Kaapo Kähkönen stopped all 31 shots he faced as the Laval Rocket handed the Syracuse Crunch their first shutout loss of the season, 5-0, Wednesday night at Upstate Medical University Arena.
The Crunch fell to 5-6-2-0 overall and 1-3-0-0 in their six-game season series against Laval, according to the team’s recap. The Rocket broke a scoreless tie with two goals in the second period before adding three more in the third.
Laval takes control in the second period
Tyler Thorpe opened the scoring midway through the second, carrying the puck down the left side and beating Syracuse goaltender Mads Sogaard with a wrist shot from the faceoff dot.
Samuel Poulin doubled Laval’s lead just 1:01 later. Sogaard stopped David Reinbacher’s initial shot, but Poulin collected the rebound and scored on a backhand to put the Rocket ahead 2-0.
Three third-period goals put the game away
Josh Nadeau extended the lead at 5:29 of the third period, finishing a cross-crease pass that Dillan Bentley delivered on his backhand after advancing down the left wing.
Just over a minute later, Sasha Pastujov wrapped around the net and stuffed the puck in. Brett Berard made it 5-0 with a shot from the right circle at 8:08, ending Sogaard’s night.
Sogaard finished with 17 saves on 22 shots. Olivier Rodrigue took over in the third period and stopped the only shot he faced.
Crunch host Toronto next
Syracuse finished 0-for-3 on the power play but killed all four Laval power plays. The Crunch generated 31 shots against Kähkönen without finding a goal.
The Crunch return to action Friday when they host the Toronto Marlies.
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