Syracuse Crunch

Winning streak snapped. Point streak continues.

BNG-4
SYR-3 (SO)

Kristers Gudlevskis allowed 3 goals on 28 shots before allowing 1 of 4 to convert in the penalty shot session for the SO loss.

First Period
BNG Grant, (8) , 9:13
SYR Marchessault, (17) (Connolly, Sustr), 18:13

Second Period
SYR Nesterov, (4) (Connolly, Angelidis), 14:39 (PP)
BNG Pageau, (17) (Grant, Wideman), 19:19 (PP)

Third Period
SYR Walker, (6) (Gourde, Korobov), 9:32 (PP)
BNG Grant, (8) (Puempel, Claesson), 14:46

Overtime
NO SCORING

Shootout
BNG- Schneider
SYR- NONE

Cedric Paquette was the game's third star.

Binghamton's the top team in the East Division, and Syracuse gave them all they could handle tonight. That's what I want to see right now. Even if this club won't make the postseason, I want to see them competitive with playoff caliber teams, and they've looked that way over the past 4 games.

Interesting to note: Brett Connolly has had multi-point nights in 5 of his last 11 games, and he has 5 goals and 14 points over that span. He's another guy, like Sustr, who could give Jon Cooper some options once he goes up top to Tampa Bay when Syracuse's season is over. Considering the way the Lightning occasionally have looked like they're running on fumes, they have to at least ponder what someone from Syracuse (or anywhere else, for that matter) could do to inject a little energy into their lineup.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

By Jeremy Houghtaling

Despite going down by two goals in the first period, the Syracuse Crunch kept their gameplan largely the same.

Syracuse cleaned up the backcheck that had cost them early and continued to pour on the pressure at the other end. The Crunch scored three times in both the second and the third, as they rallied to top the Adirondack Phantoms, 6-4, for their third-straight win at the Onondaga County War Memorial Friday.

"We didn't change anything," said Syracuse forward Cedric Paquette. "We played well since the beginning and took control of the game. We didn't panic and the goals came."

Roller coaster Crunch back on the uphill slope.

ADK-4
SYR-6

Kristers Gudlevskis allowed 4 goals on 25 shots for the victory. Goal support remains a beautiful thing.

First Period
ADK Cousins, (9) (Eddy, Manning), 9:31
ADK Noebels, (3) (Akeson, Lamarche), 17:43

Second Period
SYR Walker, (5) (Marchessault, Gourde), 7:49 (PP)
ADK Akeson, (21) , 11:54
SYR Paquette, (17) (DiSalvatore, Connolly), 14:46 (PP)
SYR Paquette, (18) (Sustr, Cote), 15:56

Third Period
ADK Holmstrom, (12) (Delisle, Noebels), 0:59 (PP)
SYR Smith, (6) (Marchessault, Langelier-Parent), 3:35
SYR Langelier-Parent, (2) (Gourde, Witkowski), 9:16
SYR Marchessault, (16) (Connolly, Witkowski), 14:03

Cedric Paquette, Jonathan Marchessault, and Yanni Gourde were the game's three stars.

Andrej Sustr also returned from injury tonight after missing over a month on the shelf, and he was joined in the lineup by J.P. Cote who has only been healthy enough to see game action in 1 game in the last month. Both defensemen had assists in the game, and both add to the list of reasons to believe this 3 game winning streak the Crunch are on might be sustainable. Also, if Sustr can finish the AHL season strong, he might give the Lightning defensive corps a shot in the arm in the depth department once he goes back up to to Tampa Bay.

The opportunity to make the playoffs is long gone for Syracuse, but they improved to 2 games under .500 with tonight's result. With everything that's happened, if the team can post a record over .500 this year, that's going to be a moral victory at least, and will help lay a foundation for success next season.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

By Jeremy Houghtaling

Feeling fresh with an exhausted backchecker ahead of him, Artem Sergeev decided to join the rush.

The Syracuse Crunch defenseman watched as teammate Vlad Namestnikov broke into the zone shorthanded, drew multiple St. John's IceCaps defenders to the left and slid the puck backdoor.

Sergeev easily tapped the eventual game-winner home with 2:32 remaining, as the Crunch rallied from a two-goal deficit to top the IceCaps, 3-2, at the Onondaga County War Memorial Wednesday.

"Vladdy has great vision," Sergeev said. "The goalie was looking at him, and he passed it to me. It was an empty net goal, pretty much."

Comeback Crunch start a positive streak for a change.

STJ-2
SYR-3

Kristers Gudlevskis allowed 2 goals on 28 shots for the victory. Since returning from the Olympics, Gudlevskis is 4-2-1 with 1 SO, a 1.97 GAA, and a .934 save percentage. Suffice it to say he's really taken off since that amazing performance against Canada in Sochi.

