SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Tanner Richard and Adam Erne scored early in the first period to build a two-goal lead, but once the Hershey Bears solved netminder Adam Wilcox, they overpowered the home team and eventually outlasted the Crunch, 5-3, tonight at the War Memorial Arena.
 
Three Crunch forwards posted multi-point games with Richard and Yanni Gourde tallying a goal and an assist each and Mike Blunden picking up two assists. The loss puts Syracuse at 19-16-8-1 and 3-1-1-0 in the six-game season series. Hershey moves to 23-13-3-6.
 
Crunch goaltender Wilcox made 21 saves on 25 shots, while his counterpart, Justin Peters, recorded the win with a 34-save performance. Syracuse went 1-for-6 on the power play and 1-for-4 on the penalty kill. 
 
Just 1:01 in the opening period, Richard lit the lamp. Blunden chipped the puck out from the end boards for center to sweep in for his sixth of the season. Gourde recorded his first point of the night on the tally. Five minutes later, the Crunch went up, 2-0. After a series of quick passes while on the power play, Blunden sent the puck down low, where Erne was parked to redirect it into the net. Richard recorded his fourth multi-point game this month with the secondary assist.
 
The Bears cut the lead to one at 6:26. Paul Carey threw one in front for Travis Boyd to one-time from the left wing side. The team went on to tie the game at the 1:01 mark of the middle stanza. Wilcox was caught out of position and left the right side of the cage open for Liam O'Brien to wrap around and bury the equalizer.
 
At 5:08, Hershey took over the lead. Connor Carrick forced a turnover in the defensive zone and shot the puck ahead to Garrett Mitchell. The right winger carried the puck in and fired home a wrist shot from the circle.
 
Gourde evened the score with a shorthanded tally at 8:48. He skated down the slot, deked and tapped it in on the forehand. Ryan Martindale and Luke Witkowski picked up the helpers.
 
Despite the attempted rally, the Crunch were unable to get back on top and went down, 4-3, when Dustin Gazley netted his tenth of the season at the 11:10 mark of the second. Sean Collins topped off scoring and secured a 5-3 victory for the Bears with a shorthanded empty net marker with 1:05 remaining in the contest.
 
The Crunch finish a home-and-home weekend in Hershey against the Bears tomorrow at 7 pm.
 
Syracuse Crunch 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 at 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: Ryan Martindale's last AHL point was on April 11 with an assist against Springfield…Adam Erne tallied his third multi-point game this season. His most recent was on Dec. 31…Tanner Richard has 17 points (5g, 12a) in his last 16 games…The Crunch had a five-game points streak snapped.