After a 1-0 loss Friday to Hamilton--behind 40 saves from former Crunch netminder Dustin Tokarski--Syracuse is home again Saturday, hosting Pucks for Paws Night, benefitting the Priscilla Mahar Animal Welfare Foundation. For the second straight Saturday, and for the final time this season, the Crunch and Albany Devils meet at the War Memorial in Syracuse to wrap up a five-game home stand for the Crunch. Syracuse has won five of the first seven matches with Albany, but is just 1-2 at home against the Devils compared to 4-0 in Albany. The Crunch beat the Devils 6-2 on Saturday to get the lone home victory.

Coverage
Time Warner Cable Sports Channel broadcasts tonight's game live at 7:30 p.m. with Dan D'Uva calling the play-by-play (Ch. 19, HD 813). Pay-to-watch video is available on AHL Live. Listen to live play-by-play on The Score 1260 and iHeartRadio with pregame coverage starting at 7:15 p.m. with Syracuse Chiefs broadcaster Jason Benetti on the call. After the game, join Dan D'Uva and a 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
Three consecutive losses has dropped Albany to ninth place in the Eastern Conference (27-23-1-10), after briefly surging to seventh place with seven wins in nine games Feb. 23-Mar. 15.  Albany's 65 points tied with Manchester and Norfolk, all four short of Hershey for the conference's last playoff spot. The Devils are 16-12-1-4 on the road compared to 11-11-0-6 at home.

Syracuse leads the Eastern Conference in points, 84, one point better than the conference's second-place team, Providence, and two points clear of Binghamton for the division lead. At 38-18-3-5 through 64 games, the Crunch have the AHL's third best points percentage (0.656), trailing only the Texas Stars (0.664) and Providence (0.659). The Crunch had their five game points streak snapped Friday vs. Hamilton and cap a five-game homestand Saturday before three straight home games.

Scouting Report
The Devils are led by left wing Joe Whitney (22g-20a-42pts), right wing Matt Anderson (12g-27a-39pts) and center Steve Zalewski (10g-26a-36pts).  Keith Kinkaid has seen the majority of the action in goal, going 18-12-5 in 36 games, while Jeff Frazee has just returned from a stint in New Jersey while Martin Brodeur was sidelined. Scott Wedgewood started the last game vs. Syracuse, allowing six goals, but has returned to the ECHL. 

For Syracuse, after his four-point (2g-2a) performance last Saturday, Brett Connolly is the active leader with ten points (4g, 6a) in Syracuse's seven games against the Devils.  Riku Helenius is a perfect 3-0 against Albany, averaging one goal against in three outings.

Last Meeting: Mar. 16
Syracuse's offense got off to a hot start in a 6-2 win over Albany last Saturday. After one period, the Crunch led the Devils 3-0. Brett Connolly scored first off a Vlad Namestnikov feed. Just 30 seconds later, J.P. Cote scored on a left-point blast. Richard Panik one-timed a Connolly pass on the power play for the third Syracuse goal, as Dan Sexton picked up his first point with Syracuse this season, garnering the secondary helper. In the second, the Crunch scored three times in less than three minutes. J.T. Brown added the fourth goal on a two-on-one with Mike Angelidis. Philip-Michael Devos buried a Connolly rebound and then Connolly scored on the power play for his fourth point of the night. Six Syracuse goals on 21 shots chased Devils goalie Scott Wedgewood aftter two periods. Keith Kincaid held the Crunch scoreless in the third while Riku Helenius allowed two goals in the final frame, spoiling his shutout bid. Helenius finished with 28 saves for his 15th win and third in a row.