After two overtime losses to the Rochester Americans, the Laval Rocket rolled east down I-90 to Syracuse for a showdown with the Crunch and former coach Jol Bouchard. Despite multiple call-ups, the Rocket had played well in the previous two games but were still mired in another losing streak.
Head coach J.-F. Houle made only one change for the game against the Crunch, withdrawing Xavier Simoneau in favor of John Parker-Jones. Houle stated that Simoneau’s late penalty against Rochester influenced his decision. After Strauss Mann got the start the night before, Jakub Dobe took over in net.
Tobie Paquette-Bisson was sent to the box for hooking just over 30 seconds into the game, which the Rocket did not want. The Crunch power play wasted no time, as Felix Robert was loose in front of the net and buried the game’s first scoring opportunity just 74 seconds in, putting Laval on the back foot.
The Crunch built a 9-1 shot advantage over Dobe before Gage Goncalves cross-checked Nolan Yaremko in the face to put Laval on the power play. While the man advantage produced a few good chances on goal, Matt Tomkins was on hand to keep the Rocket off the board once the game returned to even strength.
Following their power play, Laval’s Olivier Galipeau forced a turnover, allowing Mitchell Stephens to lead an odd-man rush down the ice. Riley Kidney joined him in the rush, taking a perfect feed and burying it by Tomkins to tie the game with just under nine minutes remaining in the first period.
As is customary between the two teams, tempers flared, resulting in a back-and-forth parade to the penalty box. Brady Keeper was called for interference first, then Felix Robert for roughing, which was followed by a pair of offsetting roughing penalties behind the Crunch net.
With the game at four-on-four, the Rocket took advantage of their team speed, with Brandon Gignac scoring a second Laval goal. Logan Mailloux advanced the puck along the right boards and fed Gignac, who raced through the slot for his sixth goal of the season.
Period two began similarly to the first for the Rocket, with Syracuse dominating puck control and keeping Laval confined to its own end of the ice. As Goncalves fended off Sean Farrell while cutting across the front of goal, the constant pressure wore down the Rocket. William Trudeau didn’t notice Mitchell Chaffee until it was too late, as the Crunch forward finished off Goncalves’ rebound to tie the game 2-2.
Laval began to claw its way back into the competition. The bottom six was once again the catalyst for another tie-breaking goal, as it had been in recent games. Riley McKay was on the end boards to force a turnover and flicked a pass into the slot. Jan Myák was all alone, and he rifled his third goal of the season off the crossbar and into the net to put the Rocket back in front.
As the period came to a close, Syracuse was left without an answer, as Laval began to keep the Crunch far to the outside, allowing Dobe to close down any loose pucks around his net. For the second straight period, the Rocket led but was outshot 28-20 at the intermission.
After calling virtually nothing for the majority of the game, officials were forced to make a call on Felix Robert early in the third period. A struggling power play failed to put any distance between the Rocket and the Crunch, leaving it a one-goal game. The Rocket were then called for a hook after Robert’s penalty expired, putting them in a high-leverage penalty-killing situation their own.
Laval did an admirable job, killing off 95% of the minor penalty to Yaremko and appearing to be on the verge of escaping unscathed. But then Robert found a wide-open Goncalves, who unleashed a vicious one-timer that Dobe had no chance of stopping, tying the game at 3-3.
Following the goal, Stephens and Daniel Walcott collided in the offensive zone, causing tempers to flare. The two had to be separated by force, and once the penalties were resolved, the Rocket found themselves on yet another power play. The man advantage was never established before Kidney was sent to the penalty box for hooking.
Trudeau was called for roughing after breaking up an attempted zone entry with a body check, continuing the parade to the penalty box. Laval survived a brief five-on-three and the rest of Trudeau’s minor to keep the game tied heading into the final stretch of the third period.
The Rocket found their legs late in the period, repeatedly pressing the Crunch, but Tomkins yielded nothing as the Rocket went to overtime for the third time this week.
Neither team attempted to score a game-winning goal in the first three minutes, with Laval content to mostly hold the puck and circle out of the offensive zone to regroup. Laval also began to make questionable puck decisions, forcing Dobe to stay alert in order to prevent the Crunch from scoring late in overtime.
The shootout did not treat the Rocket any better 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 of the game to give the Crunch a point.
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