
Crunch Defeat Amerks, 6-2, to Extend Winning Streak
April 2, 2021 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release
SYRACUSE, N.Y. --- The Syracuse Crunch are now on a five-game winning streak with a 6-2 victory over the Rochester Americans tonight at the Blue Cross Arena.
The Crunch had six different goal scorers in Antoine Morand, Grigori Denisenko, Johnny Ludvig, Boris Katchouk, Devante Stephens and Alex Barre-Boulet as the team moves to 8-5-1-0 on the season and 3-2-1-0 in the 12-game season series with Rochester.
Goaltender Sam Montembeault earned the win with 25 saves between the pipes for the Crunch. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen turned aside 21-of-26 in net for the Amerks before being relieved by Billy Christopoulos late in the third period. Christopoulos stopped 2-of-3 shots he faced. Syracuse went 2-for-5 on the power play, while Rochester was 1-for-4.
The Crunch opened scoring on the power play 8:24 into the first period. Mitchell Stephens faked a shot from the right circle before passing across the slot for Morand to score his first Crunch goal with a quick wrister. Syracuse scored again at the 14-minute mark when Denisenko grabbed the rebound from Alex Green's right point shot and sent it in just under the crossbar. At 18:57, Ludvig made it 3-0 from the top of the left circle.
The Amerks stole one back on the power play 1:03 into the third period. Montembeault made the initial save, but Brett Murray found the loose puck and chipped it in during a battle in front of the cage.
Syracuse regained their three-goal lead at 6:05 when Sean Day sped down the right side to the goal line before feeding Katchouk in the left circle for a shot into a wide open net.
Rochester quickly responded when the team capitalized on a turnover. C.J. Smith grabbed the puck along the end boards and centered it for Arttu Ruotsalainen to redirect in.
The Crunch added two more to close out the third period and secure the win. At 13:49, Stephens fired in a long point shot, then Barre-Boulet wristed in a power-play goal from the right faceoff dot at 15:57.
The Crunch rematch the Amerks tomorrow in Syracuse.
American Hockey League Stories from April 2, 2021
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