CRUNCH END THREE-IN-THREE IN BINGHAMTON
 
The Syracuse Crunch (18-16-2-2) play the first game of seven games in 11 days prior to the All-Star Break tonight against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms at PPL Center.
 
The Phantoms are one of two teams on the Crunch's schedule who the Crunch have not yet play; the other is Springfield, who the Crunch play Friday. The Crunch and Phantoms will play twice in 2019-20 (Feb. 22) after Syracuse swept the two-game set last season.
 
LAST TIME OUT
 
The Binghamton Devils rallied from a 3-0 deficit to defeat the Crunch, 6-5, in a shootout Sunday at Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena.
 
Despite playing their third game in three days, the Crunch flew out of the gates in the first period. Goals from Alex Barré-Boulet, Boris Katchouk and Gemel Smith staked the Crunch to a 3-0 advantage. Binghamton scored the next two goals to get within one, but Danick Martel made it 4-2 on a rebound for the Crunch.
 
They exchanged goals again in the third period, with Mathieu Joseph giving Syracuse another two-goal lead at 12:14 of the third, but Nick Merkley scored twice late to tie the game.
 
The Devils scored the only shootout goal to win the game, 6-5, to hand the Crunch their second shootout loss to the Devils this season.
 
SCOUTING THE CRUNCH 
 
The Crunch's blown lead Sunday came one night after a comeback win from two goals down. It gave the Crunch a 1-1-0-1 record in their second of five three-in-three weekends. At the halfway mark of the season, the Crunch are five points out of a playoff spot at 18-16-2-2.
 
Syracuse has also lost its last five games that have been decided in a shootout since Feb. 16, 2019. The Crunch's last shootout win was Feb. 6, 2019 against Rochester.
 
The Crunch have gone winless in their past five road games (0-4-0-1) to drop to 7-10-1-1 on the road this season. Their five-game winless road streak is tied for the second-longest active run in the AHL (Bridgeport, 7 games) and is the Crunch's longest as a team since a six-game drought (0-4-0-2) on the road Nov. 1-19, 2017. Around this time last season, the Crunch had a season-worst four-game road losing streak. Their last road win was Dec. 14 at Charlotte.
 
SCOUTING THE PHANTOMS 
 
The Phantoms enter the week following consecutive 2-0 shutout wins over North Division opponents Laval and Cleveland at PPL Center. They improved to 11-5-1-2 on home ice this season, but overall the Phantoms are 15-19-1-4, 10 points back of Charlotte for the final Atlantic Division playoff spot.
 
The Phantoms, who have finished in the top half of the AHL in goals per game in all but their first season in Lehigh Valley, have struggled to score this season. Their 88 goals are the fewest in the league, while their 2.26 goals per game ranks 30th of 31 teams.
 
No Phantom has reached 10 goals yet this season, but veteran Greg Carey is the closest to that mark. He has 18 points (9g, 9a) to lead the team. Just before the new year, Lehigh Valley received some help back from Philadelphia in the form of talented rookie Morgan Frost. A teammate in juniors with Crunch forwards Boris Katchouk and Taylor Raddysh, Frost has 15 points (6g, 9a) in 22 games with the Phantoms; he also has seven points in 18 games for the Flyers.
 
The Phantoms have ridden their strong goaltending, a duo of Alex Lyon and J-F Berube, and allow just 2.82 goals against per game, tied for eighth in the league. Both have posted identical 2.56 goals-against averages while Lyon boasts a .916 save percentage and Berube checks in at .908.
 
HALFWAY THERE 
 
The Crunch reached the midway point of their season Sunday in Binghamton, playing 38 of their 76 regular-season games. At 18-16-2-2, the Crunch are slightly behind their pace from last season (22-13-2-1). They hope to replicate their second-half success from last year; they posted a 25-8-2-3 mark in the second half of the season en route to the North Division championship.
 
At the midway point of the season last year, the Crunch had a +34 goal differential; their 3.74 goals per game ranked first in the league while their 2.84 goals-against per game ranked sixth. This year, they have a -5 goal differential; while their offense is on a similar trajectory at 3.42 goals per game (fifth), they have allowed 3.55 goals per game (29th).
 
The Crunch have been stymied by a 0.883 team save percentage; at this time last year it was at .902, which jumped to .920 by the end of the season.
 
HANGING FIVE 
 
Syracuse netted five goals in all three games during the week. It's the first time they scored at least five goals in three straight games since Games 1-3 of the 2018 North Division Semifinals, when they potted six goals in three straight games against Rochester. The last regular season instance was a five-game run Dec. 2-15, 2017.
 
After going 1-1-0-1 last week, the Crunch are 9-1-1-1 in 12 games this season when scoring at least five goals. The Crunch were 20-0-0-0 last year when reaching five goals scored. The Crunch have only scored five goals in two road games (Oct. 12 at Cleveland and Dec. 14 at Charlotte); they reached that mark in nine of their 19 home games.
 
MARTEL'S RETURN 
 
Crunch forward Danick Martel returns to PPL Center to face the Phantoms for the first time since he was claimed off waivers by the Tampa Bay Lightning during training camp last season.
 
From the end of the 2015 season when he joined the Phantoms through the 2018 season, Martel dressed in 199 games for Lehigh Valley. That currently ranks 10th in Lehigh Valley Phantoms history, but was the most at the time he was claimed by the Lightning. In that span, he had 120 points, currently the sixth-most in Lehigh Valley history. His 68 goals are tied for 11th in Phantoms history, dating back to their time in Philadelphia.
 
Martel was also twice named the Phantoms IOA/American Specialty Man of the Year in 2016-17 and 2017-18.
 
HEY ANDY 
 
While Danick Martel's return to the Lehigh Valley will steal most of the headlines, tonight's match will be the first time the Crunch face their former forward Andy Andreoff.
 
In his one season with the Crunch, Andreoff posted a career-high 55 points and 26 goals, and he led the team with 150 penalty minutes.
 
After signing with the Flyers over the summer, Andreoff has eight points (4g, 4a) in 17 games for the Phantoms and one assist in 13 games for the Flyers.