AHL Syracuse Crunch

Strong Third Period Vaults Crunch Past Hamilton

February 22, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


Hamilton, ON (February 22, 2009) - It took Nick Holden 38 games, but the Crunch rookie defenseman's first professional goal at the 9:53 mark of the third period held up as the game-winner, as the Crunch defeated the Hamilton Bulldogs by a 3-1 count in front of 4,838 fans at Copps Coliseum tonight.

Looking to break out of their recent three-game funk, the Crunch wanted to make it three in a row against Hamilton in the sixth of eight meetings between these two clubs this year.

Hamilton controlled play for most of the first period, out-shooting the Crunch by an 18-7 margin. That helped the Bulldogs tally the game's first goal at the 15:10 mark.

David Desharnais spun away from his defender down low and found an open Ryan Kinasewich in the slot. Kinasewich pulled the trigger and beat Dan LaCosta to put Hamilton up 1-0, a lead they held through the first 20 minutes.

The Crunch almost tied the game just over six minutes into the second when Nikita Filatov was hauled down on a breakaway opportunity and awarded a penalty shot.

Filatov skated in on Marc Denis and sent a backhand bid along the ice that hit off the right post and slid through the crease.

But, with just three seconds to go in the period and with the Crunch on a power play opportunity, Mike York fed Derek MacKenzie at the bottom of the left circle.

MacKenzie rifled a sharp-angle one-timer over the shoulder of Marc Denis to tie the game at 1-1.

Holden's marker came just about halfway through the third when he jumped into the play and took a feed from Filatov in the slot. He corralled the pass and sent a wrister past Denis to give Syracuse the 2-1 edge.

The Crunch took a two-goal lead when Andrey Plekhanov kept the puck in the offensive zone and the puck eventually found Craig MacDonald. MacDonald found a wide open Steve Kelly on the far side and he wristed it into the open net to make it 3-1.

LaCosta made a solid return after his last start after letting in five goals on 15 shots. The Crunch netminder ended up with 34 saves on the night and was named the game's second star.

CRUNCHABLES: Dan Spang appeared in his first game and registered his first point, an assist, as a member of the Crunch tonight...The Crunch improved to 9-5-1-1 when tied after two periods...Syracuse moved its record against Hamilton this year to 4-2-0-0.

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American Hockey League Stories from February 22, 2009


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