Coming off a series split last weekend against the Belleville Senators, the Laval Rocket found themselves right back in the thick of things, clinging to a playoff spot by just two points. A two-game homestand stood in front of the Rocket, with the Syracuse Crunch rolling into town on Friday night with the Rocket needing desperately to secure points in regulation to keep their playoff spot.
J.-F. Houle again shuffled his lines, with Jacob Perreault heading to the fourth line, while Lucas Condotta moved up into the top six on the second line. Jakub Dobeš continued to be the preferred starter, and was quickly closing in on a rookie AHL record for starts as he logged his 47th of the year.
The Crunch took the opening minutes to control the flow of play, keeping the Rocket pressed back into their own zone while Syracuse circled through space with ease. Even with Laval on its back foot in the opening minutes, the Crunch were the first team to take a penalty with Tristan Allard being called for high-sticking.
As was the case in many recent games, the Rocket’s power play struggled to hold the zone, and even moreso to generate meaningful attacking opportunities. As the Crunch killed off the Laval’s power play, they drew a penalty of their own and headed to the man advantage. Laval’s penalty-killers remained dialed in, killing of Syracuse’s power play and leaving both sides still searching for an opening goal as the halfway mark of the period passed by.
Thanks to Philippe Myers, it wasn’t long before the Rocket found themselves back on the power play for a check to the head. It looked again like the Rocket’s man advantage was going to go without scoring until the composure of Justin Barron created a goal. Barron found his first shot from the point bouncing off a shin pad in front of goal, but he collected his own rebound and buried the second try by Brandon Halverson to make it a 1-0 game.
A late Crunch power play threatened to level the score, but the Rocket again stepped up to the task, killing off Perreault’s minor penalty and entering the first intermission with a 1-0 lead.
The opening minutes of the second period were a wild back and forth, first with Jakub Dobeš stretching out to deny Cole Koepke at one end, and at the other it was William Trudeau tucking a chance just wide of the post before Lias Andersson was denied by a diving defensive stick. On the next shift, Dobeš was again called upon to come across and swallow up a one-time opportunity to keep the Rocket lead intact, just before the Rocket drew another penalty.
A struggling power play created little as the Crunch killed off another Rocket man advantage, and that seemed to pump some life back into the Syracuse attack. While Laval had done well to mitigate scoring chances for most part, Allard needed just a small opening as he spun off Philippe Maillet and tucked a backhand shot by Dobeš to tie the game.
After the Crunch goal, and with Brandon Gignac exiting the game with a non-contact injury, it was Syracuse all over the Rocket, forcing Dobeš to be on his toes at all moments, including another Rocket power play. Things continued to go against the Rocket as the period trudged on, with the offence struggling to sustain possession and attack, while Dobeš and the defence continued to fend off strong Syracuse surges.
As the two sides headed into the second intermission, the momentum had firmly shifted into the visiting team’s favour, while the desperate home side needed some drastic changes to secure two points.
With the Senators well ahead on the out-of-town scoreboard, the Rocket needed a big third period to avoid seeing their playoff cushion disappear. With that in mind, the Rocket came out and continued to put forth a mostly lethargic effort while the Crunch were circling for their finishing blow. A cross-checking penalty on David Reinbacher gave Syracuse the opportunity, and in just 12 seconds Jack Finley buried his chance to put the Crunch in the lead.
As the time ticked away on the clock, it was Jakub Dobeš continuing to do everything he could to give the offence a chance to claw back into the game. That included an incredible sprawling save across his crease to take away a sure goal, and keep the Rocket’s deficit at just a single goal.
With 3:44 left to play, the Crunch handed the Rocket their last lifeline in the game as Koepke went off for tripping. In what has become a crippling trend, the power play yielded nothing, and the Crunch took the chance to bury a puck into the empty net and send Laval to a devastating loss.
Final Score: Syracuse 3, Laval 1
With Belleville’s victory and Laval’s loss, the Rocket now sit on the outside looking in for the last North Division playoff spot. The team has less than 24 hours to lick their wounds however, as they’ll welcome the Springfield Thunderbirds to Place Bell on Saturday with a 3:00 PM scheduled puck drop.
