Lucas Condotta Readies Laval Rocket for Game 5 at Place Bell
The laval rocket head into deciding Game 5 at Place Bell with Lucas Condotta leaning into the same job he has carried all season: set the tone, keep teammates engaged and make the home ice edge count. The captain said Friday he wants to bring the best out of the group as Laval tries to finish off the Toronto Marlies on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Condotta's role at Place Bell
"The way I see myself is just to bring the best out of my teammates," Condotta said after practice in Laval. He added, "Obviously, I’m there to support them. If something happens, obviously to protect them."
The 28-year-old is in his second season as Laval’s captain and has built that role around his work away from the score sheet. Pascal Vincent called him "a good man with a team-first attitude, on and off the ice" and said, "He’s a big brother, a protector, he dictates the pace in practices and games."
Condotta, listed at 6-foot-1 and 220 pounds, has not been a primary scoring driver for Laval, but he did post eight goals and 10 assists in 70 games during the regular season. He also logged 94 minutes in penalties, a total that fits the physical edge Vincent keeps pointing to when describing what he brings.
Penalty heavy stretch
That edge has already shown up in this series. Condotta served an automatic one-game suspension from Laval’s regular-season finale last month after his 10th fighting major, then took a double high-sticking minor five seconds into Game 3 against Toronto on Sunday. The Marlies scored on the ensuing power play six seconds later and went on to win 6-2.
Laval answered with a 4-0 victory on Tuesday, but that game had its own bite. Condotta took two third-period minors, seven players received misconducts and officials assessed 100 penalty minutes in all. The Rocket still left with the shutout, a cleaner result than the series opener in Toronto and the kind of response they needed before returning home.
Rocket's winner-take-all memory
Saturday’s game is not new territory for Laval. Rochester forced the Rocket to a fifth game in the North Division final last season, and Laval handled that test with a 5-0 home win. Cayden Primeau stopped 27 shots in that shutout, giving this group a recent example of how a deciding night can end at Place Bell.
Condotta said that experience matters. "It definitely helps," he said of having been through a winner-take-all situation before. Now the Rocket captain is again in the middle of a series with no margin left, with his job defined less by goals than by whether his teammates match his pace when the puck drops in Laval.
