SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse Crunch had a late comeback effort, but fell just short in a 3-2 loss to the Laval Rocket tonight at Place Bell.
After going down by three, Alex Barre-Boulet and Boris Katchouk found the back of the net for the Crunch late in the third to pull the Crunch within one. The team was unable to find the equalizer and move to 17-15-2-1 on the season and 1-2-0-0 in the six-game season series with Laval.
Goaltender Zach Fucale turned aside 12-of-15 shots in his first start with the Crunch this season. Keith Kinkaid earned the win with 33 saves in net for the Rocket. Syracuse went 1-for-4 on the power play, while Laval converted on their only man-advantage.
The Rocket were first on the board, scoring on their only shot of the first period while on the power play at the 15:52 mark. Michael McCarron won the faceoff in the right circle and sent it back for Xavier Ouellet to fire from the point.
Laval doubled their lead 48 seconds into the third period when Yannick Veilleux sniped a shot from the right faceoff dot. Assists went to Otto Leskinen and McCarron.
At 5:04, the Rocket made it a three-goal lead off a breakaway goal by Ralph Cuddemi from the right circle. Kevin Lynch tallied a point on the play.
The Crunch finally stole one back with a power-play goal halfway through the final frame. Barre-Boulet ripped a hard slap shot from the left point off a pass from Cal Foote. Danick Martel earned the secondary helper.
Syracuse came back within one at the 15:22 mark. Foote sent a cross-zone feed down to Mathieu Joseph in the right corner. He quickly centered a pass for Katchouk to redirect in from in front of the net.
Laval was able to stifle the comeback effort and took the 3-2 victory.
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