Johnson, Tyler

By Jeremy Houghtaling

Tyler Johnson tried to not think about it.

One step away from achieving his dream, the Syracuse Crunch forward, seeing teammate after teammate getting called up to the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning, kept a positive attitude.

“Everyone’s dream is to play in the NHL, so you’re always thinking about it,” Johnson said Tuesday. “At the same time, you can’t really worry about it. You have worry about playing here, and getting better. That’s what this league is about – getting better.”

Twenty-six of the 46 players participating in the AHL All-Star Game Jan. 28 have since made their NHL debuts, including the Crunch’s Richard Panik and Radko Gudas. Although Johnson was given a look during the abbreviated training camp after the end of the lockout, Johnson didn’t stick and still hasn’t played in a regular season NHL game.

Palat x3!

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ROC-1

Cedrick Desjardins allowed 1 goal on 27 shots for the win. He came within 1:35 of his third straight shutout when Bolt Prospects Alumni Nick Tarnasky stuck the shiv in his former organization's farm team.

First Period
SYR Palat, (8) (Johnson, Korobov), 10:17
SYR Palat, (9) (Connolly, Oberg), 14:20 (PP)

Second Period
NO SCORING

Third Period
SYR Palat, (10) (Wyman, Johnson), 15:35
RCH Tarnasky, (12) (Rissmiller, Ellis), 18:25 (PP)
SYR Wilson, (4) (Brown, Mikkelson), 18:53 (EN)

Ondrej Palat, Desjardins, and Tyler Johnson were the game's three stars. Palat's hat trick moved him into the top-20 in the AHL in scoring, tied with 2 others for 16th at 43 points. Johnson's 53 points are now tops in the league and Brett Connolly is tied for 4th at 49 points.

The scoring is nice, and it makes everyone feel good, but the defense and goaltending is what really should scare every other team in the AHL. Syracuse has run their winning streak out to 8 games now, and when this organization went on the tear it did last year in Norfolk, it was just as much about stifling defense and solid goaltending as it was about glitzy scoring. Syracuse's 190 goals lead the AHL pretty comfortably, but the big thing to watch now is whether they can start to catch up to teams like Bingo and Springfield in goals against. History tells us that when Coach Cooper has it all in place, his teams are extremely stingy.

Syracuse draws Albany on Friday as they go for #9.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

The Entertainer, en fuego.

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Cedrick "The Entertainer" Desjardins stopped all 29 shots he faced for his second consecutive shutout. Nothing wrong with that.

First Period
SYR Labrie, (11) (Namestnikov, Connolly), 9:11
SYR Johnson, (27) (Palat, Barberio), 14:29 (PP)

Second Period
SYR Johnson, (28) (Barberio, Palat), 18:16 (PP)

Third Period
SYR Wyman, (10) (Palat), 7:34

Desjardins, Tyler Johnson (pictured), and Ondrej Palat were the game's three stars. Johnson currently sits 1 point behind Grover Nyquist of Grand Rapids for the top spot in the league in scoring and Brett Connolly is 4 back of Nyqvist in a tie for 5th in the league. Johnson also leads the league in goals and Palat is tied for 2nd in the league in assists, 2 back of leader Jeff Taffe of Hershey.

After scoring just 2 points in the entire month of January, Mark Barberio has 11 so far in February.

With Springfield getting thumped by Worcester today, Syracuse extends their Eastern Conference lead to 5 points over the Falcons and Senators with the Falcons hold 2 games in hand. Syracuse will go for 8 straight on Tuesday against Rochester.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

The return of The Entertainer.

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Cedrick "The Entertainer" Desjardins made his Crunch debut stopping 23 of 26 for the win. Riku Helenius, who was named the AHL Player of the Week, got the night off.

First Period
SYR Tyrell, (3) (Hutchings, Angelidis), 9:40
SYR Johnson, (24) (Palat, Cote), 10:14
ALB Sislo, (3) (Zalewski, Urbom), 14:32 (PP)

Second Period
NO SCORING

Third Period
SYR Johnson, (25) (Wyman), 3:45
ALB Zalewski, (9) (DeSimone, Urbom), 7:26
SYR Johnson, (26) (Palat, Korobov), 14:27 (PP)
ALB Josefson, (9) (Gelinas, Anderson), 18:28
SYR Connolly, (22) , 19:57 (EN)

Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat (pictured) were the game's first and third stars. Palat's 29 assists are tied for 6th most in the league while Johnson is now tied for the lead in goals.

So, after a month of struggling to regain their equilibrium, lookee at the standings and Syracuse is right back on top of the Eastern Conference standings, moving 1 point ahead of Bingo and Springfield. Jon Cooper = Jedi. Syracuse draws the Toronto Marlies on Wednesday.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

Third Period choke.

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Dustin Tokarski allowed 4 goals on 21 shots. Really, it was 4 goals on 8 shots in the Third Period. Not good.

First Period
NO SCORING

Second Period
SYR Namestnikov, (3) (Wyman, Oberg), 1:39
SYR Johnson, (21) , 19:48

Third Period
ALB Whitney, (12) (Anderson), 4:03
ALB Parse, (1) (Gelinas, Anderson), 10:32 (PP)
ALB Anderson, (9) (McKelvie, Zajac), 12:01
ALB Sestito, (7) (Sislo, Wiseman), 17:40
SYR Johnson, (22) (Connolly), 19:38

Evan Oberg was the game's third star. Remember Evan Oberg? 5 points in 33 games is almost unthinkable considering how productive and active he was last season.

What an epic melt down. At least the Crunch finally got Tyler Johnson off the side of the milk carton.

Box score from TheAHL.com.