CRUNCH MAKE THIRD VISIT TO LAVAL
 
The Syracuse Crunch make their final appearance of the season at Place Bell to face off against the Laval Rocket tonight.
 
It's the third of six contests overall between the teams. They split a two-game set at Place Bell during opening weekend.
 
BROADCAST COVERAGE
 
Countdown to Crunch Time at 6:45 p.m.
Streaming: Pay-to-watch video via AHLTV on FloHockey | www.syracusecrunch.com/watch
Radio: ESPN Radio Syracuse | www.espncny.com
 
LAST TIME OUT
 
The Crunch scored three times on their first three shots en route to a 4-3 win over the Hamilton Hammers Sunday afternoon at TD Coliseum.
 
Dylan Duke started the barrage of goals with a power-play tally 3:25 into the first period. On the next shift, Jakob Pelletier stole a pass in the offensive zone and ripped home his first of the season at 3:44. Matteo Pietroniro capped the early onslaught with his first goal of the season at 6:09, which chased Hamilton starting goaltender Vitek Vanecek. 
 
The Hammers would begin to rally back with a goal in the first period to cut the Crunch lead to 3-1. They scored once more in the second and again in the third to tie the game, but Lucas Mercuri broke the tie with five minutes remaining in the final frame. 
 
Syracuse killed off a pair of Hamilton power plays and finished 9-for-9 on the penalty kill in the game. Olivier Rodrigue stopped 30 shots for his first Crunch win.
 
A WEEK OF FIRSTS 
 
The Crunch scored a combined eight goals in their two wins last week, and seven of the goals marked their respective scorers' first tally of the season.
 
Lucas Mercuri, Sam O'Reilly, Jansen Harkins, Clark Bishop, Dylan Duke, Jakob Pelletier and Matteo Pietroniro all tallied their first goals of the season last week. Mercuri scored in both games to become just the second Crunch skater this season with more than one goal. Eleven different skaters have at least one goal for the Crunch through six games.
 
PERFECT PK 
 
After a rocky start to the season, the Crunch penalty kill came up clutch in Sunday's win over Hamilton. The Crunch were a perfect 9-for-9 while shorthanded, and they killed off two power plays in the final five minutes of regulation to preserve the win.
 
It's the second time in 2026 that the Crunch have had a 9-for-9 night on the penalty kill (also March 21 vs. Cleveland). Prior to March, the Crunch last went 9-for-9 in a single game on Oct. 26, 2011, against Lake Erie.
 
MILESTONE WATCH
 
A pair of Crunch players are knocking on the door of career milestones.
 
Nick Abruzzese sits at 199 career AHL points after earning one assist in both games last week. The 27-year-old has four points (3g, 2a) in six games this season and 199 (65g, 134a) in 273 AHL appearances.
 
Jansen Harkins has 99 career AHL assists in 229 games. He tallied his first goal of the season on Saturday, and he now has 162 AHL points (63g, 99a) in his AHL career.
 
SCOUTING THE ROCKET
 
Since losing the season opener to the Crunch, the Rocket have rattled off five straight wins. They beat the Crunch, 6-1, in the second game of the season and then went on the road for four straight wins, outscoring opponents 19-8 in those games.
 
Defenseman Luke Mittelstadt leads both the Rocket and the AHL in scoring with 13 points (4g, 9a) in six games. After being held without a point in the season opener, the rookie has four three-point games in his last five outings. He carries a four-game goal streak into tonight's game.
 
Goaltender Jacob Fowler started both games against the Crunch to start the season, but he has been on recall with Montreal since Oct. 8. Kaapo Kahkonen has started three of the four games since Fowler's recall, posting a 3-0-0 record with a 2.61 goals-against average and a .879 save percentage. He was 3-2-0/2.36/.919 in five starts versus Syracuse last season.