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Syracuse Crunch

Crunch Taste Sweet Victory in Hershey, 5-2

March 20, 2011 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


Hershey, PA (March 20, 2011) - Kyle Palmieri tallied twice, Matt Kennedy added a goal and an assist and J.P. Levasseur stopped 30 of 32 shots, as the Syracuse Crunch defeated the two-time defending Calder Cup Champion Hershey Bears by a 5-2 score tonight at Giant Center. The win was the Crunch's third in three days and seventh in their last nine games.

The suddenly red-hot Palmieri now has six goals and an assist in his last three games and leads the club with 20 goals in 58 contests this season.

Although both teams were playing their third game of a three-in-three stretch, the Crunch looked like the fresher team early and raced out to a 1-0 lead just a minute and a half into the contest.

Patrick Maroon threw a pass from the left wing boards right to the stick of Kennedy. Kennedy had his initial shot stopped by Braden Holtby, but didn't give up on the play and got to the rebound, swatting a backhander that hit off the skate of Dmitry Orlov and into the back of the net at the 1:31 mark.

The score stayed that way until Hershey was able tie the game up late in the period at the 18:34 mark when Kyle Greentree quickly settled down a Brian Willsie cross-crease pass that hit him in the pants and batted it past Levasseur to make it 1-1, which is how the first frame ended.

Hershey controlled most of the action in the second period and outshot the Crunch 13-6, but Syracuse re-took the lead with a late shorthanded goal from Nick Bonino off a great individual effort from Kennedy.

Kennedy gained the zone, drawing three Hershey players to him. He then slipped a pass over to a wide open Bonino, who drew Holtby down with a nifty backhand-to-forehand deke and tucked a shot under the crossbar to make it a 2-1 contest.

Hershey came out storming in the third and tied the game up again on Greentree's second of the game after the Victoria, British Columbia native found a loose puck off a scramble in the crease and lifted it over the outstretched Levasseur to make it 2-2.

Hershey's celebration did not last long, however, as the Crunch answered right back to grab the lead again just 48 seconds later, this time off a great effort from Matt Beleskey.

Beleskey battled for the puck behind the Hershey goal, finally grabbing control of the disk, but fell down to one knee in the process. From that position, he threw a perfect pass right to the blade of a streaking Palmieri, who snapped a bid by Holtby to give the Crunch a 3-2 lead.

Kennedy took a holding penalty with 5:23 left in regulation, but a stellar Crunch penalty kill thwarted that opportunity for the home team.

The Crunch gave themselves some breathing room at the 18:28 mark when Josh Green floated a feed over to John Mitchell off a 2-on-1 and the Neenah, Wisconsin native whipped a shot past Holtby low to the glove side for the 4-2 lead.

Palmieri iced the game for the Crunch with and empty-netter with 4.5 seconds left to seal the win.

CRUNCHABLES: The Crunch have 11 goals over their last two games after scoring three in their previous three contests.The Crunch PK has only allowed four power play goals against over the last nine games (41-for-45), good for a 91.1% success rate.Palmieri leads the Crunch with 12 multiple-point games this season, with the Crunch going 8-3-1-0 during those contests.The Crunch now have 10 shorthanded goals on the season, which ties them for fourth in the AHL in that category.

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