Crunch fall to Penguins 5-3

5-3 Loss

Syracuse, NY – Vladislav Namestnikov extended his league-leading point streak to 13 games but the Syracuse Crunch fell to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 5-3 tonight at the War Memorial Arena.

The Crunch drop their overall record to 9-4-1-0 and fall to third in the East Division with 19 points on the season. The Penguins now lead the season series against the Crunch 2-0-0-1.

Crunch goaltender Riku Helenius stopped 22 of 27 shots in defeat while former Crunch goaltender Jeff Deslauriers stopped 24 of 27 shots for his second win against the Crunch this season.

The Penguins took an early lead with a low shot from Despres at the left circle 2:26 into the first period.. Despres then set up Jayson Megna who beat Helenius with a one-timer from the slot at the 11:23 mark of the period. Megna's was a four-on-four goal with the Crunch's Artem Sergeev and Penguins' Brian Dumoulin serving minor penalties.

The Penguins extended their lead with a power-play goal from Chris Conner with 16 seconds remaining in the first period. Despres' slap shot bounced off Conner's leg into the net for a 3-0 lead.

Namestnikov got the Crunch on the board 7:29 into the second period. Nikita Kucherov made a cross-ice pass to Namestnikov at the left circle, who ripped a low shot past Penguins netminder Deslauriers. JP Cote picked up the secondary assist, extending his point streak to four games.

The Penguins responded with a goal from Tom Kostopoulos at the 12:55 mark of the second period. Helenius made the initial save on a slap shot from Scott Harrington, but Kostopoulos found the rebound for a 4-1 Penguins lead.

Evan Rankin cut the Penguins lead to two with 18.2 seconds remaining in the middle frame. Rankin picked up the puck during a scramble in front of the net and beat Deslauriers with a wrister from the slot. Cedric Paquette had the lone assist.

Brian Gibbons put the Penguins back on top by three with his sixth goal of the season 1:41 into the third period. The Crunch retaliated with a goal by Danick Gauthier halfway through the final frame.

CRUNCHABLES: Jordan Henry made his Syracuse Crunch debut after being signed to a PTO earlier today… Tonight was Vladislav Namestnikov's fifth multi-point game of the season…Joey Mormina dropped the gloves for the third time this season…he totaled two fights during the 2012-13 season

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