A week after their first matchup against new Northeast Division opponent Springfield (1-1-0-0), the Crunch (1-1-1-0) found themselves in a familiar position, trailing 2-1 to the Falcons.
This time would be different, though.
In his first AHL game,
Jonathan Drouin scored the game-winner in the third period with 12:42 remaining. Drouin took the puck at center ice and raced two Falcons defensemen into the offensive zone and beat Anton Forsberg for the goal.
The No. 3 overall pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning was on the ice for all three Crunch goals.
He set up the first goal of the game with a centering pass that got knocked to
J.P. Cote at the point, passed to
Dylan Blujus, and netted by
Jonathan Marchessault.
The goal was Marchessault's first of the season, and the assist by Blujus was his first career AHL point.
The goal that tied the game for the Crunch late in the second period came off the stick of
Cedric Paquette, his third goal of the season. The goal came with 1:09 remaining in the period and Marchessault and
Cody Kunyk added assists. The assist was Kunyk's first career AHL point.
After falling behind, 1-0, the Falcons responded when
Dana Tyrell redirected Austin Madaisky's shot from the point with 4:15 left in the first period. After tying the game, Springfield controlled the opening minutes of the second period and took a 2-1 lead when Madaisky set up the play with another shot from the point. This time, Domenic Monardo scooped it into the net 3:53 into the second period.
Lukas Sedlak got an assist on both Falcons goals to take his total to three on the season.
The Crunch outshot the Falcons, 38-29, and Andrei Vasilevsky got his first career AHL victory with 27 saves.
After piling up 58 penalty minutes in the season opener against the Falcons, the Crunch were more disciplined tonight, only having 18 penalty minutes.
Mike Angelidis was responsible for 12 of those minutes as he got in two fights and received a boarding penalty before the second fight started. Syracuse was 0-for-3 on the power-play, and the Falcons were 0-for-2.
On the season, the Crunch are 1-for-14 (7.1%) with the man advantage. Their penalty kill moved to 14th in league at 11-for-13 (84.6%).
The Crunch play their final of four home games to start the season tomorrow night against Binghamton at 7 p.m. at the War Memorial Arena.