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AHL Syracuse Crunch

Rankin's Hat Trick Not Enough as Crunch Edged by Hershey

December 18, 2013 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


Syracuse, NY - Despite a hat trick from Evan Rankin the Syracuse Crunch fell to the Hershey Bears 4-3 after an eleven-round shootout tonight at the Giant Center.

Bears forward John Mitchell scored in the 11th round of the shootout while netminder David Leggio stopped nine of 11 shooters in the tie-breaker to drop the Crunch to 12-10-1-3 on the season. Rankin and Cedric Paquette were the only Syracuse goal scorers in the tie breaker.

Crunch netminder Kristers Gudlevskis stopped eight of 11 shooters in the shootout and made 34 saves in regulation. Ryan Stoa and Stanislav Galiev scored in the opening rounds of the shootout before Gudlevskis stopped the next eight shooters to extend the shootout.

Rankin struck twice in the opening frame to send the Crunch into the first intermission with a 2-1 lead over the Bears. Rankin's first of the night came just 31 seconds into the contest. Artem Sergeev's shot pulled Bears netminder Leggio out of position leaving an open net for Rankin to score his sixth goal of the season.

Hershey forward Nicolas Deschamps capitalized on a Crunch turnover behind Gudlevskis' net to tie the game at the 5:16 mark of the first period. Assists went to Brandon Segal and Cameron Schilling.

Rankin regained the Crunch lead with his second goal of the period with 9:06 to play. Mike Angelidis threw the puck on net where Rankin was able to collect the puck and backhand it past Leggio. Rankin's third of the game came 7:49 into the second period where he pushed an Angelidis pass into the back of Leggio's net to give the Crunch a 3-1 lead.

David Kolomatis brought the Bears within one, beating Gudlevskis with a shot through traffic from the top of the circle with 1:59 to play in the second stanza. Deschamps and Segal each picked up their second assist of the game on the goal.

Segal tied the game forcing overtime and eventually a shootout on a wrap-around goal with 3:02 to play in regulation. Gudlevskis made a save, pushing the puck to the side of the net where Segal picked it up and quickly wrapped around the goal for his third point of the game.

CRUNCHABLES: Rankin returned to the lineup after missing nine games due to injury...This is Rankin's fourth professional and first AHL hat trick...With 3 points tonight it is the second multi-point game of the season for Rankin, and first since Oct. 5 at Binghamton...With two points tonight Artem Sergeev has his first professional multi-point game...Mike Angelidis recorded his first multi-point game of the season with three points tonight...The Crunch are 10-0-1-2 when scoring the game's first goal...The Crunch were without defenseman JP Cote, who signed a two-year NHL deal and was recalled by the Lightning this afternoon...Earlier today defenseman Matt Taormina and forward Dana Tyrell were returned to the Crunch from the Tampa Bay Lightning.

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American Hockey League Stories from December 18, 2013


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