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Special Teams Help Seal Crunch Victory Over Binghamton
Syracuse, NY, (Friday, October 23, 2009)
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Syracuse, NY (October 23, 2009) – A perfect 8-for-8 on the penalty kill, a Derek MacKenzie shorthanded goal and a Tom Sestito power play game-winner in the third period helped seal a 4-3 win for the Crunch over Binghamton tonight at the War Memorial at Oncenter.
Having already played each other just two weeks ago, the Crunch and Binghamton came out firing with a combined 27 shots on goal in the first period.
Although Binghamton outshot the Crunch by a 16-11 margin, Syracuse tallied the game’s first goal just three and a half minutes into the opening frame.
Trevor Frischmon gained the zone and quickly dished the puck off to Maksim Mayorov. Mayorov, situated in the right face-off circle, looked up and slid a pass to a wide open Jordan LaVallee-Smotherman, who buried the puck past Mike Brodeur to give the Crunch an early 1-0 lead.
After just one goal in the first period, the first 10 minutes of the second stanza saw five combined goals and knotted the teams at 3-3 after 40 minutes of play.
Jesse Winchester, skating for Binghamton on loan from parent club Ottawa on a conditioning assignment, followed up a Geoff Kinrade shot by charging to the net and chipping the rebound past Dan LaCosta to tie the game at 1-1 just three and a half minutes into the second.
Alexandre Picard notched his fourth goal of the season when he tipped in a David Liffiton point shot past Brodeur just a minute and a half later.
Captain Derek MacKenzie gave the Crunch a 3-1 lead at the 6:42 mark with his second shorthanded goal in as many games when he flew down the left side and let go a slapper that beat Brodeur between his body and glove.
Binghamton answered back to once again tie the game with two goals in a 1-minute, 19-second span less than two minutes after MacKenzie’s tally.
Derek Smith sniffed out a rebound of a Josh Hennessy shot and put it by LaCosta to make it 3-2 at 8:17.
Hennessy followed suit and tied the game when he beat a Crunch defender to the outside, cut to the net and roofed a backhander over LaCosta’s shoulder at the 9:36 mark.
The score stayed that way until a Hennessy slashing infraction just under four minutes into the third put the Crunch on the man-advantage.
Rookie defenseman Brent Regner threw a shot on goal from the point, creating a rebound in front of Brodeur. Sestito used his 6-foot-5-inch frame to get to the puck and shuffle it into the cage for the 4-3 Syracuse lead.
The game came down to the wire and the Crunch penalty killers stymied a four-minute Binghamton attack when LaVallee-Smotherman was called for a high-sticking double-minor with 4:54 remaining to seal the win.
A very busy LaCosta stood tall down the stretch, ending up with a season-high 42 saves on the evening.
CRUNCHABLES: The Crunch are a perfect 3-0-0-0 at home to start the season…Syracuse is currently riding a three-game point streak (2-0-0-1)…Jared Aulin skated in his 200th AHL game tonight…Jordan LaVallee-Smotherman tallied his first point and goal as a member of the Crunch tonight…Derek MacKenzie’s shorthanded goal tonight was his eighth as a member of the Crunch, tying him for second in all-time in that category.