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AHL Syracuse Crunch

Crunch Grab 2-0 Series Lead with 4-2 Win over Pirates

April 28, 2013 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


Syracuse, NY - The Syracuse Crunch took a 2-0 series lead by defeating the Portland Pirates 4-2 tonight at the War Memorial Arena.

Syracuse scored four goals for the second consecutive night to take the first two games of the best-of-five Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. The Crunch and Pirates will meet in Portland for Game 3 on Thursday.

The Crunch jumped on the board first with a four-on-four goal 9:33 into the first period. Ondrej Palat brought the puck along the boards and beat Chad Johnson with a shot from the stick side circle. Tyler Johnson and Matt Taormina were credited with the assists on the game's first goal.

J.T. Brown doubled the Crunch's lead a little over a minute later. With traffic in front of the net, Brown slammed the puck past Johnson. Mike Angelidis and J.T. Wyman picked up their first points of the Calder Cup Playoffs on the play.

Syracuse extended its lead to 3-0 with a shorthanded goal just 49 seconds into the second frame. With Dmitry Korobov sitting in the box, Palat passed to Johnson, who was able to get a quick shot from the glove side past the Portland netminder.

The Crunch and Pirates traded goals to close out the final six minutes of the second period. Dan Sexton fed Brett Connolly, who flipped the puck from the slot. Philip-Michael Devos also picked up an assist on Syracuse's fourth goal of game.

Portland ended Crunch netminder Cedrick Desjardin's shutout bid with a goal from Brandon Gormley at the 16:50 mark of the period. Nick Johnson cut the Crunch's lead in half with a goal 9:40 into the third period. Johnson tipped in a Lucas Lessio shot to bring the game to 4-2. Desjardins stopped 18 of 20 shots for his second consecutive playoff victory.

Crunchables...Since returning from Tampa Bay, Tyler Johnson has a goal in all five games that he has played for the Crunch...Johnson had one shorthanded goal during the regular season...The Crunch had nine shorthanded goals during the regular season...The Pirates gave up more shorthanded goals (16) than any other team in the AHL during the regular season...J.T. Brown's last goal was Mar. 23 against Rochester

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