Crunch look to stay hot versus chocolate and white 


The Crunch wrap up a three-in-three weekend tonight against the Hershey Bears at Giant Center. It's the first of two head-to-head meetings between the clubs after the Crunch swept last season's two-game set.
 
Syracuse (5-2-2-0) has bagged four of four possible points thus far over the weekend; the Crunch are looking for their first three-in-three sweep since March 13-15, 2015. The "chocolate and white" Bears (5-4-1-1) have split the first two games of their first three-in-three weekend of the season. 
 
Last Time Out
 
The Crunch powered past the Binghamton Devils on the strength of three power-play goals, 3-2, last night at the War Memorial Arena. 
The Devils 1-0 lead, which came on a Fabian Zetterlund goal from the slot, last 46 seconds before the Crunch rattled off three quick power-play goals in the first period. 
 
Alex Barré-Boulet carried the puck to the bottom of the left circle and fired in front for a Chris Mueller deflection past former goalie Louis Domingue and an even score, 1-1. Just over a minute later, Barré-Boulet ripped a one-timer from the right circle for a 2-1 lead. An Otto Somppi top corner snipe from the right ring capped the run at 10:47 and left the Crunch ahead 3-1.
 
The Devils pulled within one in the second period. Nathan Bastian converted a 2-on-1 rush for the final goal of the game. The Crunch scored three goals on four shots in the first period, but were stopped on their final 26 attempts. Scott Wedgewood won the duel between the former goalie partners by making 25 saves.
 
Scouting the Crunch  
 
The Crunch wrap up the weekend riding a four-game point streak (3-0-1-0) and three-game winning streak. After allowing 20 goals in the previous three games (0-2-1-0), the Crunch have limited their opponents to just six during their three-game winning streak. 
 
The Crunch sit in sixth place in the North Division with 12 points, but they have played just nine games, which is tied for the fewest in the entire Eastern Conference. Their 0.667 points percentage is tied for the third best in the division.
 
Otto Somppi has a point in all three games of the Crunch's winning streak, netting four (2g, 2a) in three games. The second-year-pro has already surpassed his point total from a year ago; the Finnish forward has five points (3g, 2a) in six games after logging four (2g, 2a) in 27 games in 2018-19. Last night's power-play goal held up as his first career game-winning goal.
 
Cory Conacher picked up an assist to extend his November scoring streak to 12 straight games dating to Nov. 3, 2018. In that span he has 25 points (8g, 17a) in 12 November games. Last night registered his 300th career AHL point — the 395th player in league history to reach that mark — doing so in just 319 career AHL games.
 
Novembers to remember  
 
Tonight marks the third of 14 games for the Crunch this November, compared to just seven in October. However, the second month of the season has brought success the past two years; the Crunch are 15-0-2-0 in their last 17 November games dating back to the 2017-18 season. Last year, Syracuse posted a 9-0-2-0 record during the month, outscoring its opponents 50-24. 
 
Under head coach Ben Groulx, the Crunch have posted a 23-6-2-4 record in November, good for a 0.743 points percentage.  Last year, Cory Conacher was named CCM/AHL Player of the Month in November by leading the league with 23 points (8g, 15a) in 11 games.
 
Scouting the Bears  
 
The Bears are wrapping up their first three-in-three weekend this year, something they are scheduled to do eight times this season. Hershey started the weekend with a lopsided 8-1 loss in Springfield, but bounced back with a 5-3 win on home ice over Providence last night. The win ended a three-game winless run (0-2-0-1) for the Bears and moved their record to 5-4-1-1 this season. They are one of three teams in the Atlantic Division at 12 points; Lehigh Valley is in action at Bridgeport while Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is off today.
 
Veteran Mike Sgarbossa leads the way for the Bears with nine points (4g, 5a) in 10 games this season for a Bears team averaging exactly 3.00 goals per game. His assist last night snapped a three-game scoring drought.
 
Vitek Vanecek and Pheonix Copley have split the Bears net this season. Vanecek, who earned the win last night over Providence, sports a 3-1-1 record with a 2.92 goals-against average and an .881 save percentage. Copley is 2-3-1 with a 3.16 goals-against average and an .882 save percentage. Copley has allowed 13 goals over his last two starts after not allowing more than two in any of his first four appearances.
 
Third in a row
 
Tonight concludes the Crunch's first three-in-three weekend of the year. Their final four instances come in the 2020 portion of the schedule. 
 
Syracuse has wins in the first two games of the weekend as is looking to go 3-0 in a three-day span for the first time since March 13-15, 2015. Since that weekend, the Crunch have played 22 three-in-threes without a sweep. They have only started with consecutive wins twice and they are 0-1-0-1 in the third game on those two occasions. Last season the Crunch closed the regular season with a three-in-three; they won the first two games before losing in a shootout in the season finale while resting a handful of their players for the playoffs. 
 
Special teams  
 
The Crunch special teams was the difference in their win last night over Binghamton. The power play connected three times in the first period and finished 3-for-6 in the game. It was the first time since March 30 the Crunch scored three man-advantage goals in a game. They now rank fifth in the AHL with a 26.2% conversion rate (11-for-42).
 
The penalty kill did its job too, negating all seven Binghamton power plays. The Crunch penalty kill now sits at 90.0% (36-for-40), which gives the Crunch a top-five penalty kill along with their top-five power play — the only AHL team with two top-five units.
 
Hershey's power play has been held off the board in seven straight games after the Bears scored five power-play goals in the first four games of the season. In the last seven, they are 0-for-22 on the man up, dropping their overall success rate to 11.1% (5-for-45), which is 25th in the AHL.
 
The Bears penalty kill is more of a strength, allowing just five goals over 41 shorthanded chances. They are 9-for-9 in the last three games. Hershey is also dangerous offensively while down a man; the Bears lead the league with four shorthanded goals this season, including one last night.