ROCKET
Laval

5-4

CRUNCH
Syracuse

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Rychel – Cracknell – Terry
Boucher – McCarron – Waked
Petti – Eisenschmid – Gregoire
Ebbing – Blain – Leef[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Gelinas – Lernout
Bourque – Leblanc
Parisi – Corrin[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:
Fucale
McNiven

Scratches:

Yannick Veilleux (lower body), Matt Taormina (upper body), David Broll (day-to-day), Daniel Audette (lower body), Tyson Wilson

Injury List:

Jeremiah Addison (shoulder)

Game Report

Syracuse is never an easy building for visiting teams to play in, with it’s tough, physical, speedy home team and enthusiastic fans. The Laval Rocket knew they had a battle ahead of them when they arrived on Saturday.

The opening period, except for an early goal by Chris Terry off of a nice set-up play by Michael McCarron and Jordan Boucher, was not the start the Rocket were likely looking for.

Dominik Masin took a seat on a hooking call and during the power play Gabriel Dumont and Michael Bournival combined for a quick shorthanded goal. Erik Condra then put the Crunch ahead with a sharp-angled shot down low on a rebound which Zach Fucale couldn’t get across the crease to save.  The period was a series of bad passes, mishandled pucks, and sloppy play.

The second period didn’t get much better. Dennis Yan converted on the power play on another rebound to put the Crunch up by two goals.  The Rocket, on the other hand, had four man-advantage opportunities in the frame but only scored on one of them.

Jordan Boucher drove the net and, with a nice backhand-forehand combination, put the puck past netminder Eddie Pasquale.

But Syracuse responded again, with another power play goal of their own, and the Rocket were looking defeated. Frustrations bubbled up, and the bench looked a bit resigned to another disappointing game. The team was outshot 14-4 in the period, and were being outplayed at every opportunity.

Things turned around completely in the third period. Laval began on a power play, and in 12 seconds Antoine Waked managed to get his team within one goal. With renewed energy and the Crunch in their sights, the Rocket went to work hard.

Jeremy Gregoire and Masin dropped the gloves not long after Waked’s goal and that woke up the visiting bench even more. The team pressured Syracuse in their own zone, and started getting quality chances on net.

Finally the hard work paid off and, with his second goal in as many games since being traded to Laval, Kerby Rychel found the back of the net to tie the game with just under five minutes remaining.

In overtime, both teams exhausted their three-man units as the pace was quick and very physical. Both goaltenders held their own, and the game seemed destined for a shootout until Gregoire combined with Willie Corrin and Rychel to give the Rocket a much-needed victory on the road.

The team now travels to Rochester where they hope to find their way to another two points against a tough Americans team in an afternoon matinee matchup before heading home for three games.

▲     Kerby Rychel, Antoine Waked, Chris Terry, Jeremy Gregoire, Jordan Boucher

▼     Eric Gelinas, Jackson Leef

1. Jeremy Gregoire  LAV
2. Gabriel Dumont  SYR
3. Dennis Yan  SYR

Post-game interview with Jeremy Gregoire

Post-game interview with Kerby Rychel

Post-game interview with Antoine Waked

Interviews conducted by Amy Johnson for AHL Report

Jordan Boucher with a goal and an assist in the first 40 minutes. Rocket trail the Crunch 4-2. @RocketSports #GoRocket pic.twitter.com/tQL3z4cOtd

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) March 4, 2018

From the Press Box Podcast | Rocket Report, Roster Changes, Trade Deadline Thoughts [S1/E22] https://t.co/BXZwxUNXRv pic.twitter.com/ApD9l5jUyG

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) February 28, 2018

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