Syracuse Crunch

By Jeremy Houghtaling

Mike Angelidis accepted his teammates' congratulations and then leaned in for a conversation with one of his team's rookies.

The Syracuse Crunch captain, having opened the scoring 9:30 into the first period, wanted to let Tanner Richard know his work on the goal -- battling through a check and making the pass -- wasn't going unnoticed.

"I said 'That's a great second effort, that's all you,'" Angelidis said. "When you see a young guy pulling out a second effort like that, you just try to get him going and give him confidence."

Richard finished with a pair of assists for his first multi-point pro game, as the Crunch topped the Hershey Bears, 3-2, at the Onondaga County War Memorial Friday.

"I thought he was moving his feet a little bit more," said Syracuse coach Rob Zettler. "That's the biggest thing for Tanner, when he's stationary he's not effective. When he's moving his feet, he can be really effective."

We continue our Prospect of the Week award, an honor (virtually) given to one Tampa Bay Lightning prospect for their recent contributions on and off the ice.

The Prospect of the Week for January 13, 2014 is … Kristers Gudlevskis, G, Syracuse Crunch (AHL – USA).

Syracuse goaltender Cedrick Desjardins could find himself in a rare situation. The veteran netminder has been the Crunch’s No. 1 goalie for most of the season, yet he may have just lost his hold on No. 1 after being promoted to the NHL.

125 minutes.

PRO-0
SYR-1

Kristers Gudlevskis stopped all 27 shots he faced for the shutout victory. If you're keeping track at home, in the last 48 hours the Providence Bruins played 125 minutes of regulation and overtime hockey against Gudlevskis and they got nothing to show for their efforts. Nada. Were it not for the shootout gimmick last night, we might be calling Gudlevskis Providence's daddy. We still might, anyhow. Gudlevskis has 4 shutouts in his 16 appearances this season and a very respectable 2.37 GAA and .915 sv%. He's looking like quite the late round steal for the Lightning, to be sure.

First Period
SYR Paquette, (11) (Tyrell, Korobov), 0:42

Second Period
NO SCORING

Third Period
NO SCORING

Gudlevskis and Cedric Paquette were the game's first and second stars.

Syracuse remains 3 points back of 8th place in the Eastern Conference. They're off until Friday when they face the Hershey Bears.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

By Jeremy Houghtaling

One night after playing 65 scoreless minutes, Syracuse took less than 60 seconds to find the back of the net against Providence Saturday.

Cedric Paquette scored the lone goal 42 seconds in and Kristers Gudlevskis stopped 27 shots for his second-straight shutout, as the Crunch topped the Bruins, 1-0, at the Onondaga County War Memorial.

With Friday's scoreless contest decided by a shootout, Syracuse knew the rematch would be another close game.

Shutout, loss?

SYR-0
PRO-1 (SO)

Kristers Gudlevskis stopped all 22 shots he faced in regulation and overtime, but allowed 3 of 4 to convert in the penalty shot session for the shootout loss. That's rough.

First Period
NO SCORING

Second Period
NO SCORING

Third Period
NO SCORING

Overtime
NO SCORING

Shootout
SYR- Rankin, Connolly
PRO- Khokhlachev, Knight, Griffith

Gudlevskis was the game's second star.

With tonight's result the Crunch pulled within 3 points of 8th place in the Eastern Conference. They'll face Providence again tomorrow night.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

Connolly remains on fire.

SYR-4
WBS-2

Kristers Gudlevskis allowed 2 goals on 26 shots for the victory.

First Period
SYR Namestnikov, (11) (Connolly, DiSalvatore), 13:17 (PP)
SYR DiSalvatore, (1) (Connolly, Mormina), 13:47 (PP)

Second Period
SYR Connolly, (9) (Nesterov, DiSalvatore), 8:04
SYR Paquette, (10) (Richard, Witkowski), 8:59
WBS Samuelsson, (1) (Manderson, Mikkelson), 17:39

Third Period
WBS Samuelsson, (2) (Kuhnhackl, Carman), 15:11

Jon DiSalvatore and Brett Connolly were the game's first and second stars. Connolly, if you're keeping track at home, just posted his 3rd consecutive 3-point night. He now has 9 goals and 23 points in 24 games. A lot of disappointment has been expressed by Lightning fans based on Connolly's ineffective callup earlier this season, but here's a set of fun facts to consider: 1.) Last season Connolly was a 2nd Team AHL All-Star scoring at a pace of .887 points per game. 2.) This season, despite fears Connolly's development has stagnated, Connolly is now scoring at a .958 points per game clip. My point is this: folks giving up on Connolly might be wise to wait until the next time he gets a cup of coffee with Tampa Bay before drawing any final conclusions, because he's still getting better.

