The Laval Rocket’s trek through the AHL’s North Division continued on Wednesday night. After a bit of an uneven ending to February, they looked to get March off on the right foot. They again squared off with the Syracuse Crunch with a chance to close their playoff magic number down to just 11 points.
The Rocket would be without starting netminder Jacob Fowler and forward Florian Xhekaj whose illnesses both kept them out of the lineup once again. Will Dineen again centred the fourth line with Luke Tuch and Tyler Thorpe, while Kaapo Kähkönen got the start in net. It wasn’t all bad news for the Rocket though, as leading scorer Laurent Dauphin rejoined the team after missing a few games with a minor injury.
After the two sides combined for 10 goals in their previous meeting, both coaches clearly got their message through that they did not want to witness another offensive shootout. Through the opening 14-and-a-half minutes, there were just eight total shots on goal, and maybe only one of real danger that po Kähkönen smothered without real issue.
Those eight shots would end up being the only real action of the opening period as both the Rocket and Crunch failed to really get their offences in gear in the opening period. While Syracuse held the advantage six shots to two, it was hard to say that it mattered all that much as the sides headed to the first intermission scoreless.
The second period featured a much stronger start for the Rocket in the opening minutes, even if the goals weren’t connecting. A well-timed interception turned into a two-on-zero rush for Will Dineen and Luke Tuch, with the latter getting a pair of chances to open the scoring but was denied by the pads of Brandon Halverson. The good fortune appeared to continue for Laval as Reece Newkirk was dinged for playing the puck without a helmet. After a brief meeting of the officials, however, they deemed that William Trudeau had removed it during a board battle and also sent the Rocket defenceman to the box.
In what was becoming a startling trend, during the four-on-four period the officials handed the Crunch a power-play opportunity after they deemed that Laurent Dauphin held a Syracuse player down along the boards. Facing down a four-on-three without their leading penalty-killer was a huge task, but Kähkönen and the penalty-killing units allowed just two shots on net, and kept it a 0-0 draw.
The game settled into the familiar patterns of the first period, with neither side really leveraging their few opportunities into an opening goal. However, with just over half the period gone it was a daring drive through the middle of the Crunch defence by Owen Beck that drew a penalty, and a first power play for the Rocket.
The lack of cohesion for the offence continued to be apparent as the power play could only settle for a few long-range shots from the point by David Reinbacher and Marc Del Gaizo as the play returned to even strength. Then, on the back of another dubious call for roughing, the Rocket went back to the penalty kill as Luke Tuch headed to the penalty box.
The Rocket penalty kill was again in top form, keeping Syracuse from generating much pressure and allowing Tuch to escape the penalty box. As Tuch was freed, the pressure of the Rocket drew their second penalty of the period and opened the door to maybe break open the deadlock in the dying minutes.
Again the power play wasn’t able to generate much in terms of sustained pressure, despite Reinbacher flying up and down the ice, dangling around defenders, and getting a few looks. While the power play continued to misfire, the Rocket didn’t help their case in the dying seconds at even strength. Joshua Roy freed up Filip Mesar through the middle of the ice, with the Slovak finding himself all alone on goal … then passing off to absolutely no one as he made one move too many.
While the shots were more plentiful in the second period, the game remained a 0-0 deadlock as the two rivals headed into the locker rooms for the second intermission.
After a more positive second period, the Rocket started the final period of regulation with Dineen taking a penalty as he caught Wyatt Newpower around the face with his stick, putting the penalty-killers back in a high-leverage situation. In response to yet another kill, the Rocket penalty kill went on the offensive as they outshot the Crunch man advantage and sprung Dineen from the box.
For every Crunch attack, the Rocket had a counter ready to go. Even if the final touch was still lacking, the momentum was turning in favour of Laval. A strong push by Nate Clurman drew another power play for the Rocket, and again gave them an opportunity to snag the opening goal. Despite all the momentum in their favour, the Rocket power play failed to break down the Crunch penalty kill and didn’t even register a shot on net.
The missed power-play opportunities finally burned the Rocket as their first major mistake of the game resulted in Syracuse finally finding a goal. Reinbacher’s mistimed pass, along with a teammate blowing a tire on the blue line, left William Trudeau alone defending a three-on-one rush in his own end. While he did well to take away the shooting options from Dylan Duke, the Crunch forward fed a pass to Newpower who one-timed it by Kähkönen to make it a 1-0 contest.
With just over two minutes left and options beginning to run low the Rocket had no choice but to empty their net for the extra attacker to try to tie the game. Instead, a lazy pass on the half-boards was picked off as it was sent toward Reinbacher. Pelletier made no mistake burying it from the neutral zone to send the Rocket toward a disheartening shutout loss.
Final Score: Syracuse 2, Laval 0
With the NHL Trade Deadline approaching, the Rocket might be in line for some reinforcements, but above all else are sorely missing the presence of Adam Engström and Florian Xhekaj. In front of them next on Friday night is a rematch with the Rochester Americans, who are likely spoiling for a fight after the Rocket hung nine goals on them last week.
