AHL Syracuse Crunch

Syracuse Crunch Weekly

Published on February 5, 2019 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


CRUNCH COMPLETE PERFECT HOMESTAND

The Crunch carried their hot play through the All-Star break and ran their winning streak to six games with a pair of home wins in Week 18. The Crunch were a perfect 6-0-0-0 on a season-long six-game homestand and improved to 17-5-0-1 at the War Memorial Arena.

It's the third time this season that Syracuse has gone on a winning streak of at least five games; the Crunch's season-long winning streak is seven games (Nov. 11-24).

The Crunch came out of the All-Star break with a shutout win over the Utica Comets, 4-0, Friday night. Connor Ingram made 21 saves for his fifth shutout-his second against the Comets-this season. The next night, Syracuse rallied from a 2-0 deficit for a 6-3 win over the Cleveland Monsters, finishing with points in all four games (2-0-1-1) against Cleveland this season. It was the fifth time that the Crunch have overcome a two-goal deficit to win; four of the five occurrences have been in Syracuse.

The Crunch begin a five-game road trip with three road matches in Week 19.

TOP PERFORMERS

Carter Verhaeghe's torrid pace continued with six points in two games out of the All-Star break (2g, 4a), leading the league last week. Verhaeghe dressed in his 100th career Crunch game Friday night and netted one goal and two assists in a 4-0 Crunch win. The next night, he replicated that stat line to become the 33rd player in franchise history to record 100 points (39g, 63a) in a Crunch sweater, doing so in his 101st game. He was named CCM/AHL Player of the Week for his efforts.

The 23-year-old is one of two Crunch players recording at least one point per game (1.01) in the 100-point club; Lonny Bohonos is second in franchise history with 230 points (104g, 126a) in 199 games (1.16 points per game). Teammate Cory Conacher is one point shy of playing at a point per game clip with the Crunch, netting 148 points in 149 games.

Verhaeghe is second in the AHL in scoring with 54 points (22g, 32a) in 43 games. He has already passed last year's leading Crunch scorer Mathieu Joseph, who had 53 points (15g, 38a) in 70 games.

***

Goaltender Connor Ingram collected two wins and is 3-0-0 since returning from an injury that sidelined him for a month. After clinching the All-Star Challenge for the North Division with a shootout win against the Atlantic Division, Ingram opened the week for the Crunch with a 21-save shutout, his fifth of the season. He then stopped 30-of-33 shots in a 6-3 Crunch win the next night, going 2-0-0 with a 1.50 goals-against average and a .944 save percentage in two starts.

In his second pro season, Ingram's five shutouts are tied for the second-most in a single season in franchise history and are tied for the AHL lead this season with Iowa's Kaapo Kahkonen. He has nine career shutouts, ranking third in franchise history behind J.F. Labbe and Karl Goehring, who are tied at 11.

***

In his 646th professional appearance (regular season and playoffs), defenseman Cameron Gaunce logged his first career two-goal game Saturday against Cleveland, where he holds the franchise record with 264 games played.

Gaunce is tied for second among AHL defensemen with 36 points (9g, 27a), one shy of matching his career-high.

UPCOMING: ROCHESTER, HARTFORD, PROVIDENCE

The Crunch take to the road for a five-game road trip beginning in Week 19.

Syracuse opens the week in Rochester with the fifth head-to-head match against the Amerks. The Crunch claimed their first win in the series Jan. 26 with a come-from-behind 4-3 overtime win, highlighted by Carter Verhaeghe's hat trick. The teams have eight meetings remaining this season and the Amerks (28-13-3-1) hold a three-point lead on the Crunch for the top spot in the North Division; Rochester has played two more games than Syracuse.

The trip continues in Hartford Friday night as the Crunch and Wolf Pack square off for the first time this season. Winless over the last seven games (0-6-1-0), the Wolf Pack have sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic Division standings with 43 points (19-23-3-2) in 47 games. Hartford hosts Bridgeport Wednesday night and then travels to Allentown for back-to-back games against Lehigh Valley to close the weekend.

Syracuse finishes the weekend Sunday afternoon in Providence with the first of two meetings against the Bruins. The Bruins have collected points in 11 straight games (9-0-1-1)-including a two-game sweep of AHL-leading Charlotte-to surge into third place in the Atlantic Division with 55 points. It's the longest active points streak in the AHL.

WEEK 18 RESULTS

Friday, February 1 | Game 42 vs. Utica | W, 4-0

Utica 0 0 0 - 0 Shots: 9-4-8-21 PP: 0/4

Syracuse 2 0 2 - 4 Shots: 8-7-9-24 PP: 0/2

1st Period-Valleau 2 (Raddysh, Verhaeghe), 12:05. Yan 10 (Valleau, Volkov), 18:30. 3rd Period-Andreoff 17 (Barré-Boulet, Verhaeghe), 4:11. Verhaeghe 21 (Andreoff), 12:31 (EN). . . . Ingram 11-5-0 (21 shots-21 saves). A-6,133

Saturday, February 2 | Game 43 vs. Cleveland | W, 6-3

Cleveland 2 0 1 - 3 Shots: 10-13-10-33 PP: 0/6

Syracuse 1 3 2 - 6 Shots: 7-12-11-30 PP: 2/4

1st Period-Gaunce 8 (Conacher, Rutta), 16:44 (PP). 2nd Period-Raddysh 13 (Dumont, Valleau), 3:52. Gaunce 9 (Unassisted), 5:11. Foote 7 (Verhaeghe, Yan), 11:05 (PP). 3rd Period-Verhaeghe 22 (Foote, Thomas), 6:54. Dumont 6 (Raddysh, Verhaeghe), 17:25 (EN). . . . Ingram 12-5-0 (33 shots-30 saves). A-5,991

Category Average/Total AHL Rank (Prev)

Power Play 23.4% (46-for-197) 3rd (3rd)

Penalty Kill 83.0% (176-for-212) 7th (11th)

Goals For 3.81 GFA (164) 1st (1st)

Goals Against 2.70 GAA (116) 2nd (3rd)

Shots For 28.95 SF/G (1245) 20th (20th)

Shots Against 28.37 SA/G (1220) 9th (10th)

Penalty Minutes 14.16 PIM/G (609) 7th (8th)

Category Leader

Points 54 Verhaeghe

Goals 22 Verhaeghe

Assists 32 Verhaeghe

PIM 80 Andreoff

Plus/Minus +19 Verhaeghe

Wins 14 Pasquale

GAA 2.37 Ingram

Save % 0.921 Ingram

Single game tickets and packages for the 2018-19 season are on sale now and can be purchased in person at the Crunch office located inside the War Memorial Arena at 800 S. State St. in Syracuse, by calling the office at 315-473-4444 or online through Ticketmaster. For the latest Crunch news, visit www.syracusecrunch.com or follow the club on Facebook (www.facebook.com/syracusecrunch), Twitter (@SyracuseCrunch) and Instagram (@syracusecrunch) using #SyrCrunch.

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