SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse Crunch defeated the Laval Rocket, 4-1, tonight at Place Bell.
Twelve Crunch skaters recorded a point in the win, with four different goal scorers and eight others notching assists. The Crunch advanced to 12-9-4-3 on the season and 1-2-1-1 in the eight-game season series against the Rocket.
Crunch goaltender Matt Tomkins stopped 22-of-23 shots. Connor Hughes turned aside 19-of-23 for the Rocket. The Syracuse power play was held scoreless on four opportunities, while the penalty kill was a perfect 5-for-5.
The Crunch opened scoring 6:08 into the first period. Hughes made the initial save on Max Groshev’s shot, but the puck bounced to Daniel Walcott who potted it from the slot.
Just 1:21 into the second frame, Milo Roelens extended the Syracuse lead. A turnaround shot from Joel Teasdale created the rebound off the back boards for Roelens to stuff in from the right post. With 5:41 left in the period, the Crunch extended their lead, 3-0. Gabriel Fortier won the face-off in the right circle and dished it back to Declan Carlile. Carlile fed the puck to Roman Schmidt at the right point who fired a long shot through traffic and past Hughes.
The Rocket found the back of the net for their first goal of the night at the 10:56 mark of the final frame. Tyler Wotherspoon hammered a one-timer off the face-off to trim the Crunch lead, 3-1. Jack Finley reestablished Syracuse’s three-goal lead with just under eight minutes remaining. Fortier picked up his second assist of the night on a breakaway chance as he turned and dished the puck to Finley who netted a one-timer from the slot.
The Crunch and Rocket close out the weekend series in Laval tomorrow afternoon.
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