With the victory, Syracuse climbs back to within 4 points of eighth place in the Eastern Conference. They face Providence on Friday.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

By Jeremy Houghtaling

For Brett Connolly, the first one was the hardest.

The Syracuse Crunch forward, who posted 74 points in 89 games last season, went 10 games before registering his first American Hockey League goal this year. Still, he knew it was only a matter of time before the goals would start flowing.

Connolly finally broke through with a power play goal against Norfolk Dec. 6, turning months of frustration into relief.

"I knew it would come around," Connolly said. "At the start of the year, things weren't going in for me, but I think, in terms of my stats, I'm right back to where I was in the first 22 games last year. Usually it works itself out."

By Jeremy Houghtaling

Despite receiving word that he was selected to represent his country at the Olympics, Kristers Gudlevskis is focusing on the task at hand.

The netminder was included on the Latvia men's national hockey team's preliminary roster for the games in Sochi next month, but after finishing practice with the Syracuse Crunch Tuesday, Gudlevskis reiterated what's important to him now.

"I don't concentrate on (the) tournament yet," the 21-year-old said. "I concentrate on the Crunch and do everything possible to win some games, get some points. When I need to go to the Olympics, then I start concentrating on the Olympics."

Connolly helps Crunch steal a point.

SYR-5
BNG-6 (OT)

Cedrick Desjardins allowed 3 goals on 15 shots before being lifted early in the Second Period. Kristers Gudlevskis allowed 3 goals on 17 shots the rest of the way for the OT loss.

First Period
BNG Da Costa, (11) (Schneider, Hoffman), 3:34
SYR Connolly, (7) (Namestnikov, Olson), 5:40
SYR Walker, (4) (Angelidis), 6:03

Second Period
SYR Mormina, (1) (Rankin, Paquette), 0:26 (SH)
BNG O'Brien, (5) (Hoffman, Hammond), 1:13 (PP)
BNG Prince, (6) (Hoffman, Wideman), 3:23 (PP)

Third Period
BNG Wideman, (4) (Schneider, Puempel), 1:16 (PP)
BNG Da Costa, (12) (New, Schneider), 1:50 (PP)
SYR Connolly, (8) , 8:06 (PP)
SYR Mormina, (2) (Connolly, DiSalvatore), 17:01

Overtime
BNG Wideman, (5) (Hoffman, Prince), 1:26 (PP)

Brett Connolly's game has been simmering nicely the past several weeks in Syracuse, but in his last two games he's gotten white hot. Tonight's 2 goals and 3 points marked the second straight 3 point game for the former first rounder and it included a wonderful individual effort tonight to score a goal to get within 1 and the primary assist on the tying goal. In the last 15 games Connolly has 8 goals and 19 points, and he's starting to close in on a point a game for the season at 20 points in 23 games. After failing to gain traction in his first Tampa Bay cup of coffee this season, Connolly may be making a case for another audition soon.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

Syracuse starts to look like Syracuse again.

SYR-6
TOR-3

Kristers Gudlevskis allowed 3 goals on 35 shots for the victory.

First Period
TOR Ashton, (10) , 14:24 (SH)

Second Period
TOR Crescenzi, (1) (Bodie, Holzer), 5:03
SYR Namestnikov, (9) (Connolly, Olson), 6:00
SYR Tyrell, (4) (Labrie, Mormina), 19:55

Third Period
SYR Paquette, (9) (Tyrell), 3:06
SYR Connolly, (6) , 5:43
SYR Labrie, (1) (Paquette, Korobov), 6:39
TOR Duco, (1) (Bodie), 6:49
SYR Namestnikov, (10) (Taormina, Connolly), 9:46 (PP)

Vladislav Namestnikov and Brett Connolly were the game's first and second stars. Just what the doctor ordered. Namestnikov, playing in his second game back from the broken hand, was joined in the lineup by Pierre-Cedric Labrie to go along with previous reinforcement like Tyrell and DiSalvatore and tonight it finally started to click for the beleaguered Crunch. Now, perhaps, the road back to the playoffs can begin.

Syracuse's win squares their record at 14-14-1-3, 5 points back of Adirondack for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. The Crunch head to Binghamton tomorrow night trying to put together a streak.

Box score from TheAHL.com.