SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse Crunch stumbled, 4-3, to the Hartford Wolf Pack tonight at the War Memorial Arena.
 
This game completed a home-and-home series for the teams. Hartford stole both contests.
 
Crunch goaltender Adam Wilcox made 29 saves on 32 shots.  The opposing goalie, Magnus Hellberg, stopped 33 of 36. Syracuse earned their first power-play goal of the season, as they went 2-for-9 on the man-advantage. The penalty kill unit shut down 5-of-6 Hartford power plays.
 
The Wolf Pack opened scoring at the 3:33 mark of the first period. Travis Oleksuk won the face-off in the left circle. Ryan Bourque gained control of the puck and passed it out to Ryan Graves to send home from the point.
 
The Crunch knotted the score less than three minutes later when Jonathan Marchessault ripped one from the high slot while on the power play. Assists went to Joel Vermin and Anthony DeAngelo.
 
Adam Tambellini built up a two-goal lead for Hartford in the second period. He notched his first tally at the 12:42 mark with a shot from the left wing side that went crossbar and down. His second came on the man-advantage at 18:46. He received a feed from Marek Hrivik at the end boards. A wrist shot beat Wilcox to put the Wolf Pack up, 3-1.
 
Chad Nehring potted an empty net goal with 2:46 remaining in the contest before the Crunch launched an attempted comeback.
 
With under one minute left on the clock, Matthew Peca fired on net, but was turned aside by Hellberg. Dylan Blujus grabbed the rebound and netted his first of the season from the top of the left circle. Tye McGinn picked up the secondary assist.
 
With only two seconds remaining, the Crunch pulled within one while on the power play. Yanni Gourde and Mike Blunden each attempted to bury one during a battle in front of the net. The puck was kicked out for Peca to finish. Syracuse eventually ran out of time and they fell to Hartford, 4-3.
 
The Crunch travel to face rivals Utica Comets tomorrow at 7 p.m.
 
Single game and season tickets are on sale now and can be purchased either in person at the Crunch Box Office located in the War Memorial on 800 South State Street in Syracuse or by calling the office at 315-473-4444. For the latest Crunch news, visit www.syracusecrunch.com or follow the club on Facebook (www.facebook.com/syracusecrunch), Twitter (@SyracuseCrunch) and Instagram (@officialsyracusecrunch) using SyrCrunch and BelieveInBlue.
 
Crunchables: Tonight, the Crunch scored their first power-play goal of the season… This is the first time this season the Crunch haven't scored first… Dylan Blujus scored his first goal since the final regular season game of 2014-15… The last time the Crunch had at least eight power plays in one game was Dec. 31, 2014… Jonathan Marchessault leads the team in goals with three…Matthew Peca and Tye McGinn have points in back-to-back games.