SYRACUSE, N.Y. – After the Syracuse Crunch scored twice, the Utica Comets tallied four unanswered goals to steal a 4-2 win tonight at the War Memorial Arena.
 
The loss puts the Crunch on a three-game slide and drops the team to 26-17-2-2 on the season. Utica has now built a 5-2-0-1 lead in the 12-game season series.
 
Connor Ingram turned aside 20-of-24 shots in net for the Crunch. Richard Bachman earned the win for the second consecutive night with 34 saves. Syracuse was held to 0-for-3 on the power play, while Utica went 1-for-4.
 
The Crunch opened scoring with 2:46 remaining in the first period. Erik Condra chipped the puck out from behind the net for Dennis Yan to send into the slot. Olivier Archambault picked up the loose puck and snuck it behind Bachman as he skated past the right goal post.
 
At the 15:34 mark of the second period, Syracuse doubled their lead. Reid McNeill passed to Alexander Volkov between the circles. He cut to the left point to turn and fire home his 13th of the season. Jamie McBain picked up a point for the secondary assist.
 
The Comets came back to tie the game late in the middle stanza with two goals just 16 seconds apart. Philip Holm netted a wrister from the top of the left circle off assists from Reid Boucher and Michael Chaput. Dylan Blujus then potted one from the high slot with the help of Darren Archibald and Alexis D'Aoust.
 
Halfway through the third period, Holm tallied his second of the game on the power play. After receiving a pass from Archibald, he went bar down from the blue line. Nikolay Goldobin earned the secondary helper.
 
Wacey Hamilton added an empty-netter in the final minutes to sweep the weekend's home-and-home series against the Crunch.
 
Syracuse is back in action on Friday when the team hosts the Hartford Wolf Pack at 7 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 played in his 150th AHL game tonight…Daniel Walcott skated in his 150th game with the Crunch tonight…The Crunch have given up a power-play goal in a season-high seven consecutive games...Syracuse recorded a season-high 22 shots in the second period.