Previewing The Laval Rocket’s Series Vs. Toronto Marlies

Despite having won the North Division, the Rocket are coming into this series having lost four straight meetings with the Marlies, including the last two regular season games of the AHL campaign. The two teams have however, split the last 10 games, with the Rocket and the Markies winning 5 meetings each. The Rocket will obviously have their hands full given their recent struggles against the Marlies, but they have good AHL playoff experience in their lineup that should help flip their luck vs. their archrivals.

Along with Kahkonen, who took his Checkers to the Calder Cup Finals last season, the Rocket also have Sammy Blais, who really turned his game to the next level in last year’s AHL Playoffs. The Rocket forward helped lead the Abbotsford Canucks to a Calder Cup championship last year as he scored 6 goals and 19 points in 23 playoff games, which was 3rd in team scoring throughout the run. His great playoff experience will surely help the Rocket through the first round and onward as he serves as one of the team leaders during the playoffs.

Blais is also coming into the playoffs as one of the two players on the Rocket roster along with Laurent Dauphin who have posted over a point per game, finishing the season with 14 goals and 38 points in 35 AHL games. He could be an offensive x-factor that can make a difference for the Rocket in Round 1. Blais really is the perfect player that can do it all, which is why he will be a Rocket player to watch out for during the series.

Dauphin, who was the offensive leader of the Rocket for the majority of the season, should also be back at some point during the best-of-5 series as he appears to be coming close to ready for a return after he got injured back on March 13th. His return to the lineup would be a massive boost that could be a difference maker later in the series if the Rocket have some difficulties early on.

Another big addition to the team is top Montreal Canadiens prospect David Reinbacher, who actually finished the regular season up with the big club and will take what he learned from being around NHL players directly into this series, which should make him a force for the Rocket in their Round 2 matchup. Expect Reinbacher to command the puck and control a lot of the play up ice as he tries showing why he is close to NHL-ready.

Meanwhile, if the Canadiens get eliminated at any point on Friday or Sunday, the Rocket getting Jacob Fowler in net and Adam Engstrom on the blue line will also be a massive help for them to win this series.

It won’t be easy for the Rocket to win the series, but they do have more recent playoff success after most of the players were on the Eastern Conference Finals team last year, as well as Kahkonen and Blais, who were in last year’s Calder Cup Finals against one another. Meanwhile, there are veterans on the Marlies, but they haven’t gone far in the AHL playoffs over the last couple years.

If you want to tune in and listen to the official audio broadcast of the Rocket’s Game 1 matchup against the Marlies, click here.