Fresh off a 9-3 thrashing of the Rochester Americans on Friday night, the Laval Rocket made the 90-minute trek east down I-90 to square off with the Syracuse Crunch on Saturday night. While the night was dedicated to the newest members of the Crunch Hall off Fame, including former Hamilton Bulldog and St. John’s IceCap captain Gabriel Dumont, the Rocket still had a chance to go 11 points clear atop the North Division.
With bodies in short supply thanks to illness and injury, the Rocket made just one change to the lineup on Saturday. In net, it was Hunter Jones getting the start after Kaapo Kähkönen started every game over the last two weeks with Jacob Fowler out sick.
The Rocket didn’t look any worse for wear as they started the game, limiting looks for the Crunch while generating chances of their own from the point in the opening minutes. However, it took just a little bit of space for Syracuse to open up the scoring. Dylan Duke found a seam down the right wing, and with the Rocket defence cheating to take away a potential pass, Duke took the space and put his shot off the crossbar and in to make it a 1-0 game.
Laval was not fazed by Duke’s goal and, much like Friday night’s game, they found their response goal quickly. Sean Farrell and Joshua Roy kept a puck alive, opening up a spot down the wing for Farrell to barrel toward the net. With his head up, Farrell found Alex Belzile wide-open in the slot, and Belzile got all of his shot, squeaking it through the arm of Brandon Halverson to tie the game up early in the first period.
As these contests often do, things began to get physical as the opening period went along. Marc Del Gaizo took exception to a hit by Jakob Pelletier, and in turn gave him a two-handed slash which put the Rocket on the penalty kill. While he allowed the early goal, it was Jones who came up big on the penalty kill as the Crunch swarmed the front of goal.
Unfortunately for the Rocket, they repeated a similar mistake to their first goal allowed, right down to the goal-scorer. Tristan Allard saw Duke breaking in to the top of the zone, and with the puck on Duke’s stick he backed off Nate Clurman. Duke took the space Clurman allowed him and ripped one by Jones to make it a 2-1 game with just over half the period gone.
While the Rocket had their chances, the briefest openings they provided for the Crunch continued to result in the puck finding the back of the net. Mitchell Chaffee worked in through the slot and around Clurman once again as he powered a low shot off the post and in to make it a 3-1 game.
Luckily for the Rocket, a strong fourth-line shift drew a penalty to end the period and allowed Laval to start the second frame with a full two-minute power play.
It looked like the Rocket power play was going to struggle in the early going against a strong Syracuse penalty kill, but a bit of extra effort by Belzile made all the difference. In a puck battle with Jarred Tinordi, Belzile outworked the defenceman to keep the puck in the zone and it was Joshua Roy who came away with it. Roy paused a moment, then found Sammy Blais charging forward, and Blais ripped his chance by the glove of Halverson to make it a 3-2 contest.
Laval’s constant pressure allowed them to draw another penalty and possibly find a tying goal after a tough first period. The Rocket man advantage did just about everything except score on Halverson as they piled up shot after shot, but weren’t able to bury the final chances as the Crunch held on against the onslaught.
Even after killing off the second penalty of the period, the Crunch again had to face the Rocket power play as Will Dineen’s hustle drew an offensive zone penalty. It took 26 seconds for the Rocket to surrender a short-handed goal after Roy and David Reinbacher got their wires crossed at the point. As Roy tried to smack the puck up the wall it was picked off by Brendan Furry, and on the short-handed rush Furry deked Jones out of his skates before tucking it in on the backhand to make it 4-2.
Furry’s goal took the wind right out of the Rocket’s sails as the power play tried to make up for the earlier mistake. While Blais grazed a shot off the outside of the post, the power play didn’t come all that close to finding another goal and left the Rocket facing a two-goal deficit.
That deficit became three very quickly as Jones failed to collect an easy rebound and Ethan Samson buried it in the slot to make it 5-2.
Frustrations then began to run high for the Rocket as Blais came up high on a hit on Duke and ended up with a two-minute minor penalty for his troubles. The Crunch, smelling blood in the water, were all over the Rocket penalty-killers, who were struggling to find enough time to clear the puck. Yet they managed to free Blais from the box without allowing another goal.
The Crunch were content to sit on their lead as the Rocket offence was seemingly unable to get out of second gear as the second period wore on. While the Rocket had a strong start to the period and a lead on the shot clock, they entered the second intermission trailing 5-2.
Laval didn’t start the third period in the fashion they would have hoped for as Roy was dinged for hooking just 69 seconds in, putting a dangerous Crunch power play back on the ice. Against a strong push from Syracuse, the Rocket penalty-killers flustered the Crunch power play and freed Roy from the box.
The Rocket soon found themselves making a game of it once more. Blais battled through a pair of Crunch defenders for a loose puck, then managed to send a pass right across the zone to Owen Beck. Beck was able to turn Blais’s pass into a perfect one-timer that beat Halverson to cut the Syracuse lead to two goals.
As strong as the offensive effort was, the defence and goaltending were continuing to not meet the moment as the Rocket tried to mount their comeback. William Trudeau was forced off the puck by Ethan Gauthier, and that allowed Gauthier to put a low shot by Jones to make it a 6-3 game, putting a damper on the brief comeback hopes for Laval.
Laval’s special teams managed to drag the team back into the game as Roy and Blais combined to find the back of the net again. As a Rocket power play began to wind down, it was Blais battling through a check to get a puck over to Roy in the offensive zone. Roy powered by a defender of his own, and slapped a low shot through the five-hole to cut the deficit down to two goals again.
Before long it was down to the wire for the Rocket and they opted to pull Jones to see if they could salvage at least a point on the night. The Rocket offence did all it could with Jones on the bench, attacking relentlessly for almost three straight minutes while the Crunch were holding on by a thread.
Belzile, Roy, and Blais were all robbed by the glove and blocker of Halverson as they threw multiple chances at the Crunch net. However, with around 45 seconds left on the clock a lunging blocker save by Halverson cleared the zone, and the Rocket were out of gas and couldn’t pull off a last minute miracle.
Final Score: Syracuse 6, Laval 4
Laval will now head back to Place Bell for the next three games, and hopefully will get some positive news on the health front after playing this week without multiple stars. The Rocket and Crunch will play once more on Wednesday night, and puck drop is set for 7 PM ET.
