CRUNCH HIT HALFWAY MARK AGAINST SENS
 
The Crunch host the Belleville Senators for the final time this season in Game 38-the halfway point of the regular season.
 
Syracuse swept a two-game set with Belleville Nov. 2-3. The teams have three more matches in Belleville later in the season.  
 
LAST TIME OUT
 
The Crunch fell to the Utica Comets, 5-4, Wednesday night at the Adirondack Bank Center.
 
The Comets went up 1-0 less than 30 seconds in thanks to a Tom Pyatt goal off a Crunch turnover. After more than 16 scoreless minutes of play, Utica doubled its lead with a power-play goal from Jonathan Dahlen off a rebound.
 
After a Comets score in the second to make it 3-0, Syracuse responded. Alex Barré-Boulet potted his 19th goal of the season on a net-mouth scramble and less than a minute later, Gabriel Dumont scored a wraparound to cut the deficit to 3-2.
 
The Comets scored twice more in the second frame, one on a breakaway from Dahlen and another on a rebound by Kole Lind. The Crunch got back to within one in the third on goals from Dumont—his second of the night—and Alex Volkov, but Utica held on to pick up the victory.
 
Goaltender Eddie Pasquale made 22 saves for Syracuse before Martin Ouellette took over in net in the third; Ouellette stopped the only two shots he faced.
 
SCOUTING THE CRUNCH
 
Despite a season-long five-game winless streak, Syracuse stands as one of three Eastern Conference teams with a points percentage of at least .600. The Crunch (21-13-2-1) sit three points behind the Americans (23-13-2-0) and Comets (22-17-3-1) in the North Division standings, and remain the only team that ranks top-five in the AHL in goals scored (3.70, first) and allowed (2.84, fifth) per game.
 
Syracuse has buried multiple goals in all but one game during the skid, fueled by leading scorer Carter Verhaeghe. The 23-year-old has logged five points (2g, 3a) over five games, boosting his season total to 43 (16g, 27a) in 37 games this season. Verhaeghe leads the Eastern Conference and ranks second in the league in scoring; he needs just five points to tie the career-high 48 (17g, 31a) he tallied across 58 games last year.
 
Cory Conacher gives the Crunch a pair of top-10 AHL scorers this season. The former league MVP has collected 39 points (15g, 24a), ninth-most in the league, in 33 games. That 1.18 points-per-game average is third-best in the AHL among players who have appeared in at least 30 contests. Conacher is on pace to eclipse 60 points for the third time in his career.
 
The Crunch have produced a top-12 scoring defenseman in each of the past three seasons; this year, Cameron Gaunce (6g, 24a) is carrying the torch. The Ontario native is one of three blueliners with at least 30 points and boasts twice as many as any other Syracuse defenseman.
 
Between the pipes, Eddie Pasquale has started 11 games in a row. Pasquale has now spent more than 1,336 minutes in the crease this season, ninth-most in the league; he owns a 2.85 goals-against average and .898 save percentage. Martin Ouellette made his first appearance in a Crunch uniform Wednesday at Utica and turned away both shots he faced.
 
SCOUTING THE SENATORS
 
Belleville (18-22-2-0) enters the War Memorial tonight after dropping back-to-back games, including a 4-2 loss against Laval on Wednesday. With 38 points, the Senators rank last in the North Division and 28th in the league. Belleville's 22 regulation losses are also the most in the AHL. The Crunch have won both of the previous two meetings this season, outscoring the Senators 11-5. Belleville has not recorded a win inside the War Memorial Arena in the past two seasons; the last time Ottawa's AHL affiliate defeated the Crunch in Syracuse was Feb. 10, 2017 as the Binghamton Senators.
 
Jack Rodewald leads the Senators with 29 points (14g, 15a). The Calgary native is coming off of a two-goal performance against the Rocket on Wednesday, and he has recorded eight points (5g, 3a) over the last seven games. Last season, Rodewald scored 14 goals in 62 games; this season, he has 14 markers in just 32 games.
 
Rookie Drake Batherson sits behind Rodewald with 25 points through 27 games (8g, 17a). After recording 20 points in his first 14 games, including a six-point performance against Toronto, the 20-year-old forward has picked up just five points in the past 13 games and he has gone eight straight games without a point entering tonight. Last year, Batherson split his second season in the QMJHL between the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles and the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, finishing the regular season with 77 points (29g, 48a). He also helped lead Team Canada to a gold medal at the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championships, where he led all Canadian skaters with seven goals in seven games.
 
Goaltender Marcus Hogberg was reassigned to Belleville yesterday after four NHL appearances with Ottawa. Hogberg has a 3-3-1 record this season while posting a 2.32 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage. In his second season with the Senators, Filip Gustavsson has a .884 save percentage through 28 appearances with an 11-15-1 record.
 
SPECIAL TEAMS
 
The Crunch ended a three-game drought on the power play when Alex Volkov scored a man-up marker in the third period Wednesday at Utica. It was Volkov's second power-play goal of the season and first since Nov. 2 vs. Belleville. Syracuse still leads the North Division with a 23.6% power-play conversion rate, third-best in the league.
 
The Comets came up empty-handed on all but one of their seven man-up chances Wednesday. The Crunch have allowed exactly one power-play goal in three straight games, even though the opponent has gone on the man advantage at least four times in each one. Syracuse has killed off 82.5% of penalties this season, which ranks 11th in the AHL.
 
Belleville has allowed opponents to bury seven power-play goals over its last two games: Grand Rapids went 4-for-5 Saturday, then Laval went 3-for-3 Wednesday. The week has dropped the Senators' penalty-kill percentage to an even 75.0%, the worst mark in the league.
 
The Senators have capitalized once on the power play in each of their last three games. They rank 19th in the league at 18.1% this season. In its first meeting with Syracuse this year, Belleville piled up nine power-play chances and converted twice.
 
LIGHTNING FLASH
 
The Lightning's nine-game home winning streak was snapped last night in a 4-2 loss to the Maple Leafs. The game was tied late in the second period, but Toronto scored twice over the final 25 minutes grab the victory. Brayden Point's 30th goal of the season made him the first player in the NHL this season with 30 goals and 30 assists. Overall, Tampa has won four of its last six games and still leads the NHL in points (74) through 48 games. They host the Sharks tomorrow night.