The Laval Rocket made sure they returned home on a positive note by defeating the Crunch 3-2 on Wednesday night in Syracuse.

This duel ended a three-game trip to opposing rinks. The Montreal Canadiens farm club achieved two wins. Head coach Jean-François Houle’s team also bounced back from the 7-1 loss to the Hershey Bears on Saturday.

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Defenseman Tobie Paquette-Bisson was the Rocket’s star in today’s duel. The Rosemère native hit the mark twice.

However, Brandon Gignac scored the winning goal. In the third period he equalized and took his team’s first lead of the game. Well installed in the slot, he took advantage of a clever relay run from Logan Mailloux to deny goalkeeper Matt Tomkins.

It was Gabriel Dumont who scored the first goal in this duel. The Crunch captain was playing his 800th career game in professional hockey and had been there since the 2010-2011 season. His goal was his eighth of the 2023/24 season.

Cage Goncalves was the other crowd favorite goalscorer.

This encounter marked the return of Rocket forward Xavier Simoneau to the game. He had to miss the last two games due to injury. The Quebecer picked up an assist on Paquette-Bisson’s second pass, but also received a four-minute penalty.

The Rocket will return to Laval on Friday evening. The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins will visit Place Bell for the occasion. It will be the first duel between the two teams this season.