UTICA, N.Y. – Adam Erne netted his first professional hat trick as the Syracuse Crunch rolled over the Utica Comets, 6-1, to continue a seven-game winning streak tonight at the Adirondack Bank Center.
 
After giving up the first goal of the game, Syracuse scored six straight to advance to 11-9-1-2 on the season. The Crunch even the 12-game season series with the Comets, 1-1.
 
Louis Domingue made 24 saves in his fifth consecutive win between the pipes for the Crunch. Richard Bachman turned aside 22-of-28 for the Comets. Syracuse went 1-for-6 on the power play and a perfect 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.
 
The Comets lit the lamp with a shorthanded goal nine minutes into the opening frame. After picking off a pass, Cam Darcy and Patrick Wiercioch skated in on a 2-on-1. Darcy faked a shot from the right wing and saucered the puck over for Wiercioch to chip in backdoor.
 
The Crunch knotted the game, 1-1, with 2:04 remaining in the first period. Kevin Lynch cut around the back of the cage and threw a feed for Erne to one-time from the right circle.
 
Syracuse took over the lead with back-to-back goals from Carter Verhaeghe just 1:07 apart in the middle frame. At the 9:55 mark, the center was positioned down low to clean up the rebound from Dominik Masin's shot. Erik Cernak tallied the secondary assist. Less than a minute later, Verhaeghe snuck a shot over Bachman's shoulder from the right circle with the help of Michael Bournival.
 
The Crunch built a three-goal lead at the 7:54 mark of the third period. After a series of blocked attempts, Matthew Spencer's shot made it through during a battle in front of the crease for his first professional goal. Anthony Cirelli and Erne recorded the assists.
 
Erne added two more, two minutes apart to give Syracuse a 6-1 lead. Just past the midway point of the final frame, he shoveled in a backhander from the goal line with the help of Matt Bodie and Cirelli. At 12:47, Erne tipped in Mathieu Joseph's shot on the power play to complete the hat trick. Cirelli made it a three-point night with the secondary assist.
 
The Crunch travel to face the Binghamton Devils on Friday at 7:05 p.m.
 
Single game tickets and packages are on sale now and can be purchased in person at the Crunch office located inside the War Memorial Arena at 800 S. State St. in Syracuse, 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 (@syracusecrunch) using #SyrCrunch.
 
Crunchables: Adam Erne has five goals in the last three games…With an assist tonight, Dominik Masin has a career-high seven points on the season.