Game 36: Syracuse Crunch vs. Norfolk Admirals
7:30 p.m. at War Memorial Arena, Syracuse, N.Y.
The Crunch take on the Admirals for the fourth time of the season Friday, with all four meetings occuring in the last two weeks. Syracuse has won all three meetings with a combined score of 11-5. Since losing to the Crunch both Friday and Saturday, the Admirals suffered a 3-1 loss to Charlotte in Raleigh, home of the Checkers' parent club, the Carolina Hurricanes.
Coverage
Listen to live play-by-play on
The Score 1260 with pregame coverage starting at 6:50 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.
Where they stand
Syracuse owns the AHL's best record (23-7-2-3) and became the first team to eclipse 50 points (51) with Wednesday's 5-3 win in Rochester. Division foe Binghamton has the league's second best record, four points behind Syracuse. The Western Conference leaders are six points off the Syracuse pace. The Crunch have won four straight (all on the road), equaling their longest win streak of the season (Oct. 13-21). They have points in each of the last seven games and have only one regulation loss in the last 12.
The Admirals have the fewest points in the league (30) at 14-17-2-0, sharing the AHL cellar with Adirondack and Hamilton. Norfolk has lost four straight and five of its last six games, including three against Syracuse. With a 6-10-0-0 record away from home, the Ads have 10 fewer road wins than the league's strongest road team, Syracuse (16-3-0-2).
Scouting the Admirals
Former Crunch players continue to pace the Ads, with
Peter Holland (12g-18a-30pts) leading the way.
Kyle Palmieri (11-12-23pts) and
Patrick Maroon (11g-11a-22pts) are second and third in team scoring, but all three players have negative plus-minus numbers. Frederik Andersen (7-9) and
Igor Bobkov (7-10) each suffered losses to Syracuse last weekend. The Admirals play in Binghamton Saturday and next play Syracuse March 15 at the War Memorial.
Who's hot
Playing his second game in Syracuse's last 12 matchups,
Danick Gauthier potted his first career game-winning goal and first multi-point game Wednesday with one goal and one assist. In ten games prior to Wednesday, Gauthier had two goals: Nov. 16 vs. Hershey and Dec. 2 at Binghamton.
Brett Connolly has four points (2g, 2a) in his last two games, with back-to-back one-goal, one-assist performances. He tallied his league-leading sixth game-winning goal Saturday in overtime at Norfolk.
Riding a four-game goal-scoring streak (currently the best in the league),
Richard Panik has five goals in four games and his 18 goals overall are tied for third most in the AHL. His 25.7 shooting percentage is second best in the AHL and his 29 points (18g, 11a) are third most on the Crunch.
Radko Gudas was plus-4 Wednesday in Rochester, the highest mark of the season, besting
Mark Barberio's plus-3 Dec. 7 vs. Hamilton.
Last meeting: Jan, 5
The Crunch won their third consecutive game with a 4-3 overtime win Saturday at the Norfolk Scope. Fighting back from defecits of 1-0 and 2-1 on goals from
Alex Killorn and Vlad Namestnikov, Syracuse took a 3-2 lead in the third on
Richard Panik's 17th marker of the year. Former Crunch forward
Kyle Palmieri (who sat our Friday) pulled the Admirals even, 3-3, with eight minutes left in regulation but
Brett Connolly potted his 13th of the year 1:21 into overtime to win the game for Syracuse, Connolly's league-leading sixth game-winning goal of the year.
Dustin Tokarski made 22 saves, earning his 15th win of the year and fifth-straight start. Other former Syracuse players
John Kurtz and
Patrick Maroon scored for Norfolk while Sami Vatanen collected three assists. Three fights in the game featured Kurt vs.
Jared Nightingale, a rematch of Jay Rosehill and
Eric Neilson, and
Peter Holland against
Richard Panik. Both Connolly and Killorn had two point games, while
Radko Gudas had one assist and a game-high plus-3. Former Crunch forward
Dan Sexton, playing his first game of the year, had an assist but was a game-worst minus-3.
Igor Bobkov stopped 22 of 26 shots in defeat.
