CRUNCH HOME FOR THREE GAMES IN FOUR DAYS
 
The Crunch host the Laval Rocket to begin a stretch of three homes games in four days. They are also in the middle of a seven games in 11 days stretch.
 
Today is the fourth of six head-to-head matches between the teams. The Crunch have won two of the three, but they have not squared off since Dec. 15. 
 
LAST TIME OUT
 
Syracuse  fell to Toronto Monday afternoon, 5-3, in front of 14,245 fans at Scotiabank Arena. The Marlies scored four unanswered goals in the third period and lead the season series with the Crunch 3-1-0-0. The teams wrap up the series Friday and Saturday in Syracuse.
 
Syracuse scored on its first two shots of the game to grab a quick 2-0 lead. Cory Conacher's one-time blast on the power play opened the scoring 3:08 into regulation. Just three minutes later, Alex Barré-Boulet collected the 22^nd goal of his rookie campaign, deflecting Nolan Valleau's point shot in between the hashes. Toronto countered with a man-advantage goal of its own on a Calle Rosen wrister from the blue line.
 
Halfway through the second frame, the Crunch rebuilt their two-goal lead. Carter Verhaeghe took a tour of the offensive zone, moving from circle to circle, collecting his own rebound and scoring on a wraparound.
 
Trailing 3-1 entering the final period, Toronto mounted a comeback. At the 5:58 mark, Adam Brooks scored on the power play off a rebound. With seven minutes to play, Brooks tied the game on a jam play right in the crease.
In the final three minutes, the Marlies took their first lead of the day. Pierre Engvall skated through the high slot and his wrist shot beat Crunch goaltender Connor Ingram. Trevor Moore converted an net-empty goal to lock up the 5-3 win.
 
SCOUTING THE CRUNCH 
 
The Crunch return home tonight after a 5-3 loss to the Marlies on Monday, their first regulation loss this season when holding a lead after two periods (22-1-1-0). Syracuse (30-16-2-2) trails Rochester by three points for first place in the North Division, but the Crunch have played two fewer games than the Amerks.
 
The War Memorial Arena has brought Syracuse offensive success this season; the Crunch have scored 104 goals at home, which leads the North Division, compared to 74 markers on the road. Despite half the number of home games this month, the Crunch have scored the same amount of goals at the War Memorial compared to on the road (12). The Crunch have collected points in eight straight home games (6-0-0-2), good for their longest stretch of the season. The Crunch are 17-2-0-2 at home since Nov. 2.
 
With a goal against his former team on Monday, Carter Verhaeghe leads Syracuse with 23 goals this season. The 23-year-old went through a five-game stretch without registering a point from Feb. 6 to Feb. 15, but he has two points in the past two contests (1g, 1a). Verhaeghe paces the Crunch with a team-leading 56 points and 33 assists. The Toronto native also leads the Eastern Conference and ranks second in the league in scoring behind Chicago's Daniel Carr (63 points). In his fifth AHL season, Verhaeghe has surpassed his goal, assist and points total set last year.
 
Alex Barré-Boulet picked up his 11th multi-point performance (1g, 1a) of the season against the Marlies, snapping his career-high four-game scoring drought. The 21-year old forward not only leads all active rookies with 22 goals as well as 12 power-play goals, but he is also tied for second in scoring among first-year skaters with 43 points (22g, 21a).
 
SCOUTING THE ROCKET 
 
The Rocket (21-23-5-4) have won two of their last three games, the team's lone loss a 4-3 overtime defeat at Belleville on Monday afternoon. Since the calendar flipped to 2019, Laval has posted an 8-7-2-2 record and currently ranks seventh in the AHL's North Division with 51 points. Laval is playing its 11^th road game in the last 12 games since Jan. 21; the Rocket's only home game was a 5-2 loss against Belleville Feb. 8.
 
Alex Belzile paces Laval offensively, with a career-high 40 points through 53 games. After going undrafted, the Riviere-du-Loup, Quebec native played his first AHL season in 2012-13 with the Hamilton Bulldogs—and was teammates with the Crunch's Gabriel Dumont. After missing extended time with a concussion and five seasons later, the 27-year-old earned his first AHL All-Star nod last month. Belzile has a point (1g, 2a) in each of the three games he's played versus the Crunch this season.
 
Daniel Audette ranks second in points among all active players on the Rocket with 30. The 22-year-old has three points in his last five games, including a goal in each of the team's back-to-back matches with Binghamton. Audette has already matched his career-high in points over 48 games; he also had 30 points in 75 games in 2016-17. He was also a member of the St. John's IceCaps squad that Syracuse defeated in the 2017 Calder Cup Playoffs; Audette tallied an assist in Game 4 of the series at the War Memorial Arena, a series-clinching win for the Crunch.
 
In goal, Charlie Lindgren has played nearly half of minutes for the Rocket this season. The goaltender from Minnesota made 23 saves and allowed four goals in Monday's overtime loss to the Senators. Lindgren has posted a 2.86 goals-against average in 28 games this year, which ranks 28^th in the American League among all qualified goalies. He has received the start in five of the team's last six games.
 
SPECIAL TEAMS
 
The Crunch converted on their first of two power-play chances Monday at Toronto. Cory Conacher opened the scoring just over three minutes into the first period with a man-up marker, with assists from Cameron Gaunce and Andy Andreoff. The tally snapped a 16-game power-play goal drought for Conacher, who still ranks fourth in the AHL with 24 man-up points (5g, 19a) this season.
 
Syracuse's 1-for-2 outing on the power play pushed its man-up conversion rate to 21.6% this season, fifth-best in the AHL. Alex Barré-Boulet—who scored an even-strength goal Monday—has potted 12 man-up goals this year, tied for the league lead; the 21-year-old paces all rookies with 20 total power-play points. The Crunch's power play ranks second in the North Division, behind only the Marlies (23.5 percent).
 
Toronto's first two goals Monday came on the power play, and the home team finished the day 2-for-3. Syracuse still leads the division and ranks sixth in the league in penalty-kill rate this season (83.3 percent); the Crunch are one of two teams in the AHL that rank top-six on the power play and penalty kill, along with the Iowa Wild.
 
The Rocket enter tonight in the bottom third of the league on both sides of special teams: Laval ranks 23rd on the power play (16.8 percent) and 28th on the penalty kill (77.6 percent). The Canadiens' affiliate has gone three games without a man-up conversion—the Rocket are 0-for-7 over the last week.