CRUNCH CONTINUE THREE-IN-THREE WEEKEND
 
The Crunch (25-22-3-5) play the middle game of a three-game weekend tonight against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (23-24-2-6) at Upstate Medical University Arena. 
 
It is the second of two head-to-head meetings this season, and it is the only one in Syracuse between the clubs. The Phantoms claimed a 5-4 win at PPL Center on Jan. 15. The Crunch wrap up the three-game stretch tomorrow against another Atlantic Division team, the Springfield Thunderbirds.
 
LAST TIME OUT
 
The Crunch completed a season-series sweep of the Cleveland Monsters last night with a 6-3 win at Upstate Medical University Arena. Syracuse now has points in seven of its last eight games.
 
The Crunch got on the board with less than six minutes left in the first when Alex Barré-Boulet fed the puck towards the goal and Mathieu Joseph jammed it in. Cleveland answered 3:02 into the second, but Syracuse rattled off three consecutive goals to close the period. Barré-Boulet buried one on the power play, and Peter Abbandonato scored back-to-back goals at the 8:32 and 14:33 marks.
 
The teams traded goals twice in the third—first, Boris Katchouk potted one on the power play, and then Barré-Boulet finished it with an empty-net goal for his first career five-point game.
 
Goalie Scott Wedgewood stopped 21-of-24 shots in the victory for his third win against the Monsters this year.
 
SCOUTING THE CRUNCH
 
The Crunch got back in the win column last night as they wrapped up a seven-game stretch against North Division rivals; Syracuse finished the run with a 4-1-0-2 record. With the Binghamton Devils also recording a win last night, both teams are tied for the fourth and final playoff spot with 58 points, but the Devils have a game in hand.
 
Alex Barré-Boulet led the way last night as he recorded the first five-point performance of his AHL career (2g, 3a). It's the second five-point game by a Crunch skater during the Lightning affiliation, joining Taylor Raddysh (Dec. 28, 2018 vs. Utica). It was the first time the second-year pro has picked up three helpers in a game and marked his third two-goal night this season. The Quebec native also became the fifth AHL player to eclipse the 50-point mark this season; he leads the Crunch and ranks fifth in the league with 51 points (22g, 29a) through 53 games.
 
Peter Abbandonato picked up his first multi-goal performance (2g) last night. Abbandonato finished the four-game season series against Cleveland with four goals, which included three game-winners. The first-year pro leads all Crunch rookies with 10 points (6g, 4a) through 22 games.
 
SCOUTING THE PHANTOMS
 
Lehigh Valley rolls into Syracuse for the first time this season looking to rebound from an overtime loss in Rochester last night. The Phantoms occupy seventh place in the Atlantic Division and they hold a 7-6-1-0 mark against North Division opponents this season, including a 5-4 win over the Crunch. Despite posting a 5-3-1-1 record in the last ten outings, the Phantoms remain one of three teams in the Eastern Conference with a sub-.500 points percentage (0.491).
 
Seven Phantoms have broken the 20-point plateau, and Greg Carey leads the way with 27 points (15g, 12a). Carey has netted more than a third of his goals (six of his 15) on the man advantage. The seventh-year winger also paces Lehigh Valley with four game-winning goals, including one against Syracuse.
 
Cal O'Reilly stands just behind Carey on the Phantoms with 26 points (5g, 21a). The center is 45 games into his first campaign with Lehigh Valley after skating with seven other AHL organizations in the previous 12 seasons.
 
Fourth-year pro Alex Lyon maintains a 10-13-4 record through 29 appearances between the Phantoms' pipes this year. His .913 save percentage leads Lehigh Valley goalies with at least ten appearances, and his 2.65 goals-against average ranks just outside the top 20 in the league. Rookie Kirill Ustimenko made his AHL debut earlier this month, saving 38 shots and allowing three goals in a 5-3 win against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. He holds a 19-4-5 record with a 2.40 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage with the ECHL's Reading Royals this season.
 
SPECIAL TEAMS
 
The Crunch have registered power-play goals in three of their past four contests (4-for-17), increasing their man-up efficiency to 20.3%, third in the North Division and seventh in the AHL. Alex Barré-Boulet tallied his team-leading seventh power-play marker last night, his first goal on the man advantage in 20 games. In the Crunch's matchup with the Phantoms Jan. 15, Ross Colton and Cory Conacher helped Syracuse finish 2-for-5 with the extra man.
 
Meanwhile, Lehigh Valley finished 2-for-7 on the power play in that game, but the Phantoms have scored just five man-up goals in the 15 ensuing games. The team has converted on just 11.4% of its power-play opportunities, seventh in the Atlantic Division and second-to-last in the league. The Phantoms are 1-for-25 on the power play in their last 7 games.
 
Syracuse shut down Cleveland's five man-up chances yesterday, improving their penalty kill to 82.6%. The Crunch's ten shorthanded goals rank fifth in the league, six behind the Belleville Senators. 
 
Lehigh Valley's penalty kill has also struggled recently. The Phantoms' 81.6% penalty-kill rate is last in the Atlantic Division and 19^th in the AHL. Teams have scored power-play goals against Lehigh Valley in five of the past six (6-for-19).
 
FINISHING STRONG
 
After a four-game scoreless drought Feb. 8 to Feb. 15, Alex Barré-Boulet has seven points in the past two games (3g, 4a).
 
Last season, he also went on a four-game stretch in early February (Feb. 10 to Feb. 16) without registering a point; those are the two longest scoreless runs of his career. However, Barré-Boulet finished the 2018-19 season with 27 points in the final 25 games of the year (13g, 14a), which tied teammate and current Lightning forward Carter Verhaeghe for fourth in the league in that span. He only trailed Jeremy Bracco (29 points), Cal O'Reilly (29 points) and T.J. Tynan (28 points) down the stretch.
 
Verhaeghe and Barré-Boulet ended up sharing the Willie Marshall Award as the AHL's two leading goal scorers in 2018-19 (34g), while Alex Barré-Boulet's strong finish also earned him the Dudley (Red) Garrett Memorial Award as the league's outstanding rookie, ending the season with 68 points.
 
PRIDE NIGHT
 
The Crunch will become one of the first AHL teams to wear pride-night jerseys in support of the LGBTQ community.
 
Select jerseys will be available during a live auction immediately following tonight's game.