After a long time away — five years to be exact — the Montreal Canadiens’ AHL affiliate was again taking the ice in the Calder Cup Playoffs. The first order of business for the Laval Rocket was a best-of-five series with the Syracuse Crunch, with the first two games taking place in Central New York.
While the Rocket added a number of prospects, including Mattias Norlinder, they kept their lineup mostly the same as they had down the stretch in the regular season. The red-hot trio of Gabriel Bourque, Nate Schnarr, and Joël Teasdale was kept together, while Brandon Gignac was put on the second line opposite Jesse Ylönen.