CRUNCH SET FOR 26TH HOME OPENER
 
The Crunch welcome the defending Calder Cup Champion Charlotte Checkers into the War Memorial Arena tonight for their 26th home opener, presented by Upstate University Hospital. It's the second year in a row that the Checkers have participated in the Crunch's home opener; last year Charlotte spoiled the unveiling of the arena's renovations with a 4-1 win.
 
As part of opening-night festivities, the Crunch will have a full team introduction and Syracuse will also raise the 2018-19 North Division Champions banner.
 
After a four-game road trip, tonight's matchup starts a five-game homestand for the Crunch. Last season the Crunch not only piled up 27 home wins, which set a new franchise record during a 76-game season, but the team also finished the regular season with a .750 home points percentage, good for a first-place tie in the AHL.
 
LAST TIME OUT
 
The Crunch fell to the Comets 6-2 Wednesday night in Utica's home opener.
 
Syracuse opened the scoring just past the halfway point of the first period behind a Cory Conacher shorthanded goal off a turnover. After the Comets answered two minutes later, the Crunch responded with a rebound goal by Chris Mueller to make it 2-1. Fifteen seconds later, Utica knotted the game up to make it 2-2 with 2.3 seconds remaining in the first period.
 
The second frame was dominated by the home team; two breakaway chances and a rebound pushed the Comets to a 5-2 lead and the eventual victory.
 
The Comets added one more in the third period to set the final at 6-2, which marked the first regulation loss of the season for Syracuse.
 
SCOUTING THE CRUNCH
 
The Crunch take the ice at the War Memorial Arena for the first time this season coming off its first regulation loss of the 2019-20 campaign. Syracuse now sits at 2-1-1-0 on the year.
 
Despite the loss, Cory Conacher opened up the scoring with the Crunch's first shorthanded goal of the season. It was also the third career shorthanded tally for the veteran forward; last season, Conacher found the back of the net twice on the penalty kill, which included his first professional shorthanded goal. As a team, Syracuse finished at the top of the Eastern Conference last year with 16 shorthanded goals.
 
Chris Mueller lit the lamp in Utica for his first goal wearing a Crunch uniform. The Western New York native also picked up an assist on Conacher's goal for his third point of the season (1g, 2a). As a member of the Toronto Marlies last season, Mueller finished third in the AHL with 33 goals, just behind Crunch forwards Alex Barré-Boulet and Carter Verhaeghe. The 33-year-old forward has piled up 530 points (223g, 307a) over 13 AHL seasons.
 
Fellow newcomer Luke Schenn also found the scoresheet against the Comets with an assist on Mueller's goal. The veteran defenseman has tallied a point in each of his three games played after making his Crunch debut against the Monsters. Schenn appeared in 29 AHL games last season with both the San Diego Gulls and the Utica Comets, logging 15 points (3g, 12a). The Saskatchewan native has played in 734 career NHL games, collecting 145 points (30g, 115a).
 
SCOUTING THE CHECKERS
 
The defending Calder Cup champions will hit the ice after starting their second road trip of the 2019-20 season with an 8-2 loss in Utica Friday night. Charlotte hadn't allowed eight goals in a game since October 17, 2015, and they're now 1-2 on the road and 2-3-0-0 overall in 2019-20. The Checkers sit in sixth place in the Atlantic Division in Ryan Warsofsky's first season at the helm of an AHL team.
 
31-year-old left winger Brian Gibbons, who skated in 44 games for the Anaheim Ducks and 20 games for the Ottawa Senators last season, returned to the Checkers last night after a two-game assignment with the Carolina Hurricanes. He's added one goal and three helpers in five games with the Checkers this year.
 
Though the Comets kept second-year Charlotte forward Morgan Geekie off the scoresheet, he started the season tallying points (3g, 2a) in four consecutive games. Charlotte's rookie Finnish center Eetu Luostarinen will be looking to extend his three-game goal scoring streak as well.
 
Fifth-year defenseman Roland McKeown, coming off a career high 25 points in 70 games last season, has been a playmaker on the Checkers' back end, already assisting on four goals this year.
 
Charlotte goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic won 34 games in the 2018-19 regular season and ten playoff games during the Checkers' Calder Cup run, but he has yet to find the win column this season. In his third start of the 2019-20 season last night, Nedeljkovic was chased just 14:54 into the game after the Comets potted their third goal on their fifth shot of the game. Anton Forsberg, a new addition from the Rockford Ice Hogs, allowed five goals in relief after surrendering only three goals on 64 shots in Checkers victories over Springfield and Bridgeport. No AHL team has allowed more goals than the Checkers (20) to date this season.
 
SPECIAL TEAMS
 
The battle between the Crunch and the Checkers includes two top-five power-play units. Despite Syracuse finishing 0-for-5 on the power play against the Comets on Wednesday, the Crunch convert on 23.5% of their man-advantage opportunities, the second-best rate in the North Division and fifth overall in the AHL. On the other side, even though Charlotte didn't cash in on four power-play chances last night against Utica, the Checkers have an overall conversion rate of 23.8%, fourth-best in the league.
 
Both teams have had great success killing penalties. The Crunch are one of two teams yet to allow a goal on the penalty kill this year. Cory Conacher tallied Syracuse's first shorthanded goal on the season to open the scoring against the Comets Wednesday. The Checkers slot in as the seventh-best penalty-killing team in the league at 91.3%.
 
During the 2018-19 season, the Crunch boasted great special teams units. Syracuse led the North Division and was fifth in the league in penalty killing at 84.5%. The Crunch also had a 20.9% success rate on the power play, fifth in the AHL.  Syracuse was even better on home ice, scoring on 24.4% of its power-play opportunities.    
     
In four meetings last year, the Crunch had difficulties scoring on the Checkers with a man-up. Syracuse registered just two goals on 20 chances, but Charlotte added at least one power play goal in each game, finishing 7-for-19.
 
HOME OPENER HISTORY
 
Over the last eight seasons, the Crunch are 5-2-1-0 in home openers, only losing in regulation in 2014 against the Thunderbirds and in 2018 against the Checkers.  Syracuse has outscored its opponents 25-18 in those contests.