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Crunch Down Pirates 4 - 2

April 28, 2013 - American Hockey League (AHL) - Portland Pirates News Release


Syracuse, NY - The Syracuse Crunch scored the first 4 goals of the game and held on to defeat the Portland Pirates 4-2 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Portland now faces elimination as they return to the Cumberland County Civic Center down 0-2 in the series. Game 3 is Thursday in Portland at 7:00 PM.

Ondrej Palat opened the scoring for the Crunch, breaking a scoreless tie in 4 on 4 action at the 9:33 mark of the first. Palat's goal was assisted by Tyler Johnson and Matt Taormina. J.T. Brown scored just over a minute later at the 10:41 mark of the first to give the Crunch a 2-0 lead. While Portland opened with the first 4 shots of the game, Syracuse tallied 9 of the next 10 shots, and finished the period with a 12-7 shot advantage.

Syracuse extended their lead in the second. Tyler Johnson had the shorthanded goal for the Crunch on a Dmitry Korobov penalty that carried over from the first period just 49 seconds into the second frame to give Syracuse a 3-0 lead. Brett Connolly then extended the lead to 4-0 with a tally that came with 5:24 left in the second. A massive scrum broke out at the next stoppage of play, which saw Phil Lane and Jean-Philippe Cote pick up fighting majors and Andy Miele and Richard Panik picking up misconducts for secondary altercations. Brandon Gormley got the Pirates on the board with a 4 on 4 tally with 3:10 remaining in the second, with Brendan Shinnimin picking up an assist.

The Pirates would pull closer in the third. Nick Johnson redirected Lucas Lessio's shot past Cedric Desjardins with 10:20 remaining, cutting Syracuse's lead to 2. Despite ramped up pressure from the Pirates and numerous power play attempts, the Pirates were unable to capitalize, going 0-8 on the night on the man advantage during the game. With Chad Johnson on the bench with 2:13 left in regulation, the Pirates controlled the Syracuse offensive zone, but Desjardins stood tall to close out the win for the Crunch.

Chad Johnson stopped 20 of the 25 shots he faced in the loss, while Desjardins stopped 12 of 14. Neither team scored on the power play during the game, with Syracuse going 0-6 and Portland going 0-8.

The series moves to Portland for Game 3, which will be Thursday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center. Puck drop set for 7:00 PM as the Pirates look to extend the series. Tickets are available for Thursday's game by calling the Civic Center Box Office at (207) 775-3458. Group tickets are available by calling the Pirates office at (207) 828-4665 ext. 350.

The pregame show starts Thursday at 6:40 with Jeff Mannix. Thursday's game can be heard on WPEI 95.5 and 95.9, online on PortlandPiratesRadio.com, and on AHL Live. Thursday's game will also be televised on Time Warner Cable TWC-TV, which is channel 9 or 21 in Maine.

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