CRUNCH BACK HOME TO CHALLENGE CHECKERS
 
The Crunch (11-8-2-0) start the first of two three-game home stands in December by welcoming the defending Calder Cup champion Charlotte Checkers (8-10-3-0) to Syracuse for the second time this season.
 
Charlotte spoiled the Crunch's home opener by beating Syracuse, 7-3, Oct. 19. The Crunch will travel to Charlotte for two faceoffs next week, and the Checkers have won six of the nine meetings since they shifted into the Eastern Conference.
 
LAST TIME OUT
 
The Crunch snapped a two-game losing skid with a 4-3 overtime win against the Binghamton Devils Saturday night.
 
After a scoreless first period, Alex Barré-Boulet gave the Crunch a 1-0 lead eight seconds into the second, marking the fastest goal to begin a period Syracuse has scored this season. Binghamton responded four minutes later, but before the second period ended, Danick Martel buried a breakaway goal, extending his goal scoring streak to four games and giving the Crunch a 2-1 lead heading into the second intermission.
 
Syracuse surrendered a game-tying power-play goal three minutes into the third. Cory Conacher's backhanded breakaway marker with 4:47 left in regulation gave the Crunch a 3-2 lead, but Binghamton's Joey Anderson netted a third equalizer with 53 seconds remaining to send the game to overtime.
 
The Devils controlled possession in overtime, but in the final minute of the extra frame, Barré-Boulet tried to fire a wrister on Binghamton netminder Gilles Senn from the slot. The Devils disrupted the shot, and after the puck trickled to Senn's pads, the rebound steered off Brett Seney's skate and into the net for Syracuse's game winner.
 
Spencer Martin turned aside 26 shots in his first start since Nov. 15 to earn his third win.
 
SCOUTING THE CRUNCH 
 
Syracuse wrapped up a busy November slate of 14 games with an overtime win in Binghamton Saturday; the victory also snapped the Crunch's two-game losing streak. The Crunch posted an 8-6-0-0 record in November; it is the ninth straight season the Crunch have posted a better than 0.500 points percentage in November, the longest current streak in a single month for the Crunch. Syracuse currently sits in sixth place in the North Division with 24 points.
 
With a goal against the Devils Saturday, Danick Martel brings a four-game goal-scoring streak into the War Memorial  Arena tonight. It's the Quebec native's second-longest streak of his AHL career; Martel had a six-game stretch from Oct. 27 to Nov. 8, 2017 when he piled up seven goals as a member of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
 
Martel is tied with Alex Barré-Boulet for the team lead with 10 goals, making the duo one of six pairs of AHL teammates with at least 10 goals.
 
Mitchell Stephens has also been hot as of late, logging six points in the past five games (3g, 3a), which includes two multi-point performances. Since this trio was put together Nov. 8, the group has combined for 27 points (15g, 12a) through 11 games.
 
SCOUTING THE CHECKERS 
 
Less than a year removed from a Calder Cup championship, the Charlotte Checkers have the second fewest points in the eastern conference. The Checkers enter tonight's game with losses in three of their last four games; Charlotte was most recently swept by the Providence Bruins in a two-game series at Bojangles Coliseum.
 
Center Morgan Geekie has played in all 21 games for the Checkers. While the 21-year-old leads the team with 12 points, he has registered only one point over the team's last five games. Geekie's name may sound familiar: he notched three points (1g, 2a) in the Checkers' 7-3 win at the War Memorial Arena Oct. 19. That remains Geekie's highest-scoring game of the season. He played in 73 regular season games for Charlotte last year, recording 46 points (19g, 27a).
 
When it comes to goal scoring, the Checkers are paced by Julien Gauthier. The 6-foot-4 forward has scored seven goals for Charlotte this season. Like Geekie, Gauthier's most productive game was in Syracuse when he buried a season-high two goals; five of Guathier's seven goals have come on the road this year. Charlotte has been without forward Eetu Luostarinen-who has been recalled multiple times by the Carolina Hurricanes- for a third of the season so far. Luostarinen has totaled eight points (5g, 3a) in 14 AHL games.
 
Charlotte has continued to rotate between goalies Alex Nedelijkovic and Anton Forsberg. Nedeljkovic is 4-6-1 with a 2.47 goals-against average and a .907 save percentage. Forsberg is 4-4-2 with a 3.33 goals-against average and a .892 save percentage. Both goalies have appeared in 11 games this year.
 
SPECIAL TEAMS 
 
The Crunch's man-advantage unit has gone cold, registering just one goal in 17 opportunities over the past three games. Syracuse's slump has dropped the team to 13th in the league with a success rate of 18.8%. The Crunch posted an 11-for-64 (16.4%) mark on the power play over their 14 November games. The Checkers are also converting on 18.8% of their man-up chances, but they've scored three fewer power-play goals while receiving 16 fewer opportunities than the Crunch. Like Syracuse, Charlotte hasn't connected often on the power play recently. The Checkers are 1-for-13 with the man-advantage in their past four contests.
 
Each squad leads their respective divisions in penalty killing. The Crunch kill off 87.9% of the penalties the team commits, third overall in the AHL. The Checkers are first in the league, as opponents have failed to score with the man-up 92.9% of the time. They have only allowed seven power-play goals all season; Charlotte is 2-4-0-0 this year when allowing a man-up goal.
 
In Charlotte's 7-3 victory over Syracuse on Oct. 19, the Checkers tallied two power-play goals on five Crunch penalties. Syracuse capitalized on just one of its seven power-play chances. The Checkers also tallied two shorthanded goals while the Crunch scored one.
 
STARTING STRONG
 
Scoring the first goal and maintaining leads into the first intermission have been pivotal for both Syracuse and Charlotte this season.
 
The Checkers have not won a single game when letting opponents score first or take a lead into the first intermission. First year head coach Ryan Warsofsky's squad has won eight of the 12 games when scoring first (8-3-1-0), and Charlotte has closed out victories in four of the six games it's held a lead after one.
 
Syracuse has won seven of nine contests (7-1-1-0) when scoring first and remains unbeaten when leading at the first intermission (4-0-0-0). The Crunch are 4-7-1-0 when falling behind 1-0.
 
In their previous nine head-to-head meetings, the team to score first has won eight times. The only anomaly is Feb. 18, 2018 when the Crunch rallied to win in Charlotte.