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Syracuse Crunch

Syracuse Crunch Close out Home Stand with 4-2 Win over Senators

October 18, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


Syracuse, N.Y. - On back-to-back nights, the Crunch (2-1-1-0) found themselves in a tie game in the third period, and for the second night in a row, the Crunch prevailed, beating the Binghamton Senators (1-1-1-0), 4-2.

The idea of being back-to-back was a key element for the Crunch as they scored back-to-back goals in the third period to secure the win.

Mike Blunden drove the net and potted a rebound past Andrew Hammond to give the Crunch a 3-2 lead over Binghamton at the 13:20 mark of the third period. Joel Vermin recorded the assist on Blunden's goal.

Matt Corrente added an insurance tally for Syracuse just over a minute later with assists from Cedric Paquette and Jonathan Drouin. Jonathan Marchessault set a screen in front of Corrente's shot from the point at the 14:30 mark of the third.

Marchessault scored a goal of his own early in the second period to tie the game at one. At the 5:19 mark, Drouin got the offense going as he kicked a puck out from behind the net to Cedric Paquette. When Paquette couldn't put the puck in the net, Marchessault buried it to tie the game at one. The goal extended Marchessault's team lead in points to five.

Once again, the Crunch struck quickly with back-to-back goals as Vermin took a pass from Blunden and found the back of the net to give the Crunch their first lead of the game. The goal was Vermin's first of the season. Both Blunden and Vermin finished the game with two points (1G, 1A).

Binghamton answered the Crunch go-ahead goal with their first power-play goal of the season at the 8:51 mark in the second. Matt Puempel tipped in Aaron Johnson's shot from the point 12 seconds into the Senators power-play and tied the game at two.

Kristers Gudlevskis stood tall for the Crunch through the rest of the game and made one of his best saves, with 1:30 left in the second period, when he extended to make a glove save as the Senators second power-play of the game expired. Gudlevskis finished with 42 saves.

His opponent at the other end of the ice, Andrew Hammond, saved 40 shots and was strong in net for all but a few moments, and when he struggled, the Crunch capitalized on those moments.

One of the only differences from the first period through the remainder of the game was capitalization on scoring chances. The Senators outshot the Crunch, 19-18, but only one goal was potted in the first.

Cole Schneider lit the lamp for Binghamton at the 3:58 mark when he put back a puck off of Kristers Gudlevskis' right pad. Shane Prince took the shot that set up the rebound and got the assist. Chris Wideman also got an assist on the play.

Both of the first two periods each had two fights. In the first, Matt Corrente and Darren Kramer dropped gloves immediately after a faceoff with 3:50 remaining, then J.P Cote and Max McCormick got into a fight 14 seconds later. All four received five-minute penalties for fighting.

In the second, Luke Witkowski and Garrett Thompson continued the trend and threw down after a save by Kristers Gudlevskis at 8:24 into the second. Tanner Richard and David Dziurzynski got into the fourth fight of the game at the 16:36 mark of the second period.

In his second, and possibly last game at the War Memorial Arena, Drouin recorded two assists, to tally three points in his first two professional starts.

Syracuse will take its first road-trip of the season Friday through Sunday to play Worcester, Portland, and Springfield before returning to the War Memorial Arena on Halloween to take on the Rochester Americans.

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