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Crunch Comeback Falls Short
Syracuse, NY, (Saturday, March 13, 2010)
Syracuse, NY (March 13, 2010) – The Syracuse Crunch fell into a deep hole and could not dig themselves out, falling behind 5-0 before eventually losing a 5-3 game to arch-rival Rochester tonight in front of 5,961 fans at the War Memorial at Oncenter.
Rochester’s Jimmy Bonneau tallied twice and goaltender Alexander Salak turned away 39 of 42 Crunch shots. Jordan LaVallee-Smotherman recorded two assists in the losing effort for hometown Syracuse.
Rochester got on the board first six and a half minutes into the game when Bonneau tapped in a centering feed from Jordan Henry at the top of the crease to make it a 1-0 game.
The Americans padded their lead with two more tallies before the game was 20 minutes old.
Evgeny Dadonov notched his 14th of the season at the 7:28 mark and former Crunch defenseman Clay Wilson beat Kevin Lalande when his slapper from the point found its way through on the power play with 33 seconds left in the first to give Rochester a 3-0 advantage.
Dan LaCosta replaced Lalande to start the second period, but that did not deter Rochester, as Bonneau recorded his second goal of the game when John deGray’s slapper deflected off him and behind LaCosta to put the Crunch down 4-0.
Scott Hotham gave the Americans a 5-0 lead just one minute later when his wrister from the right face-off dot beat LaCosta clean to stick side.
The Crunch finally got on the board with 35 seconds to go in the second period, when Chad Kolarik rifled LaVallee-Smotherman’s centering feed past Alexander Salak to make it 5-1.
Syracuse took the momentum from their late second period score and carried it over into the third when Brendan Bell’s sharp-angle centering feed hit off a Rochester player and past Salak to cut it to 5-2.
Just two minutes later, the Crunch got to within two goals when Trevor Frischmon slid a pass from the left side to a streaking Evan McGrath down the middle, who beat Salak upstairs to make it a 5-3 contest. The goal was McGrath’s first as a member of the Crunch.
LaCosta stopped 16 of the 18 Rochester shots he faced.
CRUNCHABLES: The Crunch took 67 penalty minutes in tonight’s game, their second highest total this season…Brendan Bell extended his point streak to six games and has eight points (5g, 3a), over that span…Chad Kolarik extended his point streak to five games and has seven points (4g, 3a) over that span…Kevin Lalande has now started 17 of the Crunch’s last 20 games.