The Syracuse Crunch have now experienced what it's like to face Alex Barre-Boulet from the other side.

Barre-Boulet played parts of six seasons with the Crunch while a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning organization before signing a one-way deal with the Montreal Canadiens this past summer. The 27-year-old forward made the Canadiens roster out of training camp and appeared in two games before clearing waivers and going to the Laval Rocket.

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As it so happened, the AHL schedule had the Crunch going into Place Bell on Friday night to face Laval. Barre-Boulet needed just 1:05 to get loose before tucking a puck past Syracuse goaltender Matt Tomkins. He went on to a 2-2-4 night as the Rocket took care of Syracuse, 5-2, in their home opener.

Alex Barré-Boulet (@RocketLaval) is first on the scoreboard in #SYRvsLAV🚀 pic.twitter.com/0eRzqgHRCq

— American Hockey League (@TheAHL) October 18, 2024

Barre-Boulet had a storied time with Syracuse, amazing 113-189-302 in 294 games with the Crunch to set franchise records in goals, assists, and points. He also had a franchise-record 60 assists and 84 points with the Crunch in 2022-23. Tampa Bay had signed the undrafted Barre-Boulet in March 2018, and he went on to win the Red Garrett Memorial Award as the AHL's rookie of the year in 2018-19, leading the AHL with 34 goals and topping all rookies with 68 points. He also went on to represent the Crunch at the AHL All-Star Classic twice.

However, Barre-Boulet only played 66 games with the Lightning during his time in the organization, 36 of them coming last season. He took a brief detour to the Seattle Kraken in 2021-22 via waivers only to be reclaimed by the Lightning 11 days later.

The Crunch also featured three former Laval players in defenseman Tobie Bisson along with forwards Joel Teasdale and Jesse Ylonen. All three players were in the starting line-up for Crunch head coach Joel Bouchard, who was Laval's head coach for three seasons.

The two clubs will meet again Saturday in a rematch of the hotly-contested series opener.

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