(Syracuse) The Laval Rocket absolutely had to grab a point in its last game of the regular season to avoid a best-of-three series and automatically qualify for the North Division semi-finals.
Posted at 10:04 p.m.
He did not fail in the task.
Galvanized, Jean-François Houle’s men easily disposed of a sparse version of the Syracuse Crunch 5-1 on Saturday, in a duel with the American Hockey League.
Given the result, the Rocket secured third place in the North Section and will cross swords with the Crunch in the North Section Semi-Finals.
The Laval team has prevailed in five of the eight meetings between the two teams this season.
The series will be played in a three-for-five format. The North Section final will be played again in a best-of-five format. The series will begin next Friday in Syracuse.
The Calder Cup semi-finals and final will be a best-of-seven game.
Benoît Groulx’s men, already assured of the second level of the said section, have decided to rest their important cogs for the meeting.
The top three Crunch scorers, Alex Barré-Boulet, Charles Hudon and Gabriel Dumont missed out. Same story for the club’s starting goalkeeper, Maxime Lagacé, who was left on the sidelines.
ward off bad luck
The locals got in on the score midway through the first period. Gage Goncalves hit the mark for the 17thand times of the campaign.
The Rocket, which went down 5-1 a week ago against the Crunch after scoring the first goal, gave their rivals their own back.
Nate Schnarr tied the game a few minutes later when he completed the play at the mouth of the net. Brandon Gignac and Joël Teasdale were accomplices in the net.
At the very end of the first engagement, the Rocket’s numerical advantage paid off. Cédric Paquette skilfully redirected Rafaël Harvey-Pinard’s shot behind Hugo Alnefet.
Harvey-Pinard and Xavier Ouellet respectively obtained their 35and and 33and season assists on the streak.
Paquette flashed the red light again in the middle period by finding himself in the paying zone. Gignac and Jesse Ylönen got an assist.
Midway through the game, Teasdale gave the Rocket a three-point lead. His shot pierced Alnefet and slowly crossed the red line. Schnarr registered an assist on the net.
Corey Schueneman nailed the final nail in the Crunch’s coffin in the third period when he stretched the lead to four goals. His wrist shot from the top of the faceoff circle put the Rocket up 5-1. Jean-Sébastien Dea handed the puck to the Rocket defenseman and collected his 52and point of the season.
Kevin Poulin stopped 24 shots in the win. His counterpart, Alnefet, made 26 saves.