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AHL Syracuse Crunch

Falcons Soar Past Crunch, 6-3

February 6, 2016 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Mike Blunden opened scoring early in the first period before the Syracuse Crunch allowed five unanswered goals by the Springfield Falcons. Blunden finally broke up the scoring run in the third with his second of the contest, but the Crunch were unable to recover and were topped by the Falcons, 6-3, tonight at the War Memorial Arena.

The loss continues a five-game skid for the Crunch and evens the four-game season series, 1-1. Syracuse now sits at 19-19-8-1 and Springfield advances to 18-22-3-3.

Crunch goaltender Adam Wilcox stopped 28 of 33 shots, while his counterpart Marek Langhamer picked up his third win this season, turning aside 32 of 35. Syracuse was able to convert on one of their four power-play opportunities. The penalty kill unit shut down three of four Falcons man-advantages.

The Crunch opened scoring in the first period, but the Falcons were quick to respond and built a 2-1 before the first intermission. At the 4:41 mark, Yanni Gourde got caught up against the boards and tapped a pass back to Blunden. The right-winger powered a wrist shot from the circle that found its way through Langhamer and across the goal line.

The Falcons responded less than two minutes later. Eric Selleck skated into the zone before sending a feed over to the right for Stefan Fournier to net. Philip Samuelsson registered the secondary helper. At 8:13, Corey Potter shot from the blue line while Wilcox was screened to take the lead. Matthias Plachta and Jordan Szwarz assisted on the go-ahead goal.

Halfway through the middle stanza, Springfield went up by two. With the man-advantage, Greg Carey fired from down low. Wilcox made the save with his left pad, but left the rebound out for Carey to chip up and over the goaltender.

The Falcons kept the momentum going and struck two more times in the third period before the Crunch cut them off. At the 7:10 mark, Tyler Gaudet sent the puck ahead for Phil Lane to start a breakaway. He beat Wilcox with a quick wrist shot from the bottom of the right circle. Two minutes later, Selleck potted one on an odd-man rush.

The Crunch finally broke up the Falcons' scoring at 11:40. Tanner Richard won the face-off in the right circle. The puck slid up towards the blue line, where Blunden sniped his second of the game.

Dustin Jeffrey added an empty net tally with 2:53 remaining in the contest, but the Crunch stole it back less than a minute later while on the power play. Anthony DeAngelo passed to the slot, where Mike Angelidis was waiting to redirect it for his fifth of the year. The late effort was not enough to comeback and Syracuse fell, 6-3.

The Crunch hit the road for a three-game trip beginning in St. John's against the IceCaps on Feb. 9 at 6 p.m. ET.

Syracuse Crunch single game and season tickets are on sale now and can be purchased either in person at the Crunch Box Office located in the War Memorial at 800 South State Street in Syracuse or by calling the office at 315-473-4444. For the latest Crunch news, visit www.syracusecrunch.com or follow the club on Facebook (www.facebook.com/syracusecrunch), Twitter (@SyracuseCrunch) and Instagram (@officialsyracusecrunch) using #SyrCrunch and #BelieveInBlue.

Crunchables: Mike Blunden has two multi-goal games in the last five contests...Anthony DeAngelo leads the team with 13 power-play points, all assists.

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