The Syracuse Crunch were defeated by the Laval Rocket, 4-2, on Sunday afternoon at Place Bell.
The Crunch moves to 17-11-1-1 on the season and 1-1-0-1 in the eight game series with the Rocket.
Crunch goaltender Ryan Fanti turned away 15 of the 19 shots he faced. Kaapo Kähkönen earned the win by stopping 31 of 33 in net for the Rocket.
Syracuse was held scoreless on two power play opportunities, while Laval converted both of its advantages.
The Rocket were on the board first five minutes into the opening frame. Sean Farrell collected the puck thrown into the right corner and passed it to Alex Belzile, who fired a one-timer from the right circle.
After a delayed penalty kick, the Crunch tied the score at 1-1 at 13:29. Jakob Pelletier fed the puck from the right circle to Ethan Samson at the point, where he held it and then snapped it to knot the score.
Laval regained a 2-1 lead while on the man advantage with 9.6 seconds left in the period. Laurent Dauphin sent the puck across the ice past Belzile to score his second of the afternoon on a one-timer from the left circle.
Florian Xhekaj gave the Rocket a 3-1 lead just 15 seconds into the second period with a shot from the right circle. After six minutes to the end of the match, they added another power play goal to make it 4:1. Sean Farrell fired a shot from the right circle and Joshua Roy dribbled in from the left side of the goal area.
Dylan Duke scored with 3:57 left in the third period to cut the Crunch deficit, 4-2. With an extra forward, Mitchell Chaffee sent a one-timer from the right circle and Duke deflected it out of the back of the net.
The Crunch close out their six-game road swing with a New Year’s Day game in Toronto.
Crunchables: Ethan Samson scores his first goal with the Crunch … This is the fourth straight season the Crunch or Rocket have swept a two-game set between the holiday break and New Year’s Eve.
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