm club in Rochester and was only allowed four games with the Sabers.
“That would be the fun. It’s not relative [à Rochester]but it would be fun to put him back in Buffalo’s face,” Dea said after morning practice at Blue Cross Arena.
“It’s not necessarily a turd on the heart. In life, when you’ve experienced a difficult scenario… It’s not to put them in the face, but to prove them that they were wrong. It’s to show them that I was capable of doing beautiful things and that they could have had something good. But it’s part of hockey and I understand that. »
If we trust the combinations observed in training, Dea should once again pilot a trio with hopefuls Jesse Ylönen and Rafaël Harvey-Pinard as wingers. In fact, the Laval team will remain unchanged, which obviously includes Cayden Primeau, intractable since the start of the playoffs. He’s 5-1 with a 1.65 ERA and .949 save this spring.
“I feel confident. I try not to talk to him too much and leave him in his bubble, admitted Rocket head coach Jean-François Houle. When a goalie is confident like that, you try to let him do his thing. But the way he controls the returns, the way he plays with the puck, he has a lot of confidence. »
No return and a surprise
Speaking of goalie, it will once again be Aaron Dell in goal for Rochester. The veteran is having a tough streak with a 3.54 GAA and .878 save percentage. In two games against Laval in this series, he gave up 7 times on only 52 shots.
Seth Appert, the Americans’ charismatic pilot, indicated that goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was “very close” to a return, but that it will not be for Wednesday. The 23-year-old Finn, choice of 2and tour in 2017, is seen as an interesting prospect for the Sabers in net and has even had the right to nine games in the big league this year. But in the meantime, Rochester will have to find a way to win with Dell, a former Sharks player.
The revival of the Americans also involves an offensive awakening. Young Jack Quinn, 8and 2020 overall pick, has just two assists in nine games, and still no goals, after stacking up 61 points in 45 games this season. But Quinn had eight shots on goal in the last game and Appert believes he could have scored “four goals”.
“Sometimes when a goalkeeper is playing well, the leaps are good for him. Jack beat Primeau, but the puck hit the shaft of his stick. These games end up piling up. »
Finally, note that the Americans will be without veteran Ben Holmstrom, suspended for two games on Tuesday for a blow to the head of Rocket defender Mattias Norlinder. The incident happened at the end of the first game of the series, but strangely, the sanction fell the day after the second game. Holmstrom could therefore have participated in game number 2 (Appert simply left him out).
“I don’t like the fact that it came out after the next game,” Appert said. It shouldn’t be like that, neither for the player, nor for us. I could have used him in the last game even knowing that a suspension was possible. It does not make sense. »
Expected formation of the Rocket
- RHP-Dea-Ylonen
- Gignac-Paquette-Belzile
- Bourque-Abbandonato-Martel
- Condotta Schnarr Teasdale
- Ouellet-Belpedio
- Bisson Schueneman
- Niku Dello
- Primeau