Excerpt from 'Rocket Hockey Report' of host Amy Johnson commenting on the Laval Rocket's upcoming schedule. GAME RECAP | Syracuse Crunch vs Laval Rocket Laval Rocket vs Syracuse Crunch [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjAzMjY0NjEzNTgyNjQ0ODAz/rocket-final-score.png] Laval Rocket vs Syracuse Crunch ROCKET LINEUP Forward lines 15 Sean Farrell - 37 Brandon Gignac - 19 Emil Heineman 21 Riley Kidney - 42 Lucas Condotta - 20 Gabriel Bourque 81 Xavier Simoneau - 61 Philippe Maillet - 10 Joshua Roy 68 Riley McKay - 23 Nolan Yaremko - 17 Nathan Legare Defense pairings 72 Arber Xhekaj - 24 Logan Mailloux 84 William Trudeau - 4 Paquette-Bisson 29 Mattias Norlinder - 44 Olivier Galipeau Goaltenders 73 Kasimir Kaskisuo 38 Strauss Mann Out of the lineup: Scratches: Jared Davidson, Brady Keeper, Jan Mysak, Lias Andersson, Jakub Dobes Injuries: None GAME REPORT The Laval Rocket returned to Place Bell on Friday and defeated the Syracuse Crunch 3-2 in front of a sold out crowd. With the victory, the Rocket extended their winning streak against the Crunch, on home ice, to 11 games. Friday marked Joel Bouchard and Daniel Jacob's first game back in Laval since leaving the organization. The duo were behind the bench of the Canadiens AHL affiliate for three seasons. Jean-Francois Houle turned to the newly acquired Kasimir Kaskisuo for the start in goal. Lias Andersson was held out of the lineup to manage his workload following his lower body injury and is expected to return on Saturday. Jan Mysak and Brady Keeper were scratched while Gabriel Bourque, Nolan Yaremko, and Olivier Galipeau were inserted. The Crunch opened the scoring in the first period with the man advantage when Gabriel Fortier redirected from the slot a puck top corner behind Kaskisuo. The Rocket answered back later in the period with a power play goal of their own when Arber Xhekaj found Philippe Maillet at the faceoff dot and he put the puck at the back of the net. The hosts took the lead late in the second period on a sequence that began with Xhekaj's shot striking Yaremko on the back and bounced on Joshua Roy's stick in the blue paint. The Canadiens fifth round pick (150th overall) in 2021's draft went around the coverage to beat Hugo Alnefelt. Xhekaj put the 10,219 fans at Place Bell to their feet in the third period by dropping the gloves against Shawn Element. Nathan Legare scored the game winning goal later in the period on an individual effort that concluded with him circling around the defender and going bar down. It was Legare's first even strength goal of the year after scoring three shorthanded goals since the start of the season. Gage Goncalves cut the lead to one goal in the final minute while Syracuse had the extra attacker on the ice. Kaskisuo was excellent in his first start in the Rocket uniform making 36 saves including several key stops. His calm demeanor on the ice seemed to give confidence to his teammates. GAME STATISTICS Rocket (10-14-3-2) Shots: 20 Power play: 1-for-4 Penalty minutes: 20 Crunch (16-10-2-2) Shots: 38 Power play: 1-for-4 Penalty minutes: 30 SCORING SUMMARY Rocket Scorers 1st period: Maillet (5)-PPG 2nd period: Roy (9) 3rd period: Legare (4) OT: n/a SO: n/a Crunch Scorers 1st period: Fortier (3)-PPG 2nd period: No scoring 3rd period: Goncalves (7) OT: n/a SO: n/a Goaltenders LAV: Kaskisuo (W) 1-0-0-0 SYR: Alnefelt (L) 4-5-3-0 ROCKET PLAYERS OF THE GAME * undefined * undefined * undefined VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS Video highlights courtesy of the Laval Rocket [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvN_zjYVYCc[/embed] POST-GAME INTERVIEWS Jean-Francois Houle Arber Xhekaj Kasimir Kaskisuo Joshua Roy LOOKING BACK Did you miss the Rocket's last game? Catch up on the recap here: Heineman Scores In Return To Rocket | RECAP: LAV @ BEL [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/rocket/heineman-scores-in-return-to-rocket-recap-lav-bel] UP NEXT The Laval Rocket wrap up their weekend series against the Syracuse Crunch on Saturday. Puck drop on Saturday, December 30, is scheduled for 3:00 pm ET at Place Bell in Laval, QC. Be sure to bookmark THN.com/Montreal [https://thn.com/montreal] for year-round coverage of the Montreal Canadiens, Laval Rocket, and Habs prospects playing in leagues around the world. A free issue of The Hockey News [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjAwNTk3MTk4Mzc0MTE4Nzc2/hockeynewsad.jpg] A free issue of The Hockey News
