
Vasilevskiy shines on the big stage in the Frozen Dome.
UTI-1
SYR-2
Andrei Vasilevskiy had his finest start of the year, turning aside 26 of 27 shots for the victory. He made big saves at big moments to preserve the margin of victory for the Crunch, and he did it in front of 30,000+ people. The young man's got some swagger, no doubt. I could see his season taking off like a rocket ship from here on out.
First Period
UTI Friesen, (2) (Kenins, Jensen), 3:12
SYR Vermin, (5) (Richard), 16:00
Second Period
SYR Gourde, (8) (Marchessault, Nesterov), 0:49
Third Period
NO SCORING
Vasilevskiy, Yanni Gourde, and Tanner Richard were the game's three stars.
Utica is a fine club, entering the night atop the Western Conference. This was a measuring stick game coming off of a loss that snapped an 8 game point streak for the Crunch. The win will put Syracuse back into a tie for the top spot in their division and continues to reinforce that this Syracuse team is going to be a real player in the AHL hunt this season.
Attendance at tonight's game at the Carrier Dome was 30,715, which breaks the all-time indoor record set by the crowd in Tampa Bay for Game Six of the Lightning and Flyers series of 28,138 way back in 1996 (I was there) at Thunderdome in St. Petersburg.
Box score from TheAHL.com.