Game 19: Syracuse Crunch at Connecticut Whale
7:00 p.m. at XL Center, Hartford, Conn.

The Crunch meet the Whale, AHL affiliate of the New York Rangers, for the first time Saturday at the XL Center in Hartford. Syracuse is 6-7-3 all time against the Whale, formerly the Hartford Wolfpack.

Following a four-game win streak, the Whale lost at Providence Friday, still third in the Atlantic Division at 9-8-1-0, 19 points, but now 10th in the Eastern Conference. Connecticut is led by center Kris Newbury, the team leader in scoring with 18 points (7g, 11a) and penalty minutes (55). Goalie Cameron Talbot has seven of the team's nine wins (7-4-0) with a goals-against average of 2.54. 

The Crunch suffered their first regulation road loss of the season Friday in Wilkes-Barre, 5-3. Richard Panik, Brett Connolly and Philip-Michael Devos tallied goals for Syracuse, while Dustin Tokarski surrendered four goals in net while making a season-high 32 saves. The Penguins are the first team to put 30 or more shots on a Crunch goalie this season. Syracuse still leads the East Division at 12-4-1-1, 26 points, and share the Eastern Conference lead with Springfield.

Coverage
Listen to live play-by-play on The Score 1260 with pregame coverage starting at 6:45 p.m. For in-game updates on Twitter, follow @SyracuseCrunch and broadcaster @Dan_Duva. Check SyracuseCrunch.com for post-game recap. Pay-to-watch video is available on AHL Live. 

Streaks
The Crunch had their nine-game road win streak snapped Friday in Wilkes-Barre, the first regulation loss for the team away from home. Syracuse had lost in a shootout Oct. 12 at Rochester, but set a franchise record with nine consecutive road wins after that; no other AHL team has a road winning streak of more than five games this year. Syracuse twice in its 19-year-history had won six straight road games, prior to the 2012-13 streak.

With a goal Friday in Wilkes-Barre, Richard Panike extended his scoring streak to 11 games, the best mark in the AHL. With eight goals and seven assists in that span--spanning the entire month of November--the second-year is tied for second most points on the Crunch (9g-9a-18pts).

The AHL's leading goal scorer Tyler Johnson had a six-game point streak snapped Friday. With 13 goals on the season, and a team-best 21 points, the 22-year-old is ahead of his scoring pace from last year when he finished the regular season with 31 goals and 37 assists in 75 games as a rookie. 

Connections
Crunch defenseman Jared Nightingale spent most of the last five seasons playing in Hartford. The 30-year-old first donned a Hartford uniform in the 2007-08 season, appearing in two games for the Wolf Pack, spending most of the year with then-ECHL-Charlotte. Most of his 2008-09 seasn was at the AHL level, 49 games with Hartford with two goals, five assists, 121 penalty minutes and a plus-9. After 51 games in Hartford in 2009-10--16 in the ECHL--the next two years, 2010-12, were exclusively in the AHL for the Cheboygan, Mich. native. He appeared in 71 games (2g-6a-8pts, 204 PIMs) in 2010-11 and 67 games (1g-9a-10pts, 110 PIMs) in  2011-12.  He signed a free-agent contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning organization in the summer.

Syracuse assistant coach Steve Thomas's son Christian wears #92 for the Whale. The 20-year-old joined the Whale at the end of last regular season for five games, plus six in the playoffs, including three against his dad's Norfolk Admirals. Steve was undrafted coming out of the OHL (Toronto), while Christian was drafted 40th overall by the New York Rangers in the 2nd round of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft after his OHL career, mostly with Oshawa. Both Steve and Christian had 50-goal seasons in the OHL, the first father and son to do so.