Coming off another tough weekend on the road, the Laval Rocket found themselves in the relatively friendly confines of Place Bell. They were preparing to start a crucial homestand, and standing in front of them was arguably their most heated rival, the Syracuse Crunch.
Laval got a slight boost as Lucas Condotta returned to the lineup, while the Crunch got Alex Barre-Boulet after the veteran cleared waivers. As expected, it was Jakub Dobeš who got the nod for the Rocket, while Matt Tomkins started for the Crunch.
It was a struggle out of the gate as the Crunch swarmed all over the Rocket puck-carriers, giving them little space to operate while Syracuse dominated the flow of the game. To compound issues, the Rocket having to chase after plays resulted in back-to-back penalties, forcing the Laval penalty kill into early work.
Thankfully for the Rocket, Dobeš was unflappable in the early going as the Crunch picked apart the Rocket structure with quick passes and movement. In addition to Dobeš putting in a fantastic effort, the Crunch’s final passes to the net-front were just a touch wide, and swept out of danger. Even a power play for the Rocket wasn’t enough to stem the early tide as the man advantage failed to generate much in terms of quality against the Crunch.
Before long, the dam that Dobeš was holding sprung its first leak with just over 15 minutes gone. The top line of the Crunch pushed the Rocket back in the offensive zone, with Barre-Boulet putting a feed into the slot for Gage Goncalves, and Goncalves buried his shot past the glove of Dobeš to make it 1-0.
The Rocket were rather lucky to enter the first intermission trailing by just a goal as they were outshot 16-3 in the first period, far from what they wanted in front of a sold-out Place Bell.
Things did not exactly improve in the opening minutes of the second period, with Tobie Paquette-Bisson hammering Declain Carlile from behind, earning the Rocket defenceman a major penalty. After spending the first period under siege, the Rocket penalty-killers did an incredible job at keeping the Crunch power play off the board, while generating numerous short-handed rushes for themselves.
With a huge penalty kill in their back pocket, the Rocket finally showed signs of life. Logan Mailloux, who had struggled in recent weeks, was the one who helped break it open, all while standing behind his own net. He collected a loose puck and with his head up fired a lengthy stretch pass right to Mitchell Stephens. The veteran forward snuck in behind the defence on a change, settled the puck, and then snapped it to the right corner of the net to tie things up with just under half a period left to play.
Stephens’s goal brought the Rocket right back into the thick of the game, and before long it was the home team that was fully in control heading into the final minutes of the second. With the momentum on their side, the Rocket struck again just before the second intermission, leaving the Crunch stunned.
Jared Davidson got the puck in deep, dropping it off for Sean Farrell, who fired a behind-the-back pass to Philippe Maillet. The veteran forward accepted the pass before ripping his 16th goal of the season by Tomkins to give Laval the lead.
The Crunch came out firing quickly in the third however, with Goncalves weaving through the Rocket defence, and tucking a backhand shot through the five-hole of Dobeš to tie the game.
Things got a bit ugly as the third period approached its midpoint. William Trudeau was advancing the puck forward but had it stripped off his stick in the Rocket zone. With the puck clearly gone and Trudeau looking back for it, Daniel Walcott hammered him with a leaping hit that left the Rocket defender dazed on the ice.
Laval’s ensuing power play threatened repeatedly, but timely sticks from the Crunch kept the man advantage from giving the lead back. The five-on-five play wasn’t made to last though, as Xavier Simoneau agitated Joe Carroll by holding onto his stick, and Carroll responded by hurling Simoneau to the ice.
With extra space on the ice, the Rocket set to using their speed to create space and chances, with Emil Heineman ducking in and out of defenders while wiring two shots just wide of the Crunch goal. Moments after the play returned back to even strength, Tristan Allard and Nathan Légaré threw off the gloves as tempers continued to boil over between the divisional rivals.
From there, both teams seemed content to get at least one point on the night, and the Crunch emphasized that point by holding the puck behind their net for the final 30 seconds of the period, and shifting the game to overtime.
It looked like everything was lining up for the Rocket to slay their rival in overtime. They held the puck and pushed Syracuse back off the rush, but couldn’t squeak another chance by Tomkins. Things turned in an instant, with Farrell missing his swing on a bouncing puck, allowing the Crunch to start an odd-man rush down the ice. Sean Day put it on the stick of Gabriel Fortier and Fortier secured a second point for the Crunch while Heineman crashed into the goalpost in a desperate attempt to break up the pass.
Final Score: Syracuse 3, Laval 2
The loss kept the Rocket out of a playoff spot in the AHL’s North Division, five points behind Rochester with 17 games left on the schedule. It doesn’t get easier for Laval either, as they welcome the division-leading Cleveland Monsters on Friday night for the start of a two-game series.
