After four consecutive road victories, Syracuse is home Wednesday for its first meeting of the season with Toronto at 7 p.m. It's the first of two meetings between the two clubs, with the final match coming Mar. 6 in Toronto. Last season, the Marlies lost to Tampa Bay's then-affiliate Norfolk in the Calder Cup Final. Syracuse is coming off a 5-3 Monday afternoon victory in Albany, as
had his first professional hat trick. The Marlies suffered a 2-1 shootout loss at home Monday vs. Houston. Baldwinsville, N.Y. native Tim Connolly had the lone Toronto goal, his fifth goal in his 11th game with the Marlies.
Coverage
Listen to live play-by-play on
The Score 1260 with pregame coverage starting at 6:45 p.m. Pay-to-watch video is available on
AHL Live. After the game, join
Dan D'Uva and a player guest in the War Memorial basement for “The Shootout Show” airing on The Score 1260. For in-game updates on Twitter, follow
@SyracuseCrunch and broadcaster
@Dan_Duva. For post-game recap, visit
SyracuseCrunch.com and join the conversation on
Facebook.
Where They Stand
The Marlies are 3-5-1-1 in their last ten games, dropping 26-17-2-3 overall. Toronto's 57 points are sixth most in the Western Conferece, tied with Rochester for second place in the North Division. The Marlies 3.19 goals per game are fifth most in the AHL while their 2.67 goals-against is 10th.
The Crunch have the greatest point total in the Eastern Conference, 66, one point better than Springfield and Binghamton. The Crunch have won four straight games, their second-longest win streak of the season. Syracuse's 30 wins (30-14-2-4) are tied for most in the AHL. The Crunch have the league's strongest goals-per-game average, 3.50, compared to second-best Rochester, 3.42. The Crunch are tied for 13th in goals-against average, 2.76.
Scouting Report
The Marlies are led by left wing Ryan Hamilton (20g-10a-30pts), center Joe Colborne (7g-19a-26pts), and center Jake Gardiner (9g-13a-22pts). The Marlies are thin between the pipes with leading goalies Ben Scrivens (2.22GAA) and Jussi Rynna (2.57GAA) currently on the Toronto Maple Leafs roster. The Marlies two active goalies have played a combined nine games, with Drew MacIntyre getting a win in his first game with the Marlies on Saturday.
In the season's Calder Cup Final,
Tyler Johnson led the Admirals against the Marlies with three goals and three assists in four games, including four points (2g, 2a) in the series-clinching Game 4. Among active AHLers, Johnson has the most goals (26) and points (48).
Brett Connolly is the league's third leading scorer (22g-23a-45pts) and is riding a nine-game scoring streak with 11 points (7g, 4a) in that span.
Riku Helenius has three win and two shutouts in his last three games, dropping his goals-against average to 2.78 and increasing his save percentage to 0.891.
