The Laval Rocket came into Syracuse with a five-game winning streak and a 7-1 record in January. They left with a one-game losing streak and a 7-2 record after falling to the Crunch 4-2 on Friday night.
Felix Robert and Gabriel Fortier opened the scoring in the first period while Hugo Alnefelt stopped 10 of 11 shots in the first 20 minutes. William Trudeau was the only one to slip one by him. Sean Day and Philippe Maillet swapped goals in the second period. It took awhile for the Crunch to push the lead to two, but Cole Koepke finished things off with an empty netter to make it 4-2. Alnefelt ended up with 29 saves on 31 shots for his his fourth win in a row.
The Crunch pushed their own winning streak to five games and finished off their six-game home stand with a 5-1 record. They head out to Rochester tonight to start a quick two-game road trip. With the win and the Cleveland Monsters losing their last outing, the gap between the two teams is down to just two points, while the Crunch have stretched their lead over the Rocket and Amerks to eight points.
Other Hockey News:
Mitchell Chaffee’s first NHL goal [Raw Charge]
Love seeing all of the first career goals. These rookies are bringing new puppy energy to the Lightning.
Mike Kesselring fined for crosschecking Max Crozier [DoPS]
Kesselring’s shot to the back of Crozier is going to cost the defenseman $2,408.85, the (say it with me) MAXIMUM ALLOWABLE UNDER THE CBA!
Brendan Gallagher suspended for five games for hitting Adam Pelech in the head [DoPS]
Gallagher will be donating a bit more to the NHL’s Players Emergency Assistance Fund as his shot to the head of Pelech will cost him $169,270.85 and five games in the press box. Having seen the hit, I think they actually got this one right.
Avalanche sign Zach Parise [Puck Yeti]
The 39-year-old comes out of a brief retirement to join the Avalanche on a one-year contract. He’ll help bring some depth to a forward corps that has been ravaged by injuries.
Sharks debut new third jersey [Fear the Fin]
It’s a pretty sharp jersey that celebrates the team’s Northern California heritage. They will debut it on February 17th and wear them at home games throughout February and March.
Flyers sign Owen Tippett to 8-year extension [ESPN]
The 24-year-old is currently on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, but that didn’t stop the organization from locking him up for the next 8 years for the reasonable cost of $49.6 million.
Flyers sign Ryan Poehling to 2-year extension [Daily FaceOff]
Philly also locked up the pending RFA for two more years. The cap hit will be $1.9 million per season.
