Laval Rockets Edge Syracuse Crunch 4-3 in Shootout, Kersten Forces Late Tie

Spencer Kersten gave Syracuse's home crowd something to believe in with 2:22 left in regulation, burying the equalizer to knot the score at 3-3 and send the game to a shootout. It wasn't enough. Sean Farrell stepped up and converted the decisive penalty shot to give the Laval Rocket a 4-3 road win over the Syracuse Crunch at Upstate Medical University Arena on March 14.

The first period was a back-and-forth affair that set the tone for everything that followed. Ethan Gauthier put Syracuse in front at 5:04, but Owen Beck answered for Laval at 15:32 to even things at one. The lead changed hands 75 seconds later when Jakob Pelletier scored at 16:47 to send the Crunch into the first intermission up 2-1. Three goals in roughly 12 minutes of hockey, all without a response from either team in the second period, which the sources do not record a single goal for.

The real drama unfolded in the third. Lucas Condotta tied it at 2-2 just past the 45-minute mark, and Sammy Blais gave Laval a 3-2 advantage at 49:20, putting the Rocket four minutes away from closing it out. That's when Kersten struck at 57:38, depositing the equalizer and sending Upstate Medical University Arena into a frenzy.

But Laval got the last word. Farrell's shootout conversion delivered the extra point the Rocket came to Syracuse looking for, finishing a game that featured six different goal scorers across two periods of real action and a shootout where one shot made all the difference.

Laval heads to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Wednesday, March 18. Syracuse returns to action Friday, March 20, hosting the Rochester Americans.