AHL Syracuse Crunch

Crunch Hunt Down Moose

March 24, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


Winnipeg, MB (March 24, 2009) - Two goals from Maksim Mayorov and 29 saves from Kevin Lalande vaulted the Syracuse Crunch to 2-1 come-from-behind win over the Manitoba Moose tonight, in front of 6,809 fans at the MTS Centre.

The Crunch victory pulled Syracuse to within one point of fourth place Toronto for the final playoff spot in the North Division.

Coming off a tough 2-1 loss on Sunday in Rochester, the Crunch came out looking to take it to first place Manitoba in a potential first round playoff match-up.

Both teams had quality scoring chances and both goaltenders stood on their heads in the first frame. Lalande stopped all 12 shots he faced while his counterpart, Cory Schneider, turned away 13 bids of his own in a scoreless first 20 minutes.

Manitoba opened the game's scoring just one minute into the second stanza when Jason Krog created a turnover for his club in the neutral zone and moved the puck quickly to Dusty Collins who skated in on a partial breakaway.

Collins fought off the check of Kevin Harvey and chipped a rolling puck back against the grain past Lalande to give the Moose a 1-0 lead.

The Crunch answered 11 minutes later.

Nick Holden picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone as the Crunch were making a line change and skated into the offensive zone. Holden made a drop pass to Nikita Filatov on the left side that backed in the defense. Filatov pulled the puck back and fed Maksim Mayorov streaking down the right side.

Mayorov put his whole body into the shot and ripped it over the right shoulder of Schneider to knot the game at 1-1.

The Russian rookies struck again at the 9:53 mark of the third when Filatov fed Mayorov for his second of the game.

Filatov corralled the puck on the left half-wall, turned and saw Mayorov coming in on the right side. Filatov made a slick pass that ticked off the stick of the Manitoba defenseman and into the skates of Mayorov.

Showing great hands, Mayorov picked the puck out from a bad angle and snapped the disk under the glove of an outstretched Schneider for a 2-1 Crunch lead.

Syracuse held Manitoba to just six third period shots as Lalande shut the door, sealing the win for the Crunch.

CRUNCHABLES: The Crunch won their twelfth game this year when trailing going into the third period, which leads all AHL teams...Maksim Mayorov scored his first goal in five games tonight and had his first two-goal game since October 25 vs. Rochester...The Crunch have now won six of their last seven contests...With his assist tonight, Nick Holden has six assists in his last six games...Kevin Lalande improved his record with the Crunch to 6-1-0.

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American Hockey League Stories from March 24, 2009


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