SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse Crunch were defeated by the Laval Rocket, 4-2, this afternoon at Place Bell.
The Crunch move to 17-11-1-1 on the season and 1-1-0-1 in the eight-game seasons series with the Rocket.
Crunch goaltender Ryan Fanti turned aside 15-of-19 shots faced. Kaapo Kähkönen earned the win putting a stop to 31-of-33 in net for the Rocket. Syracuse was held scoreless on two power play opportunities while Laval converted on both of its man-advantages.
The Rocket were first on the board five minutes into the opening frame. Sean Farrell picked up a puck that was dumped into the right corner and passed it to Alex Belzile who fired home a one-timer from the right circle. On a delayed penalty call, the Crunch evened the score, 1-1, at the 13:29 mark. Jakob Pelletier fed the puck from the right circle to Ethan Samson at the point, where he held it and then snapped it in to knot the score. Laval regained the lead, 2-1, while on the man-advantage with 9.6 seconds remaining in the period. Laurent Dauphin sent the puck cross-ice for Belzile to score his second of the afternoon off a one-timer from the left circle.
Florian Xhekaj gave the Rocket a 3-1 lead just 15 seconds into the second period with a snipe from the right circle. They added another power-play goal to make it 4-1 with six minutes remaining in the frame. Sean Farrell fired a shot from the right circle and Joshua Roy tipped it in from the left side of the crease.
Dylan Duke scored with 3:57 remaining in the third period to cut the Crunch deficit, 4-2. With an extra attacker, Mitchell Chaffee sent in a one-timer from the right circle and Duke deflected it in from in front of the net. The Syracuse comeback effort ultimately fell short and Laval earned the win, 4-2.
The Crunch close out their six-game road swing with a New Year’s Day matchup in Toronto.
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