With a pair of overtime defeats to the Rochester Americans in their rearview mirror, the Laval Rocket rolled east down I-90 to Syracuse for a showdown with the Crunch and former coach Joël Bouchard. While the Rocket played well in the previous two games, despite multiple call-ups, they were still mired in another slump in terms of victories.
Head coach J.-F. Houle made just one change heading into the game against the Crunch, with Xavier Simoneau being withdrawn for John Parker-Jones. Houle mentioned that Simoneau’s late penalty against Rochester factored into the decision. Jakub Dobeš got the start in net after Strauss Mann had gotten the nod the night before.
The start to the game was not one the Rocket wanted as Tobie Paquette-Bisson headed to the box just over 30 seconds in for hooking. The Crunch power play wasted little time as Felix Robert was loose in front of the net and buried the game’s first scoring opportunity to put Laval on the back foot just 74 seconds in.
Dobeš remained under siege as the Crunch built up a 9-1 shot advantage before Gage Goncalves cross-checked Nolan Yaremko in the face to put Laval on the power play. While the man advantage generated a few good looks on net, Matt Tomkins was there to keep the Rocket off the board as the game returned to even strength.
Laval found a quick answer after their power play as Olivier Galipeau forced a turnover, allowing Mitchell Stephens to take the lead of an odd-man rush down the ice. Riley Kidney jumped up in the rush with him, taking a perfect feed and burying it by Tomkins to tie the game up with just under nine minutes left to play in the opening frame.
Tempers began to flare as they often do between the two teams, kicking off a back-and-forth parade to the penalty box. First was Brady Keeper going off for interference, then Felix Robert was called for roughing, which was then followed up by a pair of off-setting roughing penalties behind the Crunch net.
With the game at four-on-four, the Rocket used their team speed to their advantage, with Brandon Gignac finding a second Laval goal. Logan Mailloux worked the puck along the right boards and fed Gignac who charged right through the slot to score his sixth goal of the season.
Period two started much like the first did for the Rocket, as Syracuse dominated control of the puck, keeping Laval hemmed in its own end of the ice. Eventually, the constant pressure wore down the Rocket as Goncalves fended off Sean Farrell while cutting across the front of goal. Mitchell Chaffee wasn’t picked up by William Trudeau until it was too late as the Crunch forward finished off Goncalves’s rebound to tie the game 2-2.
Laval began to work its way back into the contest. As it had so often in recent games, the bottom six was the catalyst for another tie-breaking goal. Riley McKay was on the spot to force a turnover on the end boards and flicked a pass into the slot. Jan Myšák was all alone and he rifled his third goal of the year off the crossbar and in to put the Rocket back on top.
Syracuse was left without an answer as the period came to a close, as Laval began to keep the Crunch far to the outside and allowing Dobeš to close down any loose pucks around his net. For a second straight period, it was the Rocket heading into the intermission with a lead, but being outshot 28-20.
After calling next to nothing for most of the game, the officials were finally forced to make a call on Felix Robert early in the third period. A struggling power play failed to create any breathing room between the Rocket and Crunch, leaving it a one-goal contest. Then, following the expiration of Robert’s penalty, the Rocket were called for a hook, putting them in a high-leverage penalty-killing situation of their own.
Laval did an admirable just killing off 95% of the minor penalty to Yaremko and looked like they were going to escape unscathed. But then Robert found a wide-open Goncalves, who uncorked a wicked one-timer that Dobeš had no chance at stopping, making it a 3-3 game.
Tempers boiled over following the goal as Stephens and Daniel Walcott came together in the offensive zone. The two had to be forcefully separated, and after the penalties were sorted out, the Rocket found themselves on yet another power play. The man advantage never got going before it was wiped out entirely as Kidney went to the penalty box for hooking.
The parade to the penalty box then continued as Trudeau was called for roughing as he broke up an attempted zone entry with a body check. Laval managed to survive a brief five-on-three then the remainder of Trudeau’s minor to keep things level entering the final stretch of the third period.
The Rocket found their legs late in the period, pressuring the Crunch over and over again, but Tomkins yielded nothing as the Rocket went to overtime for a third straight game this week.
For the first three minutes, neither side made any real attempt at trying to score a game-winning goal, with Laval content to mostly hold the puck and circle out of the offensive zone to regroup. Laval also began to make the more questionable decisions with the puck, forcing Dobeš to be on his toes to keep the Crunch from finding a late overtime winner.
The shootout wasn’t any more kind to the Rocket than the previous overtimes earlier in the week. Joshua Roy, Sean Farrell, and Mitchell Stephens were all denied while Joe Carroll scored the only goal to give the Crunch the second point on the night.
Final Score: Syracuse 4, Laval 3 (SO)
The Rocket now have a week off before they head out west to play the Abbotsford Canucks on Friday, December 1.
