ALBANY, N.Y. – Mackenzie Blackwood and the Albany Devils shutout the Syracuse Crunch, 3-0, with a power-play goal and two shorthanded tallies tonight at the Times Union Center.
 
The loss moves the Crunch to 34-24-6-7 on the season and drops the team to 3-3-1-0 in the eight-game series against the Devils.
 
Goaltender Mike McKenna made 29-of-33 saves in net for the Crunch, while Blackwood turned aside all 33 for the Devils. Syracuse went 0-for-2 on the power play and 6-for-7 on the penalty kill.
 
Just as the Crunch killed the first penalty of a 5-on-3 advantage late in the first period, the Devils opened scoring. John Quenneville fired a shot from the point that ricocheted off the end boards and behind McKenna for Nick Lappin to sweep in. Jacob MacDonald recorded the secondary assist.
 
Albany doubled their lead with a shorthanded goal 2:12 into the middle frame. Lappin forced a turnover at the blue line and skated down to beat McKenna five-hole on the breakaway.
 
Brian Gibbons added another shorthanded marker halfway through the second to put the Devils up, 3-0. He cut around a Crunch defenseman and stuffed the puck in near the left post. Lappin added another point with the helper.
 
The Crunch were unable to solve Blackwood in the final stanza and were blanked for the second time in five games.
 
Syracuse travels to face the Binghamton Senators on Friday at 7:05 p.m.
 
Syracuse Crunch single game and season tickets for the 2016-17 season are on sale now and can be purchased either in person at the Crunch office located in the War Memorial Arena at 800 S. State St. 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 (@syracusecrunch) using #SyrCrunch, #WeAreOne and #BLUnited.
 
Crunchables: Jonathan Racine skated in his 250th AHL game tonight…The Crunch have been shutout three times this season. The last time was March 26 against Toronto.