The Laval Rocket had a slow start and could not recover as they fell to the Syracuse Crunch in a 2-0 loss on Friday night at Place Bell in their season opener.

The Rocket didn’t play any pre-season games, and it showed through the start of the game. It was a sloppy start for Laval, and they didn’t get their game rolling until the third period.

Syracuse opened the scoring late in the first period when Sam O’Reilly poked the puck off of Alex Belzile’s stick right to Nick Abruzzese who put the backhand deke past Jacob Fowler.

The Rocket only had eight shots through the first two periods, five in the first and three in the second despite having one power play. Syracuse had 20 shots through two periods and had four power plays and controlled most of the play.

The most life the Rocket showed in the opening period was Tyler Thorpe’s fight with Tristan Allard and Brett Berard’s two shots in the first 11 seconds of the game.

Laval’s best chance came in the second period when Laurent Dauphin had a partial breakaway, but was stopped by Mads Sogaard.

In the third period, the Crunch took advantage of a five-on-three advantage to double their lead. Abruzzese took advantage of a bouncing puck and some back-and-forth passing with the two-player advantage and left Fowler no chance to make the save, as hard as he tried.

On the remainder of the power play, Fowler made a miraculous save on O’Reilly to keep it a 2-0 game, and it would have been a lot worse throughout if not for the Rocket goaltender. He made 29 saves in the losing effort.

Berard had a breakaway after being sprung by Owen Beck midway through the period, but could not beat Sogaard on two attempts.

Beck, who didn’t have the best start to the game, was one of the better players in the third playing physical and creating scoring chances.

The Rocket pulled Fowler for a late power play with 2:09 remaining, and really showed the potential of what they could do. Sasha Pastujov looks like he will be a really dangerous player for Laval this season, but despite getting 21 shots in the third period they were unable to beat Sogaard.

The two teams will play again on Saturday afternoon, as the Rocket look to avoid a season-opening sweep at home.

Notes

David Reinbacher picked up where he left off in NHL camp. He played a solid game, and at times was trying to complete plays at NHL speed without realizing he had more time at the AHL level. His delay of game penalty caused the five-on-three in the third period, but I think it is more beneficial for him to try to make decisions at NHL speed rather than adjust to the AHL as it will be better for him long-term. He definitely looked out of place, in a good way.

Sasha Pastujov is going to be a player to watch in Laval. He has tons of skill and isn’t afraid to show it. Once the chemistry starts, he may enter the first call up conversation.

Filip Mešár was used to kill penalties throughout the game. It is nice for him to be able to do more things at this level, and complete his game.

Lineup

The Rocket were a bit shorthanded for this one. Lucas Condotta is expected to be out around a month, while Florian Xhekaj is with the Canadiens. Max Szuber, who is expected to play a major role on the Rocket blue line, was serving the first game of a two-game suspension handed out last April.