Syracuse Crunch Weekly - Vol. 31, No. 21

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AHL Syracuse Crunch

Syracuse Crunch Weekly - Vol. 31, No. 21

March 4, 2025 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


CRUNCH EARN THREE OF SIX POINTS

The Crunch hit the ice for their second three-in-three weekend in Week 21, and they earned three of six possible points (1-1-1-0).

They began the weekend Friday with a 2-0 shutout loss to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a tightly contested game. They trailed 2-0 again on Saturday against AHL-leading Rochester, but overcame a pair of deficits in the third period before earning a shootout win over the Amerks. Conor Geekie scored the shootout winner as the Crunch improved to 3-4 in shootout games this season. The Crunch erased another two-goal deficit Sunday afternoon in Utica before they lost to the Comets, 5-4, in overtime.

After briefly dropping to sixth place, the Crunch enter the new week back in fifth place in the North Division. They hold the final playoff position with 58 points (23-18-8-4).

TOP PERFORMER

Defenseman Steven Santini led the Crunch with three goals in Week 21. The veteran fired home a third period, game-tying goal in back-to-back games to help the Crunch collect three standings points. Santini pulled the Crunch level at 11:52 of the third period Saturday against the Rochester Americans. The next afternoon in Utica, Santini opened the scoring with a 4-on-4 goal at 2:56 of the second period. He then tied the game at three at 7:42 of the third for his first multi-goal game of the season.

Santini hadn't scored in 19 games prior to his strike on Saturday. He has now set a new career high with six goals on the season, passing the five he had in 64 games for Ontario last season.

***

Defenseman Derrick Pouliot led the Crunch in scoring again in Week 21. He earned four assists over the weekend to stretch his team and AHL lead to 37 helpers in 52 games. He also leads the Crunch and all AHL defensemen with 44 points.

Pouliot has matched his career high for assists in a season - set last year with Texas - and he is two points back of last year's 46 points, which also established a career high. He has played 12 fewer games to date than he did last season for the Stars.

D-MEN POWERING THE OFFENSE

Five Crunch skaters posted more than one point in Week 21, and three of them were defensemen. Derrick Pouliot (4a), Steven Santini (3g) and Max Crozier (1g, 2a) contributed 10 points and they combined for four of the Crunch's seven regulation goals.

In total, Crunch defensemen have 116 points this season, or about 30% of the team's scoring.

UPCOMING WEEK

Friday, March 7 at Utica | 7 p.m.

The Crunch rematch with the Utica Comets on Friday at the Adirondack Bank Center. The Comets prevailed in overtime of a see-saw game Sunday afternoon to earn their fourth straight win in the season series against the Crunch. Utica has won five of the eight matches versus Syracuse; the Crunch's three wins have come via shutouts.

The Comets took all six points of a three-in-three weekend last week and all three games went past regulation. Two wins were on home ice, where they are 10-1-1-0 in the last 12 games. The Comets are eight points behind the Crunch for the final playoff spot in the North Division.

Sunday, March 9 at W-B/Scranton | 3:05 p.m.

The Crunch play their third straight road game Sunday afternoon against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. It concludes the four-game series between the clubs. The teams split a home-and-home in October and the Penguins added a 2-0 win over the Crunch last Friday in Syracuse.

Sunday will mark the fourth game in six days for the Penguins, who face Belleville twice and Hartford prior to the match against the Crunch. They enter the week in third place in the Atlantic Division with 66 points (29-14-7-1). They have the second-best home record in the AHL at 17-5-2-1 (0.740) and they have not lost in regulation in the last 10 home games (7-0-2-1).

WEEK 21 RESULTS

Friday, Feb. 28 | Game 51 vs. W-B/Scranton | L, 2-0

W-B/Scranton 1 0 1 - 2 Shots: 12-16-9-37 PP: 0/3

Syracuse 0 0 0 - 0 Shots: 7-10-14-31 PP: 0/2

Halverson 13-9-7 (37 shots-35 saves). A-5,328

Saturday, March 1 | Game 52 vs. Rochester | SOW, 4-3

ROC 2 0 1 0 0 - 3 Shots: 6-3-7-1-0-17 PP: 0/3

SYR 0 1 2 0 1 - 4 Shots: 13-14-7-2-1-37 PP: 1/7

2nd Period-Finley 8 (Pouliot, Crozier), 16:08 (PP). 3rd Period-Santini 4 (Geekie, Huuhtanen), 11:52. Duke 16 (Pouliot, Crozier), 17:20. Shootout-Rochester 1 (Östlund G, Aubé-Kubel NG, Helenius NG, Rosén NG), Syracuse 2 (Groshev G, Crozier NG, Szturc NG, Geekie G).. .. Tomkins 10-9-4 (17 shots-14 saves) A-6,174

Sunday, March 2 | Game 53 at Utica | OTL, 5-4

Syracuse 0 2 2 0 - 4 Shots: 9-8-5-1-23 PP: 2/5

Utica 0 3 1 1 - 5 Shots: 5-13-11-1-30 PP: 2/4

2nd Period-Santini 5 (Finley, Sheary), 2:56. Finley 9 (Sheary, Pouliot), 16:20. 3rd Period-Santini 6 (Bisson, Szturc), 7:42. Crozier 6 (Sheary, Pouliot), 8:04.. .. Halverson 13-9-8 (30 shots-25 saves) A-2,827

Category Average/Total AHL Rank (Prev)

Power Play 15.5% (30-for-193) 31st (30th)

Penalty Kill 82.4% (155-for-188) T-14th (12th)

Goals For 2.75 GFA (146) 29th (T-27th)

Goals Against 2.62 GAA (139) 4th (1st)

Shots For 28.04 SF/G (1486) 22nd (23rd)

Shots Against 27.51 SA/G (1458) 8th (8th)

Penalty Minutes 11.57 PIM/G (613) 24th (25th)

Category Leader

Points 44 Pouliot

Goals 16 Duke

Assists 37 Pouliot

PIM 56 Crozier

Plus/Minus +12 Huuhtanen|Pouliot

Wins 13 Halverson

GAA 2.38 Halverson

Save % .911 Halverson

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

1. Rochester 54 34 14 3 3 74 0.685 188 145 601 14-8-2-1 20-6-1-2 6-2-0-2 4-0-0-2 4-3

2. Laval 52 34 15 2 1 71 0.683 165 138 850 17-6-1-1 17-9-1-0 6-4-0-0 2-0-0-0 3-1

3. Toronto 52 28 15 3 6 65 0.625 155 142 594 15-7-1-3 13-8-2-3 4-3-1-2 1-0-0-0 3-6

4. Cleveland 53 27 16 5 5 64 0.604 154 162 623 13-8-3-4 14-8-2-1 3-3-2-2 0-1-0-0 3-5

5. Syracuse 53 23 18 8 4 58 0.547 146 139 613 11-8-4-4 12-10-4-0 5-3-2-0 1-0-1-0 3-4

6. Belleville 51 24 19 4 4 56 0.549 144 161 699 13-8-2-2 11-11-2-2 5-3-2-0 0-1-0-0 4-4

7. Utica 52 22 24 4 2 50 0.481 140 164 666 11-10-2-2 11-14-2-0 6-3-1-0 4-0-0-0 2-2

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