Last night, Jacob Fowler was roughed up in the Rocket’s loss in game #4. As a result, the series is now 2-2… and a final game (reminder: this is a 3-of-5 series) between the Rocket and the Americans will be played tomorrow.
What got everyone talking, though, was the fact that Fowler was in front of the net in the first place. After all, Cayden Primeau was smoking in Game #3… but the club wanted to keep its rotation in front of the net.
And after the game, Pascal Vincent justified the decision: he doesn’t seem to regret sending his young goalie in front of the net.
It’s not necessarily unanimous in the sense that many feel that in the playoffs, you have to go with the guy who’s on fire. And that was Primeau.
But last night, Anthony Desaulniers revealed an interesting piece of information: according to what he heard, it wasn’t Vincent who had the final say on the decision to send Fowler in front of the net yesterday.
And that’s where it makes sense to think that the Canadiens play a big role in what’s happening in front of the net in Laval right now.
Obviously, for the Canadiens, Fowler is much more part of the future plans than Primeau, who will possibly leave the organization within the next few weeks if the club doesn’t make him a qualifying offer. Primeau will become a restricted free agent on July 1.
This raises the serious question of how much of a discrepancy there is between what the Habs want and what Vincent wants, right now. The big club undoubtedly wants to see Fowler play big games in the playoffs with his club-school… while the coach has seen Primeau lead the club to the playoffs this season.
Is this why the club has been rotating since the start of the playoffs? It would make sense: both get a bit of what they want.
Logic dictates that Primeau, who has been superior to Fowler in the current series, will be in net for the final game of this series, tomorrow. If the Rocket go through to the next round, though, it will be very interesting to see whether Primeau, who would then have won all three of his starts, would have to give up his spot for Game #1 of the next series… even if Pascal Vincent, who must be thinking he’d be fine in the NHL where he’d have less to deal with the demands of the big club’s bosses, wouldn’t necessarily agree.
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