Canadiens Top Prospects Start Third Playoff Round In Style

Several of the top Montreal Canadiens prospects are participating in the third round of the Canadian Hockey League playoffs.

Owen Beck (Peterborough Petes), Joshua Roy (Sherbrooke Phoenix), Jared Davidson (Seattle Thunderbirds), Logan Mailloux (London Knights), and Riley Kidney (Gatineau Olympiques) have all qualified for the third round of their respective league playoffs, which signals two things.

The Memorial Cup has a decent chance of having a healthy Canadiens presence, but more importantly in the short term, the quality of competition has risen significantly.

That’s not to say their results in the first two rounds should be ignored, but given the talent discrepancy between teams in the QMJHL, OHL, and WHL, the early production in the playoffs should probably be taken with a great of salt.

Or, alternatively, we should pay a little more attention to their results now that they’re facing some of the best teams in the country.

Davidson Keeps Scoring

We already discussed Jared Davidson’s impressive scoring pace in the first two rounds, which saw the overage player produce five goals and eight assists in just eight games.

Davidson kept up his fantastic play by scoring the series-opening game against the Kamloops Blazers (0:00 in the clip below). The game resulted in a 5-1 win for the Thunderbirds.

Not only did he open the scoring with one of his patented one-timers, but he also followed it up with his seventh goal of the playoffs late in the third period (0:23).

To top it all off, Davidson registered the type of assist that will serve him well once he makes the jump to professional hockey. Take a look at how quickly and efficiently Davidson disrupted the Kamloops defence with his active stick and aggressive forecheck (0:38). Essentially, he created a scoring play out of nothing, which is a common sight whenever Davidson is on the ice.

His three-point effort puts his playoff totals at seven goals and nine assists in nine games, good for the ninth-best points-per-game pace in the league (1.78 PPG).

Roy Is King

Truth be told, Jacob Melanson was the Sherbrooke Phoenix’s most valuable player in their series-opening game against the Halifax Mooseheads, which resulted in a 5-2 win for Sherbrooke.

With three goals in the first period, Melanson essentially sealed the victory before Halifax had a chance to recuperate.

But as is tradition, Roy made an impact, scoring his 11th goal of the playoffs early in the second period. The goal ended up being the insurance marker for the Phoenix and was the result of a nice tic-tac-toe play between Roy, Ethan Gauthier, and Justin Gill.

With the goal, Roy now has 11 goals and 11 assists in just nine playoff games, good for second overall in QMJHL playoff scoring.

Devil’s Haircut

One of the biggest mysteries in the OHL this season was how poorly the Kitchener Rangers and Peterborough Petes played down the stretch despite adding several high-end players to the roster.

But the Petes have quickly flipped the script.

Not only did they sweep the Sudbury Wolves in the first round, but they also went on to shock the OHL by beating Vinzenz Rohrer and the league-leading Ottawa 67’s in the secohttps://streamable.com/8j9zj8nd round.

And they carried their momentum into the third round, aided by Canadiens prospect Owen Beck’s sudden uptick in scoring.

Beck has two goals and four assists in his last four playoff games, including a nice goal (0:00) in the opening game of the series versus the North Bay Battalion, a game the Petes won 3-2.

Beck also assisted on the game-winning goal by Connor Lockhart. (0:26).