AHL Syracuse Crunch

Crunch Suffer 5-2 Loss to Close out 2013

December 31, 2013 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


Syracuse, NY - The Syracuse Crunch suffered a 5-2 loss at the hands of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins tonight at the Mohegan Sun Arena.

The loss drops the Crunch to 13-14-1-3 overall and 8-7-1-1 away from the War Memorial. Cedrick Desjardins stopped 23 of 27 shots in defeat while Penguins netminder Jeff Deslauriers stopped all 21 shots he saw in relief of starting goaltender Eric Hartzell.

Syracuse scored twice on three shots to carry a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. The Crunch fell behind just 1:11 into the first period on a goal from Paul Thompson. Thompson picked up the puck at the sidewall, carried it through the circle before beating Desjardins on the blocker side.

Matt Taormina responded with a power-play goal 8:53 into the period. Taormina beat Hartzell with a one-timer from the blue line for his third goal of the season. Brett Connolly extended his point streak to five games by picking up the primary assist. Jon DiSalvatore earned his third point in a Crunch uniform with the secondary assist.

The Crunch took a one-goal lead after Angelidis scored his fourth of the season with 6:53 to play in the first period. Angelidis flipped the puck over the left shoulder of Hartzell, chasing him from the game after he allowed two goals on three shots.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton struck twice in the middle stanza to head into the final frame with a 3-2 lead. Nick Drazenovic redirected a Philip Samuelsson shot past Desjardins at the 8:56 mark of the second period. The Penguins capitalized on a power-play awarded 17 seconds later to take the lead. Desjardins made the initial save on a Brendan Mikkelson point shot but Tom Kostopolus scored his 12th of the year after a scramble in front of the net.

Anton Zlobin doubled the Penguins lead after burying the rebound of a Tom Kuhnhackl breakaway. Desjardins made the initial stop before the rebound found Zlobin at the 12:20 mark of the final frame. Cody Sylvester added an empty net goal for the final margin of 5-2.

CRUNCHABLES: Matt Taormina's first period goal was his ninth point on the power play this season...Only Mike Angelidis, Cedric Paquette and Luke Witkowski have appeared in every game this season...Tonight's game was the first of five consecutive road games, the team's longest stretch away from the War Memorial...Vladislav Namestnikov appeared in his first game since being injured on Nov.22... PC Labries made his Syracuse Crunch season debut after being reassigned by the Tampa Bay Lightning earlier today.

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