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Penalties Doom Crunch in 6-2 Loss

January 21, 2012 - American Hockey League (AHL) Syracuse Crunch

Wilkes-Barre, PA (January 21, 2012) - The Crunch had their five-game point streak snapped tonight as they fell to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 6-2 at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.

The Crunch penalty kill unit allowed a season-high five power-play goals on 12 Penguin power-play chances while the Crunch power play went 0 for 4 on their own man-advantage.

The Crunch played shorthanded for much of the first period as the Penguins had five power-play opportunities in the opening frame. The Penguins were unable to breakthrough until their third man-advantage attempt, when Alex Grant's slap shot evaded Crunch goaltender Marco Cousineau to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead at the 11:46 mark.

The Crunch responded 26 seconds later with a goal from left wing Luca Caputi. Caputi's goal, assisted by Peter Holland and Andrew Gordon, avoided Penguins goaltender Scott Munroe to even the score at the 12:10 mark of the first period.

The Crunch took a 2-1 lead when Mark Fraser's shot from the blue line rebounded off Munroe to the stick of Patrick Maroon. Maroon slid the puck past Munroe for his 20th goal of the season at the 7:52 mark of the second stanza.

The Penguins scored two power-play goals in the span of 1:21 to carry a 3-2 lead into the final frame. The Penguins tied the game with a 5-on-3 goal from Bryan Lerg. Cousineau made the initial save on a Geoff Walker shot but the rebound found Lerg's stick for an easy score. Still on the power play, Ben Street beat Cousineau five hole for the Penguins third power-play tally.

With Rick Schofield serving a tripping penalty the Penguins right wing Walker added another power-play tally at the 8:38 mark of the third to extend the Penguins lead to 4-2. Grant added a fifth power-play goal at the 14:15 mark of the third period while on a 5-on-3 man-advantage.

The Penguins Zach Sill added an even-strength goal at the 16:42 mark of the third period resulting in the final score of 6-2.

Crunchables: Luca Caputi has eight points in eight games with the Crunch this season...The Crunch fall to 3-13-2-0 when allowing the first goal...Tonight's contest marks the first regulation loss for Associate Head Coach Trent Yawney

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American Hockey League Stories from January 21, 2012


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