(Syracuse) Usually, before a big game, we try not to put a finger in the outlet, but Tobie Paquette-Bisson went to do just that on Monday.
Posted at 7:13 p.m.
The Rocket defenseman called Syracuse “not very intimidating…playing here so far hasn’t affected us, and also, we’re used to playing here.” »
So this is it. It may not be Mark Messier’s “guarantee” in 1994 or Richard Sévigny’s little pocket about Guy Lafleur’s future dominance over Wayne Gretzky, but it’s still something.
The big match in question here is that of Tuesday night in Syracuse, the fifth and last of this series against the Crunch. The series is tied at 2-2, and the loser will have to go home in a mixture of shame and disappointment.
“We are not going to change anything in what we do even if we lost the last match [samedi à Laval], added Paquette-Bisson. The playoffs are a marathon, it’s the same thing and we can’t wait… I think on Saturday we learned what a playoff game is. They played with great desperation, they had no choice but to win. We know it too, and we will have to be ready. »
But first, it will be necessary to score goals, an obvious fact that seemed to escape the Laval players during the fourth game, a 3-0 defeat.
Maxime Lagacé, the goalkeeper of the Crunch who was injured on Saturday, precisely, will not be able to resume his position, and it is Hugo Alnefelt who will again be in front of the net. The 20-year-old Swede was the Lightning’s third-round pick in the 2019 draft.
“It’s a game where we shouldn’t stress,” coach Jean-François Houle pointed out on Monday. The guys know it, they’ll be ready. We’re going to have to get a bigger offensive contribution, that’s for sure. Saturday’s game was the one where we had the fewest scoring chances, so we’ll have to create more than that this time around. »
There is probably nothing to add. It’s the last game of the series, it’s important, and for the Rocket, which has never been able to win a series since the club’s arrival in Laval in 2017, it’s probably even more important.
Jean-François Houle insisted on the fact of having to “remain calm” in the face of the challenge that awaits, but sometimes the quest for serenity is not so easy to achieve.
It remains to be seen what that will give… and also, if the words of Tobie Paquette-Bisson will prove to be prophetic or not.
His colleague Joel Teasdale wanted to be a bit more cautious.
“It’s sure that if we compare with the crowd at Place Bell, there are fewer people here, and also less noise, noted the young Rocket forward. But we also know that Crunch players are good here. We know them and we know them really well. So we will have to take advantage of our opportunities… and get back to what made us successful. »