HISTORY AWAITS WITH CRUNCH IN BELLEVILLE
 
The Crunch (16-12-2-1) travel north of the border for the first time this season as they visit the Belleville Senators (18-12-1-0).
 
The game marks the 2,000th game in franchise history for the Crunch. It is also the third of six head-to-head matches with Belleville; the Crunch won the first in overtime and the Senators responded in Syracuse last Friday.
 
LAST TIME OUT
 
The Crunch suffered their first shootout loss of the season, 2-1, at the hands of the Binghamton Devils in Syracuse last night.
 
The game was a goaltending duel, as Spencer Martin stopped 29 of 30 Devils shots before the shootout and Cory Schneider parried 39 of 40 Crunch shots, including an Alexander Volkov penalty shot attempt during regulation.
 
After two scoreless periods, Alex Barré-Boulet gave Syracuse a 1-0 lead 8:50 into the third, fighting through a pack of defenders in the Binghamton crease to jam home a loose puck. But the Devils tied things up with just 2:58 left in regulation. A Martin clearing attempt from behind the Crunch net ricocheted off the glass and onto the stick of Michael McLeod at the right circle, and McLeod rifled a shot that Nathan Bastian redirected past Martin.
 
Despite two overtime power plays, the game went to a shootout. Mikhail Maltsev deked around Martin to give Binghamton the lead in the second round of the shootout, and Chris Mueller fired wide of Schneider's net on the next attempt, sealing the Devils' victory. 
 
SCOUTING THE CRUNCH 
 
Syracuse lost a low-scoring game last night against the Devils to drop to 16-12-2-1 this season. The Crunch did gain a point on the Belleville Senators to pull within two of the final playoff position in the North Division.
 
The Crunch held the Devils to one goal through regulation and overtime before falling in a shootout. It is only the second time this season the Crunch have failed to win a game when limiting their opponent to two or fewer goals (10-1-0-1). Their other defeat was a 2-0 loss at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Nov. 9.
 
The game was tied 0-0 after two periods—the first Crunch game to remain scoreless into the third period since Feb. 22, 2019. In that game, Alex Barré-Boulet scored the only goal for either team, netting the game-winner in overtime. The second-year-pro again scored the only Crunch goal last night, giving him a team-high 12 tallies this season, while his 27 points are tied for 15th in the AHL. He has goals in back-to-back games for the third time this season, but he has yet to string together three straight games with a goal.
 
Goaltenders Mike Condon and Spencer Martin have combined to allowed three goals on 67 shots in the last two games. That .955 combined save percentage has brought the Crunch's team save percentage up to .893; only five AHL teams have a lower team save percentage this season. 
 
SCOUTING THE SENATORS  
 
The Senators return home after dropping a 4-3 decision to the Eastern Conference-leading Amerks in Rochester last night. Belleville stands fourth in the North Division before today's puck drops, two points ahead of the Crunch. The Senators are 6-4-0-0 in their last 10 outings, including a 7-3 win in Syracuse last Friday.
 
Drake Batherson tops the league in scoring with 39 points (12g, 27a). The second-year pro's 1.3 points per game pace has him on track to surpass the 62 points (22g, 40a) he scored in 59 games during his rookie season. Batherson's four points against the Crunch (2g, 2a) leads all Senators skaters this year.
 
Vitaly Abramov has registered at least one point in each of his last six games, representing the longest point streak of the second-year-pro's career. The Russian winger has tallied 10 points in this stretch (5g, 5a) and ranks third on the Senators with 24 points on the year (12g, 12a). Abramov has notched three points (2g, 1a) in two outings against the Crunch this season.
 
Three different goaltenders have protected the Senators net in December. Rookie Joey Daccord, the winning goalie last week in Syracuse, paces Belleville netminders with a 2.65 goals-against average and .908 save percentage in six appearances this season. Swede Marcus Hogberg has won one game for Belleville in December and seven on the season, and he's appeared in four games with NHL affiliate Ottawa this month. And 21-year-old Filip Gustavsson has won seven of his 13 outings this season, but only one of his four December starts.
 
SPECIAL TEAMS 
 
The Crunch were held off the board on the power play for only the second time In the last nine games. Their 0-for-3 night included a failed man advantage in overtime and slid the Crunch back to 11th in the AHL with a 19.6% conversion rate. They have scored seven total goals in two games this season against Belleville and four have come on the power play (4-for-11, 36.4%).
 
The Senators connected once in four attempts last night in Rochester to bring their power play up to 17.4%, which ranks 18th in the AHL. They are 0-for-9 against the Crunch this season.
 
The Crunch's penalty-killing unit tops the North Division and ranks third overall at 87.0%. Syracuse has killed off 14 straight penalties across the past four games. Belleville's penalty kill has held them back this season, allowing a league-high 33 goals in 146 shorthanded situations. The Sens 77.4% penalty kill is last in the Eastern Conference and 30th of 31 AHL teams.
 
2,000 GAMES 
 
Tonight's game marks the 2,000th regular season game in franchise history. The Crunch are the eighth AHL franchise to reach that mark and the first since the Providence Bruins in December 2017. The Crunch rank fourth among active franchises in games played behind Hershey, Rochester and Providence.
 
Sitting on 1,999 games, the Crunch maintain an all-time record of 920-796-116-71 with 96 ties. They reached 900 wins March 30, 2019 against the Utica Comets, and the Crunch also rank eighth all-time in the American Hockey League in wins.
 
GOING THE DISTANCE 
 
The Crunch played their first shootout game of the season last night, becoming the last Eastern Conference team to compete in the skills competition this season. That leaves the Manitoba Moose as the final AHL without a shootout game this season.
 
The shootout loss was the Crunch's fourth straight loss in games that go past overtime, dating back to last season. Syracuse started 3-1 in shootout games in 2018-19, but the Crunch have won a shootout since Feb. 6, 2019 at Rochester. Since then, the Crunch have dropped shootout decisions to the Amerks, Utica Comets, Belleville Senators and Binghamton Devils.