AHL Syracuse Crunch

Crunch Stumped by Moose

Published on March 25, 2009 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


Winnipeg, MB (March 25, 2009) - Goals from Dan Spang, Kevin Harvey and Derek MacKenzie weren't enough for the Crunch tonight, as they fell by a 5-3 count the Manitoba Moose at the MTS Centre tonight in front of 6,517 fans.

With Toronto losing its game to Hershey tonight, the Crunch remain one point back of the final playoff spot in the North division.

After a great come from behind road win to secure their sixth victory in seven games last night, the Crunch looked to sweep the Moose in their own building to finish up their mini three-game road swing.

Syracuse got off to a good start and scored the game's first goal on the power play.

Dan Spang took a pass from Craig MacDonald at the left point, skated in and wristed a shot in between the body and arm on the short side of Manitoba starter Curtis Sanford to give the Crunch a 1-0 lead at the 11:23 mark.

That lead only lasted two and a half minutes before Manitoba answered back.

Matt Pope broke into the offensive zone and drove to the net. Pope was able to get a step on Crunch defenseman Johann Kroll and beat Kevin Lalande with a backhand upstairs to make it 1-1.

Manitoba took a 2-1 lead just two minutes later when Jason Krog fed Jason Jaffray with a cross-ice pass and Jaffray buried the puck past Lalande to give Manitoba the advantage.

The Moose added one more before the first 20 minutes was over when Krog drove to the net and ticked in the rebound of a Jaffray shot at the 19:20 mark.

Manitoba scored its fourth straight goal of the game and kept their momentum going in the second period when Gillaume Debiens notched a power play marker to extend the Moose lead to 4-1 just 1:38 into the second stanza.

The Crunch struck back just a minute later when Grant Clitsome's wrister from the right point was re-directed by Kevin Harvey past Sanford to make it 4-2.

Manitoba re-took a three-goal advantage when Krog came in on a breakaway and beat Dan LaCosta, who replaced Lalande after Manitoba's fourth goal. LaCosta got a piece of the shot, but the disk trickled over the line to make it 5-2. The marker came at the 10:33 mark.

The Crunch got a late goal and again made it a two-goal game with just over four minutes left in the period when Mike York made a perfect feed up the ice to send Derek MacKenzie in all alone.

MacKenzie snapped a shot to the top right corner over Sanford's glove to cut Syracuse's deficit to 5-3.

Shots favored the Moose 31-16 after two periods of play.

After eight goals through the first 40 minutes, neither team broke through in the third, as Manitoba held the Crunch to just eight third period marks to clamp down the victory.

CRUNCHABLES: Nick Holden stretched his assist streak to seven games and now has 19 points (3g, 16a) in his last 36 games after not scoring a point in his first 17 professional contests...Kevin Harvey's goal tonight was his first in 14 games.

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American Hockey League Stories from March 25, 2009


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