Alex Barré-Boulet was electrifying in his first game in a Laval Rocket uniform, collecting four points against his former team in a 5-2 victory over the Syracuse Crunch in front of a packed house of 10,243 spectators during the local opening at Place Bell, Friday evening.
Paired with Brandon Gignac, at center, and Joshua Roy, at right wing, Barré-Boulet opened the scoring in the first period and collected assists on Roy’s first two of the season, both registered during numerical superiorities.
Barré-Boulet added a goal of capital importance in the third period, on a pass from Roy.
Gignac also did his part on the Rocket’s top line with two assists.
Xavier Simoneau also beat goaltender Matt Tomkins, who faced 30 shots, including 11 in the third period, largely dominated by the Rocket.
On the Crunch side, Lukas Svejkovsky and Jaydon Dureau, both in the second period, deceived the vigilance of Jakub Dobes, who made 25 saves.
The Rocket finished the match with 19 players, after losing the services of forward Vincent Arseneau, who apparently fractured a finger on his left hand during a violent fight against Kale Kessy in the third minute of the match.
Officially, the Rocket spoke of an upper body injury.
The Crunch and the Rocket will meet in the same amphitheater on Saturday afternoon, starting at 3 p.m.
Barré-Boulet wastes no time
For several reasons, one could imagine that Barré-Boulet would hope to stand out from his first appearance on the ice.
After all, as he mentioned at the start of the week, he wants to return to the Montreal Canadiens as quickly as possible.
Secondly, it was the local opener and finally, he was playing against his former team, under the eyes of Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois, who watched the game from the press gallery.
All these elements possibly contributed to the first burst of brilliance of the Montmagny athlete from the 65th second of the match, on the Rocket’s first shot.
Gignac was the instigator of the sequence by causing a turnover in the central zone, which propelled Barré-Boulet into a breakaway along the left wing.
Barré-Boulet darted to the net and, with his backhand, slipped the puck between Tomkins’ pads.
Only one other Rocket player really stood out in the first period, and that was Dobes.
The Czech goalkeeper blocked all 11 shots he faced during the first 20 minutes, including the awkward ones from Derrick Pouliot and Max Crozier while on the penalty kill. A little later, he also frustrated Dylan Duke.
The Crunch finally found a breach in the wall that was Dobes when Svejkovsky collected a loose puck in front of the net and lodged it behind the Rocket goaltender at 2:59 of the middle period.
The Rocket regained the lead during a penalty to Svejkovsky. Frustrated 30 seconds earlier during a one-timer, Roy recovered by jumping on a loose puck at the mouth of the net before slotting it into the upper part of the net at 5:08.
The Crunch brought the duel back to the starting square thanks to a shot from Dureau’s slot, on which Dobes could do nothing.
The third period was the Rocket’s affair.
Roy first broke the 2-2 tie with a spectacular shot from the slot, after only 65 seconds of play.
Barré-Boulet and Simoneau then took the Crunch out of the game with two goals scored in less than two minutes during the first half of the period.
The Rocket was no longer going to be worried.
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