AHL Syracuse Crunch

Crunch Hang On at Home to Beat Grand Rapids

Published on February 27, 2009 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


Syracuse, NY (February 26, 2009) - In a crazy game that saw Syracuse score five second period goals and almost lose a four-goal lead when Grand Rapids came back with three in the third frame, the Crunch held on for a 6-5 win over the Griffins at the War Memorial at Oncenter tonight, in front of 5,044 fans.

After a 6-0 loss on Wednesday in Cleveland to the Lake Erie Monsters which saw the team rack up a mere 19 shots on goal, the Crunch wanted to set an early tone by testing Grand Rapids starter Jimmy Howard early.

Syracuse pounded 14 shots on net in the first frame and broke through on the scoreboard at the 7:50 mark on the power play with Grand Rapids' Aaron Downey in the box for cross-checking.

Steve Kelly collected the puck at the right face-off dot and fed it to Craig MacDonald camped out down low in front of Howard. MacDonald swept the biscuit on goal, secured his own rebound and tucked it through the Syracuse native's five-hole on the second effort to give the Crunch a 1-0 lead.

The Griffins answered back with a power play goal of their own when Trevor Frischmon was sent off for high-sticking at exactly the 12-minute mark.

Garrett Stafford sent a shot to the net from the point that was re-directed by Darren Haydar to make it a 1-1 game.

The Crunch re-took the lead at the 5:05 mark of the second stanza when Kelly circled behind the Griffins net and found a streaking Grant Clitsome in the slot who poked it through Howard's legs to make it 2-1.

Grand Rapids knotted the game again when Cory Emmerton fought off a backcheck from Johann Kroll and let a shot go from the right face-off dot that handcuffed LaCosta and found the back of the net, tying the game at 2-2. That goal came at the 9:08 mark.

Syracuse took the period over after that, tallying four goals in a two-minute, 56 second span.

Alexandre Picard started the outburst by driving to the net, picking a pass out of mid-air from Mike York and sliding the disk through Howard for the 3-2 lead.

Brian McGuirk added his second goal of the year and first since October 10 by driving to the net and chipping a loose puck up and over Howard just 42 seconds later.

On the play, McGuirk went knee-on-knee with Grand Rapids' Tom Galvin. The impact sent both players flying in the air and McGuirk hurling towards Howard.

McGuirk went full force into Howard, eventually knocking him out of the game along with Galvin after a lengthy delay.

Nick Holden notched his second goal of the year and second in as many nights when his shot banked off the back boards, hit off Stafford and scooted past new Grand Rapids goaltender Daniel Larsson to put the Crunch up 5-2 at the 17:42 mark.

The Crunch added one more before the end of the second, when Trevor Frischmon found a loose puck after Mike York dumped the puck in and it took fortuitous bounce off the boards.

The disk bounced right to Frischmon, who punched it into the open side to stretch Syracuse's lead to 6-2.

Grand Rapids would not go quietly and stormed back in the third period with three goals in a four and a half minute span, including two more from Haydar to give him three on the night.

The Crunch hung on in the final ten minutes and escaped with a 6-5 win.

CRUNCHABLES: The Crunch's five-goal second period was a single-period high for the season...Syracuse matched its season-high goal total (6, five times)...Nick Holden notched his first multi-point game as a professional (1g, 1a) tonight and now has eight points (2g, 6a), over his last nine games...The Crunch won their second game of the year when allowing at least four goals...Syracuse improved to 15-1-0-0 when they score at least four goals.

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American Hockey League Stories from February 27, 2009


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