It had been a tough end of December for the Laval Rocket, as the suspensions suffered in a brawl against the Toronto Marlies had led to a three-game losing skid that had taken away their division lead. In front of Laval on Saturday, however, was a key opportunity to take it back from the Syracuse Crunch.

The Rocket had gotten Jared Davidson back from the NHL after his first NHL call-up, and his return placed him on the second line with Florian Xhekaj, and Joshua Roy who had returned after his three-game suspension. Both Laurent Dauphin and Alex Belzile also returned after suspension, reuniting the top line with Sean Farrell. In net, it was Kaapo Kähkönen once again, with Hunter Jones now serving as the backup while Jacob Fowler was on recall.

The chances against the Crunch were few and far between as expected, with the divisional rivals settling in to a defensive battle at Place Bell. Even an early power play wasn’t able to break the deadlock as the Rocket managed just a single shot on net. It was the Crunch continuing to control the flow of play as the first period ticked on while the Rocket sat on just one shot on net.

Eventually it was the Crunch who broke the deadlock as Ethan Gauthier wove through the slot and lifted a shot over the blocker of Kähkönen to give the visitors a one-goal lead.

Even with the Crunch leading, the Rocket offence was struggling to find any consistent pressure, and despite a late push by the top line, would enter the first intermission trailing by a goal.

Just 20 seconds in to the second period, the Rocket saw their deficit climb to two goals as an offensive-zone error turned in to a goal against. A puck slipped through the skates of Tobie Bisson, sending Connor Geekie in alone on a breakaway opportunity. Geekie waited patiently, then neatly tucked a backhand feed by Kähkönen to make it 2-0 Syracuse.

Just as the Rocket offence was beginning to find its legs, thanks to the play of Davidson and Roy, it was Davidson who took an offensive-zone penalty and put the Rocket penalty-killers to work in a critical spot. The Crunch power play moved the puck quickly, but Laval’s penalty-killers did well to keep them to just two shots on net, and allowed Davidson to exit the box unscathed with just over 12 minutes left in the period.

Having survived the first penalty, the Rocket followed it up with a too many men on the ice call, putting them right back on the penalty kill. They again showed incredible poise as they limited Syracuse to just one shot on net as they killed off a second consecutive penalty and kept the contest within reach. Those penalty kills ended up being crucial as the second period slowly ticked toward its end.

While Laval continued to create opportunities and chances, they struggled to capitalize on them and were looking at heading into the third period with nothing to show for their efforts. Then a clean faceoff win in the dying seconds changed everything. The puck dropped back to David Reinbacher, and the young defenceman teed up William Trudeau with a chance that beat Brandon Halverson to finally get Laval on the board.

Trudeau’s last-second goal gave the Rocket a much-needed lifeline as they headed in to the third period trailing by just one.

While Syracuse was doing well to smother the Rocket attack through the neutral zone and denied them any sort of clean entrance to the offensive zone, the Rocket still managed to find another goal. Roy charged in, swiping the puck off a defender’s stick behind the Crunch net. Roy in turn fed it to Davidson, who sent a puck toward the slot for Florian Xhekaj, who banked it off the post and in to tie the game up 2-2.

With the game tied, both teams adopted the strategy of limiting anything dangerous against them, even if it meant giving up a bit of offence as well. The Rocket were making the most of their limited chances, with Xhekaj and Roy both getting looks, but unable to finish.

The goal that broke the tie came out of nowhere for the Rocket, although it wasn’t totally unexpected as Laval had become the stronger team throughout the third period. Off an offensive zone draw, Trudeau cycled the puck along to Reinbacher. The Austrian put a shot toward Halverson, but a deft stick by Lucas Condotta deflected it by the Syracuse goalie, and put the Rocket in the lead 3-2.

The lead for the Rocket did not last long though, as the Crunch began to push more aggressively in search of a tying goal, and they took advantage of some poor coverage by Laval’s third pairing. Brendan Furry drove through Nate Clurman and Ryan O’Rourke to create a chance on net, and a loose rebound. His linemate, Wojciech Stachowiak cleaned up the loose puck to tie the game with just over six minutes left in regulation.

Laval then went right back to work trying to restore their advantage in the final minutes of regulation, but the Crunch defensive structure was there to meet them each step of the way. It even looked like the Rocket might draw a late power play as Jakob Pelletier slashed Dauphin in front of the officials, but the men in stripes decided to not call anything with 80 seconds remaining. The game would be decided in overtime, as Davidson pushed the last scoring chance just wide of the net as the horn sounded in Place Bell.

In overtime it was the Xhekaj show for the Rocket as they tried to secure a second point. The second-year forward just missed on a one-timer opportunity, then followed it by being stonewalled by Halverson twice on breakaway chances. The missed chances meant that this game would move on to the shootout to crown a winner on Saturday afternoon.

It was a nervy showing in the shootout as the Rocket found themselves in “must score” territory immediately with the Crunch scoring first and the Rocket missing their first attempt. Alex Belzile and Roy both scored, while Kähkönen turned away Pelletier. Farrell was the first sudden-death shooter, and he bested Halverson from range, while Kähkönen turned away Boris Katchouk to seal the win.

Final Score: Laval 4, Syracuse 3 (Shootout)

These two sides will meet again this afternoon as the Rocket look to end 2025 on a winning streak, and to keep their hands on first place. Puck drop is set for 3 PM ET.