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AHL Syracuse Crunch

Crunch Win Streak Snapped by Binghamton

January 7, 2011 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


Binghamton, NY (January 7, 2011) - Despite the third two-goal performance of the season from Nathan Paetsch, the Syracuse Crunch could not solve the Binghamton Senators and fell to their I-81 rivals by a 6-4 final tonight at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena, snapping the club's three-game winning streak. The loss was the Crunch's fourth straight to Binghamton after winning the first game of the season series between the two clubs back on October 16.

Binghamton's Erik Condra tallied twice, including the game-winner, while teammate and AHL leading scorer Corey Locke notched three points (1g, 2a).

The Crunch came out looking to break the Binghamton curse and dominated the first portion of the game, putting eight shots on goal within the game's first five minutes.

Any momentum the Crunch built up in the early going quickly came to a screeching halt when Locke cashed in on a rebound at the side of the net from a shot by former Crunch player Ryan Keller that put Binghamton up 1-0 at the 5:32 mark.

Binghamton took a 2-0 lead on the power play after Crunch newcomer Nate Guenin was called for roughing at the 7:36 mark. Just 29 seconds later, Mike Hoffman's point shot found its way through the legs of Timo Pielmeier.

Things got worse for the Crunch about five and a half minutes later when Francis Lessard's change up shot from the slot eluded the diving glove try of Pielmeier and fluttered into the back of the net to make it a 3-0 game.

The Crunch finally earned their first man-advantage of the game when Geoff Kinrade was whistled off for holding at the 17:47 mark, but Barry Brust stopped every Crunch bid thrown at him, making 17 overall saves in the game's first 20 minutes.

The Crunch built on the momentum from their late first period power play and capitalized on their second man-up advantage of the game when Kaspars Daugavins was called for interference at the 5:31 mark of the second. Just 26 seconds later, Paetsch picked off a clearing attempt up the middle, faked a pass to Kyle Palmieri and whipped a wrister inside the right post past Brust to make it a 3-1 game.

That power play marker broke a 251-minute, 30-second goal draught for the Crunch against Binghamton. Syracuse was shut out by the Senators for three straight match-ups against their East Division counterparts coming into tonight.

The Crunch were awarded their third straight power play when David Dziurzynski was given a two-minute infraction for tripping at the 11:31 mark.

Although Syracuse failed to score on that man-advantage, they did manage to make it a 3-2 game just 25 seconds after the power play expired when Matt Kennedy took a head-man pass from Mat Clark down the right wing and found a hustling Eric Lampe racing to the net, who gained position on his man and re-directed a centering feed from Kennedy by Brust to cut the Crunch's deficit to just one goal.

Just when the Crunch got themselves back to within striking distance, Binghamton re-gained its two-tally lead on a strange play.

Colin Greening appeared to give Binghamton the 4-2 lead when he corralled a pass from Locke and tucked a shot inside the right post at the 17:12 mark, however, the goal light never came on and play continued for another 28 seconds.

After the stoppage, the referee and linesmen huddled together with the goal judge, and after a lengthy discussion, Binghamton was awarded the goal. The 28 seconds that expired after the goal was put back on the clock.

Looking for another quick start to the period, the Crunch got just that after Binghamton's Andre Benoit was called for tripping just 37 seconds into the third.

Again, the Crunch took advantage of the power play when Paetsch's shot from the point found its way through Brust, closing the gap to 4-3 at the 1:19 mark.

Just under 11 minutes later, Condra gave Binghamton its fourth two-goal lead of the game when he went to the net, found the rebound of a Kinrade shot and shuffled it past Pielmeier to make it 5-3.

The Crunch wasted no time and cut it to 5-4 just 49 seconds later when MacGregor Sharp deflected Mark Mitera's wrister past Brust to get the Crunch back to within one, but Condra's second of the game with just 1:41 remaining iced the game for Binghamton.

CRUNCHABLES: Eric Lampe's goal was his first in the AHL.Nick Bonino had his six-game scoring streak snapped tonight.The streak dated back to October 31 before Bonino was recalled by Anaheim.Kyle Palmieri played in his first game since missing nine games due to his participation with Team USA in the World Junior Tournament.Timo Pielmeier made his fourth straight start in goal tonight.Paetsch has eight points (4g, 4a) over his last four games.Sharp has four points (3g, 1a) over his last three games.

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