First Period
STJ Albert, (20) (MacKinnon), 4:14
STJ Chiarot, (5) (Gordon, Samson), 16:23

Second Period
SYR Connolly, (18) (Smith, Angelidis), 0:32

Third Period
SYR Angelidis, (11) (Paquette, Namestnikov), 2:43 (PP)
SYR Sergeev, (3) (Namestnikov), 17:28 (SH)

Artem Sergeev, Vladislav Namestnikov, and Mike Angelidis were the game's three stars. Now at 42 points in 46 games, Namestnikov has doubled his point production from a season ago when he had 21 points in 44 games. As with Gudlevskis' numbers, his continued production is impressive given how the rest of the roster has obviously labored a bit this season.

This was a far more impressive result than the 3-0 shutout of Adirondack given the IceCaps reside in 4th in the Eastern Conference at 20 games over .500 for the season. This is a result that gives you far more hope that this winning streak can actually be sustained.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

Crunch pass a gut check.

SYR-3
ADK-0

Kristers Gudlevskis stopped all 31 shots he faced for the shutout victory. That's the 5th shutout of his rookie campaign and he's 4 games above .500 with a save percentage than has risen to .909. Those are especially impressive numbers given where the Crunch currently are in the standings.

First Period
SYR Rankin, (13) (Korobov, Marchessault), 6:25 (PP)

Second Period
NO SCORING

Third Period
SYR Connolly, (17) (Nesterov, Paradis), 2:34 (PP)
SYR Paradis, (4) (Angelidis), 4:24

Gudlevskis, Philippe Paradis, and Brett Connolly were the game's three stars.

After an embarrassing 4-game losing streak where the Crunch hardly looked like a competitive AHL team, they showed some pride today to strike back for the 3-0 victory. Now, granted Adirondack is in dead last in the Eastern Conference. But, this is a team the Crunch should beat if they apply themselves and they applied themselves to the task today. That's something they definitely needed.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

Has this team given up?

ALB-6
SYR-2

Cedrick Desjardins allowed 6 goals on 28 shots for the loss. Ugly all around.

First Period
ALB Hrabarenka, (7) , 3:28
ALB Larsson, (2) (Zajac, Janssen), 8:34
ALB Urbom, (1) (Hrabarenka, Zajac), 18:23

Second Period
ALB Boucher, (18) (Larsson, Whitney), 1:36
SYR Connolly, (16) (Paquette, Namestnikov), 2:56 (PP)
ALB Zajac, (9) (Wohlberg), 9:56

Third Period
ALB Sislo, (23) (Timmins, Whitney), 1:07 (PP)
SYR Marchessault, (15) (DiSalvatore, Connolly), 16:14 (PP)

There is A LOT wrong in Syracuse right now. A LOT. And although some tweaks have already been made with a view toward next season, I don't think Julien BriseBois was in Syracuse this weekend just to take in the scenery. As the second half of this season has unfolded, it's become clear changes need to be made, but this last stretch of the year may mean bigger changes. This team is fast sinking to the bottom of the conference, and it's got to be an embarrassment to the Lightning organization at this point.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

By Jeremy Houghtaling

After putting the Syracuse Crunch on the board with a power play goal early in the second period, Brett Connolly celebrated with an unenthusiastic fist pump.

The goal brought the Crunch back to within three, but the Albany Devils continued to pour on the pressure to hand Syracuse its fourth-straight loss, 6-2, at the Onondaga County War Memorial Saturday.

"It's a moral victory that we played better tonight than we did last night," Connolly said. "But it's still not good enough."

By Jeremy Houghtaling

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins scored twice in the first period, and held on to hand the Syracuse Crunch their second straight shutout loss, 2-0, at the Onondaga County War Memorial Friday.

Syracuse had trouble creating sustained pressure, and was held to four shots in the first period and 16 overall.

"For whatever reason -- it's hard to explain -- we came out flat tonight," said Syracuse forward Jon DiSalvatore. "You've got to be ready to battle, you've got to be ready for the pressure."

Offensive outage continues.

WBS-2
SYR-0

Kristers Gudlevskis allowed 2 goals on 28 shots for another hard luck loss. Lack of goal support is a terrible thing.

First Period
WBS Machacek, (17) (Ebbett, Dumoulin), 7:38
WBS Payerl, (3) (Manderson, Zlobin), 17:39 (PP)

Second Period
NO SCORING

Third Period
NO SCORING

Gudlevkis was the game's third star.

16 shots on goal. That's all Syracuse could manage in the entire game. 16 shots on goal. That's about 5 less than Bishop had to stop in the Third Period alone against Toronto the other night. 16? It's embarrassing.

Box score from TheAHL.com.