AHL Syracuse Crunch

Syracuse Crunch Weekly - Vol. 30, No. 6

November 21, 2023 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


CRUNCH GOBBLE UP TWO WINS IN WEEK 6

The Crunch made a pair of trips to Connecticut, sandwiched around a home game, and earned two wins in three games in Week 6.

Syracuse started with a 5-4 win against the Bridgeport Islanders during a school-day game in Bridgeport. It was the Crunch's fifth straight win when the opening puck drop took place prior to noon. The Crunch returned home Friday to begin a home-and-home series with Hartford. The Crunch won, 5-3, on Friday, but the Wolf Pack responded with a 5-2 win the next night in Hartford.

The Crunch's three-game winning streak ended with Saturday's loss, but the Crunch are 8-4-0-2 and are tied for second place in the North Division with 18 points.

TOP PERFORMERS

Captain Gabriel Dumont led the Crunch in Week 6 with six points (3g, 3a) in three games, which tied for the most in the AHL last week. Dumont's week began with a one goal, one assist performance Tuesday at Bridgeport. He netted a power-play goal, then grabbed an assist on Max Groshev's game-winner in a 5-4 Crunch win.

Dumont powered the Crunch to a 5-3 win Friday against Hartford with four points (2g, 2a). After setting up a go-ahead goal in the third period, Dumont then broke a 3-3 tie with the game's final two tallies. With his second game-winning goal of the season, Dumont now has 17 career game-deciding goals with the Crunch, one shy of the franchise record (18, Mark Hartigan).

The 33-year-old is on pace to become the 86th player in AHL history to skate in 700 league games this Friday. He is sixth among active players. He has skated in 241 Crunch games, which ranks seventh in team history.

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Daniel Walcott notched his second career three-point game in Friday's win over the Wolf Pack. Walcott produced his fourth career two-goal game as well. His first marker tied the game midway through the second period. He then cashed in to give the Crunch the lead in the third period, before helping seal the win with a primary assist on a late insurance goal.

The 29-year-old ranks second on the Crunch with seven goals, and he has 10 points in 13 games this season.

***

Rookie Max Groshev continued his torrid pace early in Week 6, extending a goal streak to three games with markers Tuesday and Friday.

Fresh off his first two-goal game, the 21-year-old netted his first hat trick Tuesday at Bridgeport. He picked up the game's first two goals - both on 2-on-1 rushes - and then scored an empty-net goal for what turned into the game-winner to complete the hat trick. It was the first Crunch hat trick in 42 all-time meetings against Bridgeport.

A third-round pick by Tampa Bay in the 2020 NHL Draft, Groshev is tied for the team lead with 13 points (8g, 5a) in 14 games this season, his first spent in North America.

UPCOMING WEEK

Wednesday, November 22 at Utica | 7 p.m.

The Crunch and Utica Comets play a home-and-home series sandwiched around Thanksgiving, starting Wednesday in Utica. The road team has won the first two games of the 14-game season series; the Crunch claimed a season-opening 4-3 overtime win at the Adirondack Bank Center on Oct. 13.

Friday, November 24 vs. Utica | 7 p.m.

The teams rematch in Syracuse on Black Friday for the fourth of 14 meetings this season. The Comets scored a 4-2 win in Syracuse on Oct. 27.

Saturday, November 25 vs. Laval | 7 p.m.

The Crunch finish November with a Saturday home game versus the Laval Rocket. Syracuse grabbed a 5-0 win in the first match of the season on Oct. 28 behind five different goal scorers and a 19-save Pyotr Kochetkov shutout.

WEEK 6 RESULTS

Tuesday, November 14 | Game 12 at Bridgeport | W, 5-4

Syracuse 3 1 1 - 5 Shots: 10-7-8-25 PP: 1/3

Bridgeport 0 1 3 - 4 Shots: 9-13-11-33 PP: 1/6

1st Period-Groshev 5 (Fortier, Lilleberg), 11:20 (SH). Groshev 6 (Chaffee, Day), 16:58. Dumont 3 (Chaffee, Thompson), 19:55 (PP). 2nd Period-Carroll 3 (Element, Stephens), 10:41. 3rd Period-Groshev 7 (Koepke, Dumont), 18:14 (EN). . . . Halverson 2-0-0 (33 shots-29 saves) A-5,726

Friday, November 17 | Game 13 vs. Hartford | W, 5-3

Hartford 2 0 1 - 3 Shots: 8-7-7-22 PP: 2/5

Syracuse 1 1 3 - 5 Shots: 6-10-9-25 PP: 0/2

1st Period-Groshev 8 (Dumont, Carlile), 9:32. 2nd Period-Walcott 6 (Myers), 10:25. 3rd Period-Walcott 7 (Dumont), 3:21. Dumont 4 (Thompson, Carlile), 13:23. Dumont 5 (Walcott, Day), 18:34. . . . Halverson 3-0-0 (22 shots-19 saves) A-5,502

Saturday, November 18 | Game 14 at Hartford | L, 5-2

Syracuse 0 1 1 - 2 Shots: 5-5-10-20 PP: 0/4

Hartford 1 3 1 - 5 Shots: 10-12-7-29 PP: 1/8

2nd Period-Chaffee 4 (Fortier), 10:26. 3rd Period-Usau 3 (Lilleberg, Element), 18:37. . . . Alnefelt 2-3-2 (28 shots-24 saves) A-5,220

Category Average/Total AHL Rank (Prev)

Power Play 20.0% (12-for-60) 11th (9th)

Penalty Kill 83.8% (57-for-68) 14th (9th)

Goals For 3.79 GFA (53) 4th (4th)

Goals Against 3.00 GAA (42) T-16th (T-7th)

Shots For 31.21 SF/G (437) 7th (5th)

Shots Against 25.93 SA/G (363) 3rd (2nd)

Penalty Minutes 16.00 PIM/G (224) 7th (8th)

Category Leader

Points 13 Groshev|Robert

Goals 8 Groshev

Assists 9 Goncalves

PIM 32 Element

Plus/Minus +10 Myers

Wins 3 Halverson|Kochetkov

GAA 2.87 Alnefelt

Save % .885 Alnefelt

North Division GP W L OTL SOL PTS PCT GF GA PIM HOME ROAD LAST 10 STREAK S/O

1. Cleveland 14 9 4 1 0 19 0.679 48 45 176 4-3-0-0 5-1-1-0 7-2-1-0 1-0-0-0 1-0

2. Syracuse 14 8 4 0 2 18 0.643 53 42 224 3-2-0-1 5-2-0-1 5-3-0-2 0-1-0-0 0-2

3. Toronto 14 8 4 2 0 18 0.643 54 40 250 4-2-1-0 4-2-1-0 6-3-1-0 0-1-0-0 1-0

4. Rochester 14 8 4 2 0 18 0.643 54 62 159 3-1-2-0 5-3-0-0 6-3-1-0 1-0-0-0 1-0

5. Utica 12 5 4 3 0 13 0.542 40 34 119 2-2-1-0 3-2-2-0 5-3-2-0 2-0-1-0 0-0

6. Belleville 14 6 7 0 1 13 0.464 36 50 188 4-4-0-1 2-3-0-0 4-5-0-1 0-3-0-0 1-1

7. Laval 15 5 9 1 0 11 0.367 55 66 259 3-5-1-0 2-4-0-0 4-6-0-0 0-2-0-0 0-0

Check out the Syracuse Crunch Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from November 21, 2023


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