(Laval) Special teams provided three goals for the Laval Rocket, who defeated the Syracuse Crunch 4-1 on Saturday at Place Bell.
The Montreal Canadiens’ farm club got the better of the Crunch for a second time in less than 24 hours and for a third time in 11 days.
Newcomer Kasimir Kaskisuo was sensational on Friday in the Rocket’s victory and Jakub Dobes gave him the answer by making 25 saves. He was deprived of his first career shutout in the American Hockey League when Shawn Element beat him with just 2:31 left on the clock.
The Laval residents scored two power play goals, those of Sean Farrell and Arber Xhekaj, and one shorthanded goal, through Jan Mysak. Joshua Roy also hit the target at the end of a five-man attack.
Philippe Maillet and Xavier Simoneau both prepared two goals for the Rocket (11-14-5), who took advantage of the weekend to leave the last place in the North section.
Matt Tomkins had the trust of head coach Joël Bouchard, but he could not do better than his teammate Hugo Alnefelt. Tomkins allowed four goals on 31 shots for the Crunch (16-11-4), who have lost five of their last six outings.
The Rocket will return to action next Friday, when they visit the Utica Comets for the first duel of a series of two in three days.
Effective special units
As is often the case during a second clash between two teams in less than 24 hours, physical play is in the spotlight and the fans were served quickly.
Tobie Bisson kicked off the hostilities by delivering a powerful late check to Mitchell Chaffee before engaging in the fight with Declan Carlile. The Rocket managed to pass the penalty to Bisson and started moving.
During a power play, Logan Mailloux passed the puck to Emil Heineman, who took a good shot on reception. Tomkins did not control the return and Farrell, who had started the sequence, opened the scoring.
The Laval team found itself short of a man a few moments later, but it still managed to increase its lead. Brandon Gignac took advantage of a turnover to slip the puck to William Trudeau. His wrist shot hit Mysak before sneaking behind the Crunch goalkeeper.
The Rocket started the second engagement with a power play and its very good circulation in enemy territory bore fruit. Maillet passed the puck to Simoneau near the net and the small forward spotted Xhekaj alone at the point. The popular defender had time to step forward to place the disc in the top corner.
The referees were busy in the second half and the game was not often five on five. Jean-François Houle’s men certainly did not complain. In the last minute of play, while the penalty against Carlile was ending at the same time, Roy put the finishing touches on a set-up by Maillet and Simoneau to make the score 4-0.
The Rocket was able to resist the pressure of the Crunch in the final third, but while the visitors had withdrawn their goaltender due to a delayed penalty, Element threaded the needle to deprive Dobes of a shutout.