CRUNCH TRY FOR WEEKEND SPLIT
 
Syracuse (28-23-4-5) face off with the Toronto Marlies (29-25-3-2) for the second straight night at Coca-Cola Coliseum.
 
The Marlies earned their first win in three tries this season against the Crunch by a 5-2 score last night. The teams, who are both outside the playoff line in the North Division, are separated by just two points in the standings entering the weekend finale.
 
LAST TIME OUT
 
The Marlies dumped the Crunch, 5-2, at Coca-Cola Coliseum last night to hand Syracuse just its third regulation loss since Feb. 1.
 
Toronto scored two goals in a 12-second span in the first period to build a 2-0 lead. Kenny Agostino snuck in and rifled a power-play goal from the left circle before Tyler Gaudet cashed in on a backdoor feed on the ensuing shift with under seven minutes left in the period.
 
Alex Barré-Boulet pulled the Crunch within one on a power-play goal in the second period, but the Marlies scored late on a deflection to carry a two-goal advantage into the third. Agostino's second man-up marker made it 4-1. Taylor Raddysh scored his 18^th goal of the season later in the third, but the Marlies added an empty-net tally for a 5-2 final.
 
Parker Gahagen faced only 21 shots to earn his first AHL win of the season, in only his second start for the Marlies.
 
SCOUTING THE CRUNCH
 
The Crunch suffered only their third regulation loss since Feb. 1 last night against the Marlies, but that was enough to push Syracuse out of a playoff position in the North Division. They tumbled from fourth place to sixth place because of wins by Binghamton and Laval, but they are only one point behind those two teams.
 
Syracuse has lost its last three road games (0-2-1-0), which trails only Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Chicago for the longest active streak in the league. The Crunch's last road win was Feb. 12 at Binghamton, and overall they are 11-14-3-2 on the road this season. Out of their final 16 games this season, eight are home games and eight are road games.
 
Alex Barré-Boulet scored his eighth goal in the last seven games since Feb. 17. In that span, he paces the AHL in goals and in points (12), and that stretch includes his first career five-point games (Feb. 21) and first career hat trick (Feb. 28). The second-year pro is fifth in the league with 56 points, while his 27 goals are tied for fourth overall.
 
Taylor Raddysh scored the other Crunch goal last night, giving the second-year winger 18 goals, which ties his career high. Although his scoring pace has slowed after a red-hot January (12 points in 13 games), Raddysh still ranks third on the team in scoring during 2020 with 21 points (13g, 8a) in 27 games.
 
SCOUTING THE MARLIES
 
The Marlies win was their 19^th on home ice this season, keeping them tied with the Binghamton Devils for the most home wins in the North Division. They are 5-2-0-0 in their last seven home games since Feb. 8, with their only two losses coming against the Devils
 
The Crunch and Marlies are the only two teams in the league that have allowed at least 200 goals this season. Although Syracuse has allowed 208 versus the Marlies 206, Toronto's per game number (3.49) is higher than the Crunch's (3.47). Last night was the sixth time in the last 13 games the Marlies allowed two or fewer goals, and they have a 5-1-0-0 record in those games; in that same time period they are 2-5-0-0 when surrendering at least three goals.
 
With two more goals last night, Kenny Agostino leads the Marlies in scoring this season with 49 points (27g, 22a) in 51 games. He has points in five of the last six games, totaling nine points (4g, 5a) in that span. Last night was his fourth multi-goal game this season, but his first since Dec. 7. Agostino is also the Marlies most potent power-play producer. He leads the team with 20 power-play points (9g, 11a), including his two power-play goals last night.
 
Nic Petan returned to the Marlies lineup after missing 11 games due to injury. He collected an assist last night to give him five assists in his last three games played. Petan has 31 points (10g, 21a) in 23 games this season and his 1.35 points per game pace tops the Marlies.
 
Kasimir Kaskisuo is sidelined with an injury and Joseph Woll has started four of the last six games. He gave up an eight-spot to Belleville on Wednesday and is 11-14-3 with a 3.83 goals-against average and a .879 save percentage. His current partner is Parker Gahagen, who has worked his way from the SPHL to the ECHL and now the AHL this season. He earned his first Marlies win with 19 saves last night against the Crunch.
 
SPECIAL TEAMS
 
Both the Crunch and Marlies capitalized on two of six power-play chances in last night's game. That kept the Crunch slightly ahead of the Marlies in the league rankings with Syracuse operating at 20.5% and Toronto at 20.3%, sitting sixth and seventh in the AHL respectively. The Crunch are now 5-for-18 against the Marlies this season while Toronto is 3-for-11 against Syracuse.
 
Because of the results last night, the Crunch penalty kill slipped to 16th in the league with an 81.8% success rate. They have struggled more on the road, where they have allowed 29 of their 48 total power-play goals against, and their road kill operates at 79.6%.
 
The Marlies penalty kill dropped to 30th in the league (77.3%) and they became the fifth team in the AHL to allow more than 50 power-play goals this season. Their penalty kill ranks last on home ice (77.9%).
 
PRO DEBUT
 
New Crunch forward Sami Tavernier made his professional debut last night against the Marlies. He started the night by taking a "rookie lap" during warmups and started the game on a line with Gemel Smith and Alex Volkov.
 
The France native did not record a point in his debut, after producing 21 points (6g, 15a) in 34 games for Merrimack College as a senior captain. Tavernier signed an mateur tryout (ATO) with the Crunch earlier this week.
 
MARLIES REINFORCEMENTS
 
With the Toronto Maple Leafs wrapping up a California swing last night, and with players getting healthy, the Leafs announced defenseman Timothy Liljegren has been loaned to the Marlies.
 
The 20-year-old, who has been with the Marlies since the 2017-18 season, has dressed in 38 games for the Marlies this season and logged 29 points (5g, 24a), well above his totals from his first two seasons in North America. The Swede has also recorded an assist in 11 games for the Leafs.