Game Notes: 2/12/08 v. Philadelphia Phantoms
Crunch Comeback Falls Short in Philly
Philadelphia, PA (February 12, 2008) – The Syracuse Crunch fell to the Philadelphia Phantoms tonight, 4-3 in a shootout at the Wachovia Spectrum in front of 6,110 fans.
Although an ice storm in the Philadelphia area delayed the start of this game by 20 minutes, both teams responded positively to the holdup in a well-played first period.
The Crunch had the best scoring opportunities in the first period, including a great chance that was all created by the work of Derek MacKenzie about halfway through. MacKenzie found the puck, turned on the jets down the right wing and cut hard to the net only to be denied by Phantoms starter Brian Boucher.
Philadelphia was the first to break through on the score sheet at the 14:04 mark on the power play. With MacKenzie in the box for hooking, Stefan Ruzicka skated down the right side and wristed a shot that escaped Crunch starter Dan LaCosta for the 1-0 Phantoms lead.
Syracuse outshot Philadelphia 13-9 in the first frame.
The Crunch tied the game just over four minutes into the second stanza with another workman-like effort from MacKenzie, who tallied his 19th goal of the season on the play.
MacKenzie again came down the wing with speed, this time on the left side and rifled a slap shot that fooled Boucher to make it 1-1.
Philadelphia would re-take the lead on another power play goal from Ruzicka just a minute and a half into the third period. Set up in the left circle, Ruzicka calmly corralled the puck and snapped a shot past LaCosta for the 2-1 lead.
The Phantoms struck again with just under five minutes remaining when Nate Guenin’s fluttering shot from the point eluded LaCosta for the 3-1 advantage.
It was a fast and furious final two minutes of regulation as the Crunch tallied two goals in a span of 1:01 to tie the game.
Andrei Plekhanov took the puck and ripped a canon from just beyond the blue line that surprised Boucher and found the back of the net to make it 3-2.
Just one minute later with LaCosta pulled for the extra attacker, MacKenzie notched his second of the game when he threw the puck at the net and it slid through a bunch of bodies, including Boucher, to tie the game at 3-3 and force overtime.
Philadelphia weathered the storm in overtime thanks to Boucher who made some key stops on a relentless Crunch power play.
Jared Ross and Alexandre R. Picard scored in the shootout for Philadelphia and Kirill Starkov notched the only goal for Syracuse in the shootout as the Phantoms came away with the 4-3 win.
CRUNCHABLES: The Crunch are 3-1-0-2 in their last five games…Three (3) of the Crunch’s top ten scorers are currently on recall to Columbus (Derick Brassard, Joakim Lindstrom and Andrew Murray)… With a shootout loss tonight, the Crunch took 5 of a possible 6 points on the three-game road trip…With his two goals tonight, Derek MacKenzie is now tied with Joakim Lindstrom for the team lead in goals with 20…Starting Friday night, the Crunch play 20 of their final 26 games at the War Memorial at Oncenter.