Crunch complete weekend sweep with 5-3 win over Hershey

5-3 Win

Syracuse, NY – The Syracuse Crunch completed a weekend sweep with a 5-3 victory over the Hershey Bears at the Giant Center tonight.

The Crunch collected six of a possible six points this weekend and improved their overall record to 10-2-1-1 and road record to 7-0-0-1.

Defenseman Radko Gudas chipped in for three points (1g, 2a) and Crunch goaltender Dustin Tokarski stopped 16 of 19 shots he faced improving his 2012-13 record to 7-1-0-1.

Two goals from Syracuse Crunch defenseman gave the Crunch a 2-1 lead after the first 20 minutes of play. Radko Gudas opened the scoring with a shot from the left point that beat Hershey netminder Dany Sabourin at the 12:04 mark. Matt Taormina's wrist-shot from the blue line got past Sabourin and chased him from the game at the 17:46 mark. Sabourin was replaced by Braden Holtby after allowing two goals on seven shots.

Bears center Jeff Taffe had temporarily evened the score beating Crunch goaltender Dustin Tokarski with a five-on-three power-play goal at the 15:33 mark of the first period.

Hershey tied the game for a second time at the 10:33 mark of the middle frame. TJ Syner's pass across the crease was misdirected past Tokarski by the skate of a Crunch defenseman to make it a 2-2 game.

The Crunch regained the lead less than two minutes later with a goal from Richard Panik at the 12:21 mark of the period. Gudas and Dmitry Korobov picked up assists on Panik's goal.

Brett Connolly gave the Crunch a two-goal lead when he buried a pass from Ondrej Palat at the end of a two-on-one at the 8:08 mark of the third period. Less than a minute later Tyler Johnson redirected a Gudas shot past Holtby for a 5-2 Crunch lead. Holtby allowed three goals on 20 shots in relief of Sabourin.

Hershey cut the Crunch lead to two goals after Zach Hamill scored during a scramble in front of Tokarski at the 15:21 mark of the third period.

Crunchables: Mike Angelidis returned to the Crunch lineup after missing two games…Richard Panik is riding a seven-game point streak…The Crunch have scored the first goal in their last three contests…The Crunch are 6-0-1-0 when leading after the first period…Brett Connolly has scored the game-winning goal each of the three times the Crunch have defeated Hershey this season.

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