AHL Syracuse Crunch

Crunch Drowned by Lake Erie

February 6, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


Cleveland, OH (February 6, 2009) - After scoring two goals in the third period in a come-from-behind win on Wednesday night in Hamilton, the Syracuse Crunch were victims of that themselves tonight, as Lake Erie scored two third period goals to come back and defeat Syracuse by a 3-2 margin in front of 8,024 fans at Quicken Loans Arena.

The Crunch was looking to continue its road warrior mentality coming into tonight's contest on a season-high three game road winning streak.

Syracuse jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 3:40 into the first period when Aaron Rome found a loose puck in the left circle and shuffled a wrist shot along the ice that found its way through a screen and through the five-hole of Lake Erie starter Tyler Weiman. Kevin Harvey and Brian McGuirk picked up the helpers on the play.

The Crunch outshot the Monsters by a 9-7 margin in a fast-paced first period.

Lake Erie pulled even with the Crunch just 1:24 into the second stanza when T.J. Galiardi put his fifth marker of the season past Sebastian Dahm to make it a 1-1 game.

The Crunch re-took the lead at the 6:26 mark of the second and just six seconds into a man-advantage when Mike York slid the puck over to Jon Landry who made a cross-ice pass that hit off a Lake Erie defender's skate and right to Derek MacKenzie.

MacKenzie's bid from the slot beat Weiman low to the glove side to give Syracuse the 2-1 advantage.

Through two periods, the Crunch held a 19-14 shots advantage.

Lake Erie tied the game for the second time in the third frame. Randy Rowe's slapshot was blocked by Dan Smith and bounced right into the slot to former Crunch member, Darcy Campbell.

Campbell's wrister beat Dahm high to the glove side to knot the score at 2-2.

The Monsters' persistence paid off when they took their first lead of the game at the 12:06 mark.

Derek Peltier's shot from the left side was kicked out by Dahm and into the slot. Chris Durno beat Grant Clitsome to the rebound and sent the puck by Dahm to give Lake Erie a 3-2 lead.

The Crunch could not get the equalizer even after pulling Dahm for the extra attacker late in regulation.

Weiman was solid for Lake Erie down the stretch and stopped 25 of the 27 shots he faced.

CRUNCHABLES: Nikita Filatov played in his first game with the Crunch since December 14 @ Rochester...Sebastian Dahm made his second straight start tonight...Brian McGuirk's assist tonight was his first point in 13 games...The Crunch penalty killing unit has not allowed a power play goal since January 24 vs. Manitoba, a span of four games...Dan Smith skated in his 700th AHL game tonight.

Check out the Syracuse Crunch Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from February 6, 2009


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