Crunch Downed by Checkers, 5-3
February 4, 2023 - American Hockey League (AHL) - Syracuse Crunch News Release
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The Syracuse Crunch were downed by the Charlotte Checkers, 5-3, tonight at the Upstate Medical University Arena.
The loss snaps a four-game points streak for the Crunch and drops the team to 21-15-4-3 on the season. Charlotte won the four-game season series, 3-1-0-0.
Crunch goaltender Hugo Alnefelt stopped 20-of-24 shots, while Jean-Francois Berube earned the win turning aside 30-of-33.
Syracuse was held scoreless on three power play opportunities, but had a perfect penalty kill, going 2-for-2.
The Crunch opened scoring just 2:05 into the game. Simon Ryfors won the face off in the right circle and sent the puck out for Alex Barre-Boulet to score with a quick wrister. Halfway through the opening frame, the Checkers evened the score. Logan Hutsko's first shot from the left circle was stopped, but the rebound came out for him to shovel it into the net. Just over a minute later, the Checkers took the lead when John Ludvig's point shot slipped past the netminder and across the goal line.
Ryfors evened the score early in the second period when he got a centering feed from Rudy Balcers and chipped the puck up and over Berube for his team-leading 17th goal of the season.
Charlotte went back on top early in the third period with two goals just 39 seconds apart. At the 5:42 mark, Justin Sourdif got behind the defense and snuck a shorthanded goal past Alnefelt. Seconds later, Connor Bunnaman chipped in a rebound from a sharp angle along the goal line. Matt Kiersted then added an empty-netter at 15:37 to build a three-goal lead for the Checkers.
With 3:56 remaining in the game, Jack Thompson sent in a slap shot from the blue line, but the Crunch were unable to comeback and suffered the loss.
The Crunch travel to face Laval on Friday.
Single game tickets and ticket packages for the 2022-23 season are on sale now and can be purchased in person at the Crunch office located inside the Upstate Medical University Arena at Onondaga County War Memorial at 800 S. State St. in Syracuse, by calling the office at 315-473-4444 or online through Ticketmaster. For the latest Crunch news, visit www.syracusecrunch.com or follow the club on Facebook (www.facebook.com/syracusecrunch), Twitter (@SyracuseCrunch) and Instagram (@syracusecrunch).
Crunchables: Alex Barre-Boulet is on a five-game goal-scoring streak. He netted his 100th AHL goal tonight.
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