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AHL Syracuse Crunch

Flames Comeback Stuns Crunch in OT, 5-4

April 17, 2015 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Syracuse's two-goal third-period lead disintegrated Friday at the War Memorial and the Flames came back to defeat the Crunch, 5-4, in overtime. The Flames' David Wolf and Tanner Elson each tallied late-game goals, and Ken Agostino notched the game-winning goal in overtime. The defeat leaves the Crunch in fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings, but second behind Hartford in the Northeast Division with one regular season game remaining.

"I thought we lacked the discipline to play a tighter game late in the third period," head coach Rob Zettler said following the loss. "Instead of clamping down and making smart plays through the neutral zone, we made a few mistakes in the D-zone and it ends up in the back of the net."

For the fifth consecutive game, Syracuse was first on the scoreboard. After gaining the Adirondack zone, Matthew Peca slipped a pass between the circles to Joel Vermin who beat Flames netminder Joni Ortio on a breakaway wrist shot. The tally, which came at the 4:39 mark, was Vermin's 12th of the season and first since Apr 3. While Peca garnered his second assist of the season, Slater Koekkoek picked up his 20th helper to lead all Crunch defensemen. The Syracuse lead held until the final minute of the first period when Emile Poirier tied the game with his 18th goal of the season. With 43 seconds to play in the opening frame, Max Reinhart won a faceoff to set up Poirier's 22nd of the 2014-15 season.

In the middle stanza Syracuse outshot Adirondack 19 to 7 and outscored the Flames 2-1. Syracuse scored 47 seconds into the frame. Brayden Point gave the lead back to the Crunch following crisp passing from Jonathan Marchessault and Cody Kunyk. After the beautiful puck play, Point received the puck by the net mouth and shot it past Ortio to give Syracuse a 2-1 advantage. Marchessault notched his team-leading 65th point on Point's second professional goal, while Kunyk picked up his 16th helper.

Yanni Gourde's team-leading 29th goal earned Syracuse a 3-1 lead five minutes into the second. After a chaotic scrum in front of the Flames net, Gourde wacked the puck past the goal line to give the Crunch a two-goal lead. Point and Henri Ikonen assisted, giving Point his first multi-point game of his professional career. Adirondack had another late-period answer as Nolan Yonkman's rising slap shot beat Gudlevskis at 16:24 of the second, slicing the Crunch lead to 3-2.

Early in the third, Syracuse took its second two-goal lead of the game. Marchessault's goal at 3:29 gave the Crunch a 4-2 cushion and garnered multi-point nights for himself and Peca. Marchessault has 24 goals and 66 points in 67 games. Peca has three assists in seven games.

Ten minutes after the Marchessault goal, Wolf received a pass from Brett Kulak and quickly deposited it into the back of the net, making it a 4-3 game. Wolf's team-leading 20th goal was Kulak's seventh assist. Adirondack used the momentum from the Wolf goal to tie the game just two and-a-half minutes later. Turner Elson potted his 17th of the season, unassisted, to force extra time.

Gudlevskis stopped 29 of the Flames' 34 shots in the overtime loss, while Joni Ortio allowed four goals on 39 Crunch shots. The Crunch penalty kill stopped both Flames man-up chances, as the Flames were 5-for-5 on the kill.

The Crunch close the regular season Saturday against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. A Syracuse win plus Hartford regulation losses Saturday and Sunday would give the Crunch the Northeast Division title.

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