(Laval) Anthony Richard collected a goal and an assist, Hugo Alnefelt stopped 23 shots in relief to Maxime Lagacé and the Syracuse Crunch defeated the Laval Rocket 3-0, Saturday at Place Bell, in the fourth game of their North Section semi-final series.
Posted at 6:32 p.m.
The best-of-five series is tied at 2-2. The ultimate game will be presented Tuesday in Syracuse.
The Rocket had the opportunity to become the first version of the Montreal Canadiens’ school club since 2011 to win a series. However, he struggled to generate attack during the game.
Cayden Primeau made 34 saves in net for the Rocket.
Cole Koepke and Remi Elie also hit the target for the Crunch. Lagacé stopped four shots before having to leave the game after 10:13 with what appeared to be a left leg injury.
Alnefelt was perfect thereafter, but was not overly threatened.
Photo Dominick Gravel, La Presse
The Crunch took advantage of one of its two opportunities on the power play. The Rocket was 0-for-2.
The Rocket had not made any changes to its formation. On the Crunch side, forwards Pierre-Cédric Labrie and Gemel Smith had given way to forward Otto Somppi and defender Alex Green.
Both teams were therefore counting on formations with 11 attackers and seven defenders.
The closed door
The Crunch bottled up the Rocket in their territory from the start of the game and the trend remained the same for long periods of time.
The visitors quickly converted this advantage by opening the scoring after 5: 35 of play. Anthony Richard rounded the net and saw Koepke, late alone on the other side. Koepke only had to shoot into a gaping cage.
The Crunch lost the services of Lagacé when Gabriel Dumont knocked Rocket forward Alex Belzile over his goalie.
Alnefelt entered the match as the Crunch found themselves outnumbered, as Dumont was punished for his gesture.
The Rocket beat Alnefelt twice on the power play, but the puck hit the post both times on shots from Jean-Sébastien Dea and Jesse Ylönen.
The game tightened up in the second period and the Rocket struggled to attack Alnefelt’s net.
Meanwhile at the other end of the rink, Primeau kept his people in the game. He also had luck when Somppi hit the post after Gage Goncalves stole the puck from Sami Niku.
Disciplined until then, the Rocket finally shot themselves in the foot when Cédric Paquette had enough of Daniel Walcott early in the third period.
Paquette was the only player penalized on the streak and the Crunch scored on the power play at 2:13. Elie was able to shoot into an open net after Primeau was overwhelmed out of position after contact with Dumont.
As the Rocket seemed to increase the pressure on the Crunch, Richard dealt the home side’s hopes a heavy blow by beating Primeau with a low shot from the side of the shield at 6:24 of the final period.
Alnefelt made one of his finest saves with less than 90 seconds to go as Primeau was replaced by an extra striker. The Swedish goalkeeper stretched the left leg at the last moment to frustrate Gabriel Bourque.