Listen to live play-by-play on The Score 1260 and iHeartRadio with pregame coverage starting at 7:15 p.m. EST. Pay-to-watch video is available on AHL Live. 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 Bulldogs have lost three-in-a-row, and are 4-6 in their last ten games, slipping to 24-31-1-5 on the season. With only 54 points, Hamilton is fifth in the North Division and 15th in the Western Conference, one point behind Adirondack for last place in the entire AHL. After losing a pair of games in St. John's over the weekend, Hamilton will close out a four-game road trip with games in Syracuse Friday and Binghamton Saturday.

Syracuse leads the AHL in points, 84, three points better than the conference's second-place team, Providence, and four points clear of Binghamton for the division lead. At 38-17-3-5 through 63 games, the Crunch have the AHL's best points percentage (0.667), edging the Western Conference leading Texas Stars (0.659). The Crunch have won two straight and hav points in five consecutive games. Syracuse caps a five-game home stand Saturday vs. Albany.

Scouting Report
The Bulldogs active scoring leaders are center Michael Bournival (7g-16a-23pts), right wing Patrick Holland (8g-14a-22pts), and defenseman Nathan Beaulieu (6g-16a-22pts).  In fact the Crunch, as the highest scoring team in the league, have nine players (five active players) with as many points (23) as Hamilton's active leading scorer.  Since joining the Bulldogs, Dustin Tokarski is 4-4 with a 1.71 goals-against average, including two shutouts, in nine games. He has split time with Robert Mayer, who is 13-13-3 with a 3.05 goals against average in 31 games this season.

Among active Crunch players, Dmitry Korobov, Mike Angelidis, and Richard Panik lead the way with three points each in the three games against Hamilton.  Riku Helenius has two wins, including one shutout versus the Bulldogs. Philip-Michael Devos potted his first game-winning goal of the season Wednesday vs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, and has four points in the last three games. Syracuse will be without Richard Panik and Cedrick Desjardins who were called up by Tampa Bay Thursday. Goaltender Pat Nagle has joined the Crunch from ECHL-Florida and is expected to back up Riku Helenius Friday.

Last Meeting: December 7
Five Crunch players had multi-point efforts as Syracuse scored three times in the first period, adding two insurance goals in the third, for a 5-1 win over the Hamilton Bulldogs Friday, Dec. 7 at the War Memorial. Ondrej Palat potted his third of the year just 26 seconds into the contest--the fastest Crunch goal scored this year--with Mark Barberio and Tyler Johnson notching their first of two assists on the day, respectively. Johnson also set up the first of two Syracuse power-play goals, as Brett Connolly tied Johnson for the team lead in extra-man scores (4) and took the team lead for game-winning goals (3). Matt Taormina added the second power-play strike; Alex Killorn and  P.C. Labrie tallied Syracuse's last two goals. Connolly had the primary assist on Labrie's goal, completing a two-point night after missing his first game of the season Dec. 2. Riku Helenius, making his first Friday start, collected his fourth-straight win with 19 saves.