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AHL Syracuse Crunch

Koekkoek captures overtime winner vs. Pens

March 20, 2015 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Slater Koekkoek tapped in the game-winner in overtime as the Syracuse Crunch (37-17-8-0) extended its win streak to four games with a 2-1 victory over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (36-20-5-0).

After Kristers Gudlevskis faced a bevy of shots, Jonathan Marchessault raced out of the zone with the puck and fluttered a pass across the slot to Koekkoek, who flipped it past Pens goalie Matt Murray with 2:08 remaining in the 3-on-3 portion of overtime. Murray stopped 27 of 29 shots in the loss. Marchessault's assist increased his season total to 51 points (17g, 34a), the highest on the Crunch.

Not only did Koekkoek score the game-winner for his fourth goal of the season, but he said he called it from the bench before his shift: "I heard that I was the next defenseman out and I looked over at [Dylan Blujus] and said, 'don't worry Blu, I got this one.' Then I went out and scored on the next shift."

Gudlevskis stopped six shots in the extra session and a total of 27 as he tallied his 21st win of the season. After coming off of a shutout Sunday against Bridgeport, the Latvian goaltender held off the Penguins until the 11:22 mark of the third period when Tom Kostopoulos netted his 14th goal of the season.

Derrick Pouliot, who was reassigned a week ago from Pittsburgh, registered the assist when he fed the puck to the Pens captain driving in the slot during 4-on-4 action. Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond and Jake Dotchin went to the box for offsetting minors after Leblond took a shot after the whistle and Dotchin showed his displeasure.

The third period goal by Pittsburgh served as the equalizer after Yanni Gourde scored his team-leading 25th of the season 8:17 into the second period. Justin Courtnall flicked the puck out of traffic in the slot to Gourde's stick for the snap past Murray. Dotchin registered the secondary assist, his 10th of the season.

Syracuse has defeated its former East Division foe in three of four matchups this season with all four being decided by one goal.

"They don't give up much, and I don't think we gave up much either tonight," head coach Rob Zettler said about another tight contest with the Penguins. "I thought we played really well defensively, and the chances we did give up, [Gudlevskis] played really well and was on top of it."

The victory keeps the Crunch in control of the Northeast Division with 82 points, and within four points of Eastern Conference leading Manchester.

After posting back-to-back 7-for-7 penalty kills, the Crunch extended their streak to 15 with a 1-for-1 performance as both teams had one opportunity on the man advantage.

The Crunch play the second game of their three-in-three Saturday at the War Memorial against Utica, before traveling to Springfield on Sunday.

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