Head to Head 
The Crunch won their season series with the Phantoms, 4-1-0-1, in 2013-14. Syracuse earned points in all three home meetings last season, notching two wins. The Crunch last beat the Phantoms Mar. 28, 2014, 6-4, using two goals by Cedric Paquette. Yanni Gourde had two assists in the victory, and Crunch goalie Kristers Gudlevskis stopped 21 shots and earned the victory.

Lehigh Valley plays the Crunch twice this season.

Last Time Out
The Crunch finished its three-in-three weekend with a 2-1 defeat against Bridgeport in the second game of a back-to-back in Connecticut. Syracuse surrendered ten power plays to the Sound Tigers, a season high, and killed off eight. The Crunch were 0-for-5 on the man advantage.

The Sound Tigers struck late in both the first and second period. Former Crunch forward Cory Conacher set up Kael Mouillierat with six minutes left in the first period to make it 1-0. Conacher received a secondary assist on Aaron Ness's second-period tally.

Dalton Smith scored with less than five minutes to go in the third, tipping a Matt Corrente drive set up by Tanner Richard. Smith's ninth of the year cut Bridgeport lead in half, but it was the only blemish on Sound Tigers goalie Kevin Poulin's 25-save effort. Crunch netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 21 shots. 

Scouting the Phantoms
Lehigh Valley (19-15-4-1) sits third in the East Division and 11th in the Eastern Conference with 43 points, ten behind the Crunch. After starting January with four-straight wins, the Phantoms have dropped three of their last four, including back-to-back games against Hershey. 

The Phantoms are led by second-year pro Nick Cousins, who's collected 29 points (13g, 16a) in 39 games. The Belleville, Ontario native has collected 12 points (6g, 6a) in eight January games. On Jan. 17 Cousins netted a hat trick in a 5-1 win over Binghamton before having his four-game point streak snapped the following night in Hershey. He had 29 points (11g, 18a) in 74 games last season as a rookie.

With veteran goalie Rob Zepp (11-5-4) in the NHL, rookies Anthony Stolarz (6-8-1) and Martin Ouellette (2-2-0) handle the netminding duties.

Penalties Galore
Lehigh Valley and Syracuse are the two most-penalized teams in the AHL, The Phantoms lead the league with 997 penalty minutes, an average of 25.56 penalty minutes a game, while the Crunch have accumulated 876 PIMs, good for 21.90 a game. 

The Crunch lead the AHL with 58 major penalties, three majors ahead of the second-place Phantoms. Meanwhile, Lehigh Valley has racked up 236 minor penalties, about six a game, second in the league ahead of Bridgeport (261 minors). Phantoms forward Jay Rosehill has 119 PIMs this season, fifth place in the league. Crunch captain Mike Angelidis paces the Crunch with 99 penalty minutes, two ahead of Tanner Richard. 

Special teams
The Crunch were 0-for-5 on the power play Sunday against the Sound Tigers, ranking 26th in the AHL at 12.7%. The penalty kill surrendered a season-high ten opportunities to the Sound Tigers and were eight-for-ten killing to move to 24th in the AHL (80.8%).   

Lehigh Valley was 2-for-11 on the man-up unit Wednesday against Hershey and is 20th in the AHL converting on 15.2% of opportunities. After surrendering three power-play tallies to the Bears in their last game, the Phantoms rank 22nd in the league (81.4%).