CRUNCH EYE REBOUND IN LAVAL

The Crunch hope to bounce back in a rematch with the Laval Rocket this afternoon at Place Bell.
 
The Rocket dealt the Crunch for their first loss of the season last night in a 5-2 decision. Laval scored three unanswered goals in the third period to break a 2-2 tie and earn a win in the opening contest of this season's eight-game head-to-head series.
 
LAST TIME OUT

Alex Barré-Boulet torched his former club with four points — including a pair of goals — to lead the Rocket to a 5-2 win over the Crunch.
 
The Crunch's all-time leading scorer made an immediate impact in his first AHL game for a club other than Syracuse by opening the scoring with a breakaway goal at 1:05 of the first period. 
 
The teams traded goals in the second period. Lukas Svejkovsky tied the game at one with his first Crunch goal at 2:59. Joshua Roy countered with a power-play goal a few minutes later, but Jaydon Dureau ended the scoring in the period with his first goal of the season to level the game at two.
 
Roy broke the tie with another power-play goal 1:05 into the third. Barré-Boulet then added his second of the night before Xavier Simoneau capped the scoring with Laval's third goal in a span of 7:30 to make it 5-2. 
 
SCOUTING THE CRUNCH

The Crunch took their first loss of the season last night, dropping to 2-1-0-0 over the first three games of the campaign. 
 
Lukas Svejkovsky scored the Crunch's first goal to tie the game at one in the second period. He is the latest player to score his first Crunch goal. Out of Crunch's eight goals scored so far in 2024-25, six have come from a player who had not scored a goal with the Crunch prior to the start of the season.
 
Svejkovsky was acquired by the Lightning in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the summer. He has six career AHL goals in 69 games since turning pro in 2022-23.
 
THIS LOOKS WEIRD

The Crunch did not fare well in their first chance against their all-time leading scorer. Alex Barré-Boulet, who racked up 302 points in 294 games with the Crunch beginning with his rookie season (2018-19), posted a four-point night (2g, 2a) in his Rocket debut last night.
 
In addition to holding the Crunch's franchise record for points, he also has the most goals (113) and assists (189) in team history. He also has the single-season franchise record for points (84) and assists (60), set during the 2022-23 campaign. 
 
Since making his AHL/pro debut with the Crunch on Oct. 6, 2018, Barré-Boulet has logged the fourth-most points in the AHL.
 
JD MAKING AN IMPACT

Crunch forward Jaydon Dureau is off to a strong start to the 2024-25 season. The 23-year-old had one of the two Crunch goals last night and has been a factor in all three games this season. He had a helper in the Crunch's season-opening victory at Utica last Friday and then followed up by scoring the shootout game-winning goal in the Crunch's home opener.
 
With his goal last night, Dureau has already matched his AHL career high with two points this season. Dureau has split the first two years of his pro career between Syracuse and Orlando; he has only skated in 23 AHL games for the Crunch. Dureau, who changed his jersey number prior to the season from 78 to 21, has six points (3g, 3a) in 23 career AHL games.
 
GOING BACK-TO-BACK

The Crunch will conclude their first back-to-back against the same opponent this season. Last year, the Crunch had 15 sets of back-to-back games against the same opponent with eight ending in sweeps and seven resulting in splits.
 
The Crunch swept a two-game set four times, but they were also on the receiving end of a two-game sweep four times, including one two-game trip to Laval immediately following Christmas.
 
HEAD-TO-HEAD  

The Crunch's loss last night was their first in the calendar year against the Rocket. They won the final three games of last year's regular season series, finishing with a 5-3-0-0 mark to win the season series for the first time since 2018-19. The Crunch's last loss against Laval prior to last night came on Dec. 30, 2023.
 
After registering 22 points (8g, 14a) in 27 regular season games versus the Rocket while with the Crunch, Alex Barré-Boulet grabbed four in his first game from the other side of the rivalry. He and Joshua Roy (2g, 1a) led the charge last night; Roy had five points (2g, 3a) in six contests versus Syracuse last year.
 
None of the point getters for the Crunch last night factored in any scoring against Laval last year.
 
SCOUTING THE ROCKET

The Rocket grabbed a win in their home opener last night to improve to 5-2-1-0 all-time in home opening games. They also jumped to 2-1-0-0 on the season and scored five goals in a game for the second time already. They've outscored opponents 11-7 through three games.
 
Despite only making his debut last night, Alex Barré-Boulet is already in a three-way tie for the team lead with four points. He matched Logan Mailloux and Filip Mesar atop the team lead; Mailloux was recalled to Montreal earlier in the day yesterday while Mesar was held pointless for the first time this season.
 
Joshua Roy also broke through for his first three points of the season, netting a pair of power-play goals. As a rookie last year, Roy split time between Laval and Montreal, finishing with 32 points (13g, 19a) in 41 games for the Rocket.