AHL Syracuse Crunch

Crunch Blanked by Baby Pens

Published on December 9, 2009 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


Syracuse, NY (December 9, 2009) - A five-goal first period and a three-point night from Nick Johnson was too much for the Crunch to overcome, as they were shut out for the second time in three games by the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins tonight, 6-0, at the War Memorial at Oncenter.

The Crunch came out looking to jump on the Penguins early, especially playing in front of their home crowd, an environment that has been very friendly to them so far this season.

That didn't happen and in fact it was quite the opposite as the Penguins took it to the Crunch right from the get-go.

Nick Johnson potted the game's first goal when Dustin Jeffrey's pass hit off newly acquired Crunch defenseman Brendan Bell and caromed right to Mark Letestu, who quickly moved the puck to a wide-open Johnson who put the puck into the empty side past Kevin Lalande for the 1-0 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton lead.

Johnson wasn't finished and tallied his second goal in a 1-minute, 18-second span when his shot from the left slot beat Lalande to the short side to make it 2-0 before the game was seven and a half minutes old.

Those two quick markers seemed to deflate the Crunch and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton took advantage on the power play at the 9:47 mark when Eric Tangradi deflected a Robert Bortuzzo point shot past Lalande for the 3-0 Baby Pens lead. Lalande was pulled in favor of Dan LaCosta after allowing three goals on six shots.

Not even a goaltending change could stop the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton attack, as Chris Lee added the Penguins' second power play goal of the game to put the Penguins up 4-0 at the 12:21 mark.

Dustin Jeffrey's sharp-angle wrister two minutes later hit off LaCosta's shoulder and fell into the net to make it 5-0.

After scoreless second frame for both teams, Wyatt Smith re-directed a centering feed from Lee past LaCosta on Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's third man-advantage goal of the night 57 seconds into the third period.

Although the Crunch matched a season-high with 16 third period shots, they could not solve Penguins goaltender John Curry, who stopped all 25 shots to pick up the shutout win.

CRUNCHABLES: The Crunch let up a season-high three power play goals...Brendan Bell, Daniel Tkaczuk and Tomas Kana all made their Crunch debuts tonight after being added to the Crunch roster earlier this week...The Crunch have now been shut out four times this season.

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American Hockey League Stories from December 9, 2009


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