Game 39: Syracuse Crunch (17-15-2-4) vs. Hershey Bears (19-14-3-3)
7 p.m., War Memorial Arena, Syracuse, N.Y.
The Syracuse Crunch and Hershey Bears meet Friday night, the second of three matchups in a nine-day span. Tonight's is the fourth of eight matches between the divison foes, with the Crunch winning two of the first three, including a 3-2 win last Friday. The home-and-home series shifts to Hershey tomorrow night.
Hershey, four points ahead of Syracuse, has won four of five including the last two. After losing to the Crunch Friday, the Bears topped Albany Saturday and Bridgeport Sunday. The Bears have played only 16 games away from Giant Center this season, tied for the fewest number of road games in the AHL. Both Syracuse and Hershey have three-in-three weekends capped Sunday by the Crunch at Bridgeport and Hershey against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Crunch forward Phil Paradis, a first-round draft pick of Carolina in 2009, is expected to return to the lineup tonight after missing the last eight games with an injury. He last played Dec. 28 against Norfolk. He has two assists in 24 games this season; his only three goals in a Crunch uniform came in Game 5 of the 2013 Eastern Conference Finals.
Broadcast Coverage
Halfway There
At the halfway point of the regular season (38 games) the Crunch are 17-15-2-4, fifth in the East Division, 12th in the Eastern Conference and 20th in the AHL. While the season's first 38 games were played over 16 weeks, the final 38 games are cramped into 13 weeks. Syracuse's first half had 17 home games, while the second half features 21.
At the War Memorial, the Crunch have slipped back below .500 at 7-8-0-2. Scoring 45 goals while allowing 54 at home, the Crunch have a minus-9 goal differential. On the road, the Crunch are 10-7-2-2, but still have a minus-5 differential, scoring 55 goals and allowing 60. Overall, the goal-scoring differential is minus-14, 21st in the AHL.
At the halfway point, the Crunch Achilles' heel has been third-period play. In the first two periods Syracuse has an even goal differential (30-30 in the first, 38-38 in the second), but in the third period the Crunch are minus-11, allowing 40 while scoring only 29. Just two teams in the league have scored fewer goals in the third than the Crunch. Syracuse after two periods of play is 1-2-0-1 when tied, 1-5-0-0 when trailing and 5-1-0-1 when leading.
Last time out
Brett Connolly scored his second career hat trick, but the Crunch were doubled up by the Binghamton Senators, 6-3, Saturday night in Syracuse. Three goals in a four-minute, first-period stretch for the Senators doomed the Crunch, as they saw their six-game point streak come to an end.
Connolly opened the scoring 5:59 into the first period with a power-play goal, his tenth of the season. Binghamton responded by scoring the game's next three goals to go ahead, 3-1. Connolly cut the deficit to one with a goal late in the first. After the period Crunch goaltender
Kristers Gudlevskis was replaced by
Cedrick Desjardins.
Gudlevkskis, who had allowed only two goals in his previous nine periods, allowed three in the first on 11 shots. Desjardins suffered the loss, however, stopping 15 of the Sens last 17 shots. The Senators built the lead back to two with a power-play goal in the second, only to see it trimmed back to one, with Connolly's third goal of the game just 4:01 into the third. The Senators struck twice more in the third, including an empty-net goal, to win 6-3. The Crunch fired 38 shots on Binghamton's Andrew Hammond, but solved him only three times.
Scouting the Senators
After losing to the Crunch Friday, the Bears concluded last weekend with wins over Bridgeport and Albany. They are 19-14-3-3 for 44 points, sitting in fourth in the East Division and ninth in the Eastern Conference.
Hershey is led by right wing Brandon Segal's 33 points (13g, 20a) although he had his seven-game scoring streak snapped last weekend. Center Jeff Taffe has 26 points (9g, 17a) and left wing Nicolas Deschamps has 23 points (11g, 12a). Taffe is on a five-game scoring streak (2g, 6a), as is Michael Latta (1g, 5a). Defenseman Chay Genoway has ten points (2g, 8a) this season, but he has seven points (1g, 6a) in his last seven games, including a goal and an assist Friday against the Crunch.
Defenseman Nate Schmidt was recalled by Washington Tuesday, after posting seven points (1g, 6a). In his place, the Capitals sent down Steve Oleksy, who played 33 games with Washington (2g, 8a). He last played for the Bears Mar. 3 last season against the Crunch.
David Leggio has played 26 games in goal for the Bears. He has a 12-12-2 record with a 2.73 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage. He earned his 100th career AHL victory with Sunday's win over Albany.
Goaltender Philipp Grubauer was returned to the Bears from Washington this week. In nine games with the Bears, Grubauer is 4-4-1 with a 2.60 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage. He had a 6-4-5 record in 16 games with the Capitals, but has only one win in his last eight appearances and was pulled in his last two starts.
The two goalies started the season as a tandem for Hershey, with Grubauer getting nine starts and Leggio seven in the first 16 games. Grubauer's last win for the Bears came Nov. 23 against Binghamton; he's not faced Syracuse.
Special Teams
Despite the loss Saturday against Binghamton, the Crunch went 2-for-4 on the power play, snapping a three-game drought with the man advantage. The drought came on the heels of a five-game power-play goal-scoring streak. Over the last nine, the Crunch are 8-for-37 (21.6%), and they are 16th in the AHL at 17.0%.
The Crunch penalty kill allowed a pair of power-play goals to Binghamton, which put an end to the Crunch's four-game streak without allowing a power-play goal, going 14-for-14 in those four games. The penalty kill has allowed power-play goals in only two of the last seven games but given up seven goals in those two games and is 23-for-30 (76.7%) in that span. Overall the Crunch have killed 80.9% of opponents' power plays, 19th in the AHL.
Hershey's power play has goals in three of the last four games, with the only time being held off the board coming against the Crunch (0-for-4 last Friday). In the last eight games, the Bears have scored multiple power-play goals in five, going 12-for-40 (30.0%), Despite the same power-play percentage (17.0%) as the Crunch's, the Bears have four more man-advantage goals in 24 more opportunities than Syracuse.
The penalty kill for the Bears has been perfect in six of the last eight games, going 25-for-27 (92.6%). They were a perfect 6-for-6 in Friday's game in Syracuse. The Bears are 10th in the league on the penalty kill at 83.9%.
