AHL Syracuse Crunch

Syracuse Crunch Weekly

Published on December 27, 2022 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


CRUNCH WIN LONE GAME OF WEEK 11

The Crunch hit the holiday break with a four-game winning streak after securing a victory in the only game they played in Week 11.

The Crunch wrapped up a five-game homestand Wednesday against the Laval Rocket and pulled out a 2-1 win in the first match of the season series. The Crunch scored twice in the first period and fended off a late charge by the Rocket to secure a 4-1-0-0 mark during their longest homestand of the season.

Syracuse was slated to visit Rochester on Friday before the holiday break, but that game was postponed due to the winter storm that hit the state. A makeup date has not been determined.

With four straight wins, the Crunch remain in third place in the North Division. They are 13-9-2-2 and have 30 points. They are 11-3-1-0 in the last 15 games.

TOP PERFORMERS

Goaltender Jack LaFontaine made his Crunch debut and picked up the win in Wednesday's 2-1 decision against the Rocket. The rookie stopped 31 shots in his first AHL appearance since last April with the Chicago Wolves; he's won his last three AHL decisions.

LaFontaine, 24, signed an AHL contract with the Crunch this summer after playing in the NCAA (Minnesota), NHL (Carolina), AHL (Chicago) and ECHL (Norfolk) last season. He started this season with the ECHL's Orlando Solar Bears, posting a 4-5-1 record, before being recalled following an injury to Max Lagace.

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Gemel Smith extended his scoring streak to an AHL-high 13 games by scoring the game's opening goal in the Crunch's 2-1 win versus the Rocket. Smith has picked up 18 points (8g, 10a) during his 13-game scoring streak, which is the longest streak of his career. He is one game shy of the longest streak by a Crunch player during the Lightning affiliation (Boris Katchouk, 14 games).

The Toronto native is third on the Crunch in goals (11), assists (17) and points (28). He has registered at least one point in 20 of his 22 games played.

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Rookie Lucas Edmonds netted the game-winning goal in the Crunch's win over the Rocket last Wednesday. He fired home a shot off a backdoor pass from Felix Robert to give the Crunch a 2-0 lead in their eventual 2-1 win. It was the 21-year-old's first career game-winning goal and his first goal since Nov. 12 vs. Utica.

The North Bay, Ontario native, a third round pick by Tampa Bay in the 2022 NHL Draft, has four points (2g, 2a) in 16 games this season.

SPREADING THE WEALTH

Lucas Edmonds became the 11th different Crunch player to notch a game-winning goal this season when he picked up the deciding goal Wednesday against Laval. Only Daniel Walcott (2) has scored more than one game-winning goal for the Crunch this season while Gemel Smith has one in regulation, plus one shootout winning goal.

The Crunch are tied for second in the league with 11 unique game-winning goal scorers (Colorado, 12).

ROUNDING OUT THE YEAR

This week marks the final two games of the calendar year for the Crunch. So far in 2022, the Crunch have posted a 46-25-7-3 record in 81 games. They have collected 102 out of a possible 162 points, good for a 0.630 points percentage.

Syracuse was 29-9-3-1 at home versus 17-16-4-2 on the road in 2022.

HOME SUCCESS

Last week's win over Laval was the Crunch's final home game of the calendar year. 2022 was a successful year on home ice for the Crunch. Syracuse is 8-4-2-0 at Upstate Medical University Arena this season and the Crunch went 29-9-3-1 at home in the regular season in 2022.

With 62 points earned out of a possible 84, they played to a 0.738 points percentage this year.

UPCOMING: LAVAL

The Crunch make their first visit to Place Bell since splitting Games 3 and 4 of the North Division Semifinals with the Rocket last spring. Due to postponements for both teams last week, the two-game set (Wednesday and Friday) will complete three straight games between the teams. At one time last year, they met four straight times due to postponements. Laval (10-15-3-1) is in last place in the North Division.

WEEK 11 RESULTS

Wednesday, December 21 | Game 26 vs. Laval | W, 2-1

Laval 0 0 1 - 1 Shots: 12-6-14-32 PP: 0/3

Syracuse 2 0 0 - 2 Shots: 15-11-2-28 PP: 0/4

1st Period-Smith 11 (Goncalves, Dumont), 4:39. Edmonds 2 (Robert, Koepke), 5:50. . . . LaFontaine 1-0-0 (32 shots-31 saves) A-4,217

Friday, December 23 | Game 27 at Rochester | PPD

Syracuse X X X - X Shots: X-X-X-X PP: 0/0

Rochester X X X - X Shots: X-X-X-X PP: 0/0

Category Average/Total AHL Rank (Prev)

Power Play 18.4% (16-for-87) 24th (18th)

Penalty Kill 77.9% (91-for-104) 21st (22nd)

Goals For 3.81 GFA (99) 3rd (3rd)

Goals Against 3.46 GAA (90) 26th (26th)

Shots For 32.81 SF/G (853) 3rd (3rd)

Shots Against 30.88 SA/G (803) 19th (17th)

Penalty Minutes 16.15 PIM/G (420) 6th (6th)

Category Leader

Points 34 Raddysh

Goals 12 Robert|Ryfors

Assists 25 Barré-Boulet|Raddysh

PIM 63 Element

Plus/Minus +15 Raddysh

Wins 7 Alnefelt

GAA 2.63 Alnefelt

Save % .911 Alnefelt

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

1. Toronto 28 18 8 1 1 38 0.679 98 87 392 7-5-0-1 11-3-1-0 7-2-0-1 5-0-0-1 0-1

2. Rochester 25 14 9 1 1 30 0.600 82 83 220 7-3-1-0 7-6-0-1 6-4-0-0 3-0-0-0 1-1

3. Syracuse 26 13 9 2 2 30 0.577 99 90 420 8-4-2-0 5-5-0-2 6-3-1-0 4-0-0-0 1-2

4. Utica 25 12 9 3 1 28 0.560 84 81 350 6-4-2-1 6-5-1-0 6-3-1-0 4-0-0-0 0-1

5. Cleveland 26 12 11 1 2 27 0.519 100 109 294 6-5-1-0 6-6-0-2 4-5-1-0 0-3-0-0 3-2

6. Belleville 28 12 14 2 0 26 0.464 94 108 489 8-6-0-0 4-8-2-0 4-5-1-0 0-1-0-0 3-0

7. Laval 29 10 15 3 1 24 0.414 97 112 366 5-5-3-1 5-10-0-0 4-5-0-1 0-1-0-0 1-1

Check out the Syracuse Crunch Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from December 27, 2022


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