AHL Syracuse Crunch

Crunch Grind Out Road Win in Wilkes-Barre

January 10, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


Wilkes-Barre, PA (January 10, 2009) - Steve Kelly's two regulation goals and two shootout goals catapulted the Syracuse Crunch to a 4-3 shootout victory over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at Wachovia Arena tonight in front of 7,270 fans.

The Penguins tallied the game's first marker on a goal that took a conference between referee Nygel Pelletier and the goal judge to decide if it indeed was a goal.

The play developed when Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's Mark Letestu took a feed at center ice from Jean-Philippe Cote and skated into the Crunch zone. Letestu barreled his way to the net and arrived in the crease at the same time as the puck. Crunch starter Sebastian Dahm lost track of the disk and it slid over the goal line as a pileup ensued to make it 1-0 just over 15 minutes into the first period.

Not to be deterred, the Crunch tied the game on the game's only power play of the first period just one minute, thirty seconds later at the 16:39 mark.

From the right point, Clay Wilson fed the puck over to Steve Kelly who was set up on the half-wall. With no passing option, Kelly skated out to the top of the left circle and wound up for a slapper that rocketed to the top corner of the cage over the left shoulder of Adam Berkhoel to make it 1-1. The goal was Kelly's third of the year.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton took the lead back at the 4:41 mark of the second stanza on a power play of its own when Janne Pesonen notched his twelfth goal of the campaign.

Jean-Michel Daoust corralled the puck and found Pesonen skating in from the center point. Daoust slid a pass over that Daoust one-timed from the slot past Dahm to make it 2-1.

The Crunch came back to knot the game again at the 9:46 mark of the second. Syracuse worked the puck deep into the corner where Tom Sestito went to go get it.

Sestito got to the puck, turned around and found Andrey Plekhanov just above the hash marks. Plekahanov snapped a shot over a sliding defenseman and past Berkhoel to make it a 2-2 game heading into the third period.

Through two periods, Dahm stopped 21 shots while Berkhoel turned aside17 of 18 Crunch bids.

After 18 scoreless minutes of play in the third period, the Penguins got a lucky break when Ben Lovejoy's dump in attempt hit off the glass and was redirected into the empty net as Dahm went out to play the puck to give Wilkes-Barre/Scranton a 3-2 lead.

With their goalie pulled for an extra-attacker on the ice in the final minute, the Crunch once again clawed their way back to tie the game when Mike York fed Kelly from behind the net who stuffed it past Berkhoel to tie the game with 5.3 seconds remaining in regulation.

Overtime was fast and furious with each team getting chances back and forth.

Wilson's hooking infraction at the 3:39 mark of overtime gave the Penguins a one-minute power play.

Dahm saved the game for the Crunch when he robbed Ryan Stone by diving across the crease while doing a full split to snare his shot with his glove hand just as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's power play was expiring and with 17 seconds left in the extra session.

In the shootout, the teams were tied at two after five shooters each, as Kelly and Derek MacKenzie tallied for the Crunch.

Pesonen missed on his chance in the sixth round, setting the stage for Kelly who beat Berkhoel with a backhand to seal the win for Syracuse.

Dahm stopped 31 shots and denied four of six shootout attempts.

CRUNCHABLES: Steve Kelly extended his point streak to three games (3g, 3a).

Check out the Syracuse Crunch Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from January 10, 2009


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