Game 27: Syracuse Crunch vs. Adirondack Phantons
7:30 p.m. at War Memorial Arena, Syracuse N.Y.
Syracuse meets Adirondack for the third time in two weeks (the sixth time overall this season) Friday at the War Memorial. Syracuse has points in all five previous meetings (3-0-1-1), earning a measure of revenge last Saturday in a 3-0 win at Adirondack six days after a 4-3 shootout loss in Glens Falls.
Coverage
Listen to live play-by-play on
The Score 1260 with pregame coverage starting at 7:15 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. After the game, join Dan and a player guest on "The Shootout Show" live from the War Memorial basement.
Scouting the Phantoms
Adirondack's Brayden Schenn leads all scorers in the five meetings with 9 of his 26 points coming against the Crunch. Schenn (12g-15a-27pts), Sean Couturier (7g-15a-22pts) and Eric Gustafsson (3g-11a-14pts) have combined for 18 points vs. Syracuse. Phantoms captain Ben Holmstrom has been absent from the lineup because of a knee injury. The Flyers' AHL affiliate has the league's smallest point total (23) and is last in the Northeast Division at 11-14-1, one point in back of Connecticut. On Wednesday the Phantoms earned a 3-2 victory over St. John's, snapping a four game-losing streak. However, Adirondack has not won a road game since Nov. 14, 4-1, at Manchester. The Phantoms visit Bridgeport Saturday.
Last Meeting
Riku Helenius stopped all 18 Adirondack shots for his second shutout victory of the season Dec.14 in Glens Falls, as Syracuse controlled the tempo in a 3-0 win over the Phantoms.
Alex Killorn opened the scoring nearly five minutes into the second, set up by
Mike Angelidis and
Keith Aulie, for what turned out to be the game-winning goal, the first of the year for Killorn. Five minutes later on a penalty kill,
Dmitry Korobov made a neutral-zone steal and found
Richard Panik for a shorthanded-breakaway goal, the team's fourth shorthanded goal of the year and Panik's first point since his 12-game scoring streak ended Dec. 1.
Radko Gudas sealed the victory in the third with his second of the season, blasting from the right wing for an unassisted tally. 116 penalty minutes were assessed in the contest, mostly the restult of four misconducts and six fighting majors. The Crunch exhibited stellar shotbloacking again, most notably with
J.P. Cote taking a shot to the face but not missing a shift.
Back-to-Back Blanks
Holding opponents scoreless Friday and Saturday, Syracuse has now posted back-to-back shutout wins nine times in franchise history: three times in 2001-02, twice in 2002-03, once in 2005-06, once in 2006-07, once in 2007-08 and once so far in 2012-13. Three shutouts between
Riku Helenius (2) and
Dustin Tokarski (1) eclipse Syracuse's total from all of last season;
Iiro Tarkki had the only two shutouts for the 2011-12 Crunch.
Helenius's two shutouts this season (Nov. 7 & Dec. 14) triple his AHL career total; his only other AHL shutout was for Norfolk in 2008-09. The 24 year old blanked seven opponents last season (at 17-9-5 with a 1.64GAA) for JYP Jyväskylä of the SM-liiga in Finland. He led JYP to the SM championship, going 11-2 in the postseason.
Tokarski's Dec. 15 shutout is his first since Game 3 of the 2012 Calder Cup Final (Jun. 7) when Norfolk defeated Toronto 1-0 nine minutes into overtime. It was one of three postseason shutouts for Tokarski, following five in the regular season among his league-best 32 wins. The 23 year old now has 16 AHL career shutouts.
Nagle Recalled
The Crunch have recalled goaltender
Pat Nagle from their ECHL affiliate, the Florida Evaerbaldes. Nagle, 25, has a 5-5-0-1 record in 12 games with the Blades this season, along with a 3.47 goals-against average and a .887 save percentage. During the 2011-12 season the Bloomfield, MI native played in 39 games for the Kelly Cup champion Everblades with a record of 20-14-0-3, posting four more wins in five postseason decisions, including two shutouts. He was often in uinform for the Norfolk Admirals during their 28-game win streak at the end of the 2011-12 AHL season, but never saw playing time. Prior to his professional career Nagle played 101 games in a four-year career at Ferris State, posting a 2.32 goals-against average. He played junior hockey for the St. Louis Bandits in the NAHL in 2006-07 under Jon Cooper.
