Panik brings the fireworks on New Year's Eve.
SYR-2
WBS-1
Dustin Tokarski [6] allowed 1 goal on 19 shots for the victory, completing 2012 with a solid performance that will hopefully set the tone for 2013. He came within 2 seconds of a shutout.
First Period
NO SCORING
Second Period
SYR Panik, (14) (Connolly), 16:53
Third Period
SYR Panik, (15) (Johnson, Palat), 0:33 (PP)
WBS Smith, (11) (Dumoulin), 19:59 (PP)
Richard Panik [7], Tokarski, and Brett Connolly [8] were the game's three stars. Panik's 15 goals are already just 4 shy of his total from all of his rookie campaign last year.
Syracuse heads to the old barn, Scope in Norfolk, for a 2 game set starting Friday night. The Admirals are currently last in the East Division, while the Crunch finish 2012 in first place in the Eastern Conference. That's pretty good for a Crunch team that has yet to achieve the consistency that last year's Calder Cup champs had in the second half of the season and the playoffs.
Box score [9] from TheAHL.com.