(Syracuse) Like the day before, Joël Teasdale, of the Laval Rocket, scored the first goal of the game before seeing his team collapse and ruin a chance to confirm its place in the playoffs.
Posted yesterday at 10:22 p.m.
Quebec’s Syracuse Crunch were dominant and the Rocket fell 5-1 to them on Saturday in an American Hockey League duel.
Due to the loss, the Rocket not only missed out on a chance to qualify for the playoffs, but also conceded second place in the North Division to the Crunch.
Under current standings, the Crunch would face the Rocket in the first round of the playoffs and have home-ice advantage for the best-of-five series.
The Rocket could qualify with a win given the Rochester Americans’ loss to the Cleveland Monsters earlier in the evening.
Confirmation will therefore wait a few more days at least.
A fleeting advance, again
Teasdale opened the scoring early in the first period when he charged to the net and headed a shot on Maxime Lagacé. The Crunch goalkeeper partially stopped the disc before seeing it slowly slide into the net.
Nate Schnarr and Xavier Ouellet were instrumental in Teasdale’s goal.
The Crunch replied a few moments later, when Nick Perbix took advantage of a favorable puck jump on the official to appear alone in front of Cayden Primeau.
Benoît Groulx’s men then took control of the game.
During a power play, three of the Crunch Quebecers combined their efforts to make the red light sparkle. Thanks to the work of Alex Barré-Boulet and Charles Hudon, Gabriel Dumont found himself alone with the disc in the enclave. His shot, on reception, left no chance for Primeau.
Thanks to his assist, Barré-Boulet reached the plateau of 60 points in a season in the AHL for the second time in his career.
Riley Nash took care of completing the job by scoring late in the second period and in the third period. Trifluvien Anthony Richard collected an assist on Nash’s second goal.
Dumont took advantage of an empty net against the school club of his former formation to score his 29and goal of the campaign.
Primeau made 34 saves in the loss.
Lagacé stopped 19 shots to sign a 21and victory this season (21-9-2). The Longueuillois has won his last six games.
Jean-François Houle’s squad will return to action on Wednesday at Place Bell to face the Toronto Marlies for the first of two evenings between the clubs in Laval. The Rocket will then conclude its season on Saturday in Syracuse against the Crunch.