.jpg)
Crunch Rattled in Rochester
Syracuse, NY, (Monday, October 12, 2009)
Rochester, NY (October 12, 2009) – Two power play goals and four unanswered markers by Rochester did in the Syracuse Crunch tonight, as they fell by a 4-1 count to the Amerks tonight at the Blue Cross Arena.
Playing their third game in four nights, the Crunch came out looking to take it to their new-look I-90 rivals for the first of 10 meetings between these two teams this year.
Although the two clubs now play in separate conferences, that didn’t seem to have an effect on the 16-year long feud between the two upstate New York neighbors as Tom Sestito and Kenndal McArdle exchanged pleasantries nine minutes into the opening frame.
The Crunch drew first blood in the contest when Alexandre Picard deflected a Nick St. Pierre wrister from the left point past Rochester starter Alexander Salak for the 1-0 Syracuse lead with just under two minutes to play in the first. Maksim Mayorov, who gained the zone and got the puck to St. Pierre at the blue line, picked up the other helper on the play.
Syracuse’s lead lasted until four and a half minutes into the second stanza, when Chris Taylor shuffled in his own rebound from the left side of the crease to make it 1-1.
The Crunch got into some penalty trouble shortly after that, but LaCosta came up big and withstood a barrage of Rochester shots and scoring chances to keep the score even.
The score remained deadlocked until Brent Regner’s hooking penalty gave Rochester the man-advantage halfway through the period. On the ensuing power play, Jamie Johnson found Graham Mink at the top of the crease who powered the puck past LaCosta to give Rochester a 2-1 lead.
The Americans took a 3-1 lead when they notched their second power play goal of the game with four and a half minutes remaining. Former Crunch defenseman Clay Wilson found Jeff Taffe at the point.
Taffe found some room, walked in and blasted a shot to the top right corner over the shoulder of LaCosta.
Rochester’s Michal Repik added an empty-netter with one minute left to ice the game.
Three Stars:
1. Alexander Salak
2. Graham Mink
3. Chris Taylor
1. Alexander Salak
2. Graham Mink
3. Chris Taylor
CRUNCHABLES: The Crunch gave up three unanswered goals tonight…Rochester’s lineup tonight featured two former Crunch players (Wilson and Mike York)…Pascal Pelletier had his three-game point streak snapped tonight…The Crunch fell to 0-2-0-0 when scoring the first goal.