AHL: The Laval Rocket lost 3 to 1 to the Syracuse Crunch

Jack Finley broke the deadlock midway through the third period and the Syracuse Crunch beat the Laval Rocket 3-1 on Friday night at Place Bell.

On the power play, Finley only had to redirect a pass from Gage Concalves to score his 11th goal of the campaign and allow the Crunch (38-22-6) to sign off for a second straight victory. Syracuse is in first place in the American League North Division.

Had it not been for the impressive performance of goalkeeper Jacob Dubis, the Rockets (31-28-8) might not have been in the game since the second start.

The Montreal Canadiens farm club remained at 70 points but were joined in fifth place by the Belleville Senators, who beat the Springfield Thunderbirds 3-0. The Senators (32-27-6) have two games in hand.

Justin Barron was the only scorer for Laval, which suffered its second loss in a row. Dobbs was outstanding and finished the game with 31 saves, including several stunning saves.

Daniel Walcott and Sean Element, in an empty net, also pulled the ropes for the Crunch, who defeated the Rocket for the third time in a row and second at Place Bell. Brandon Halvorson blocked 25 pucks.

Jean-François Houle's men will resume action in front of their home fans on Saturday afternoon, when the Thunderbirds visit Bell Arena.

Crisis dominance

Aware of the risks, the two teams took the necessary precautions at the beginning of the match and played a real chess match in the neutral zone.

The Rocket started hostilities on the power play, with just under seven minutes remaining in the first half. After seeing his first shot blocked, Barron retrieved the ball and fired a shot that fooled Halverson while Mitchell Stevens blocked his view.

Things started lively from the first moments of the second half, and there were many great scoring opportunities from both sides.

After less than 30 seconds of play, Alex Barré-Boulet caused a turnover and left the puck for Cole Koepke. The forward appeared on a breakaway and hit Dobes between the pads but the puck went left of the post. Less than a minute later, William Trudeau had the goalkeeper at his mercy, but he missed the goal and on the return Lias Andersson was denied a sure goal by striker Walter Mirella.

The Lavalians continued their momentum by trying their luck several times into enemy territory, but the last 15 minutes of the second engagement were the business of Crunch, who fired 12 shots. For the most part, the Dobes faced off in great form, but the Tampa Bay Lightning farm club still found a way to tie the game.

Tristan Allard recovered a loose ball in the corner of the attacking area and evaded cover from Philippe Maillet before returning to the slot. His backhand shot hit Walcott and the puck slid under Dobbs' arm.

The same story happened in the final third, and the guests continued to press the accelerator. Their continued intensity led to a penalty which they took advantage of immediately. David Reinbacher was on the bench for just 12 seconds when Finley redirected Concalves' quick pass behind the red line.

Rocket tried to use the energy of desperation to settle the score. During a counterattack, Sean Farrell had a good shot that was blocked by Halverson. This was the home team's first shot in the third period and the first in 25 minutes and 55 seconds.

Laval withdrew its goalkeeper at the end of the match to give itself another opportunity to force extra time, but the element hammered the final nail in the team's coffin.