SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Gabriel Dumont recorded a hat trick as the Syracuse Crunch defeated the Belleville Senators, 6-2, today at CAA Arena.
 
Dumont scored three goals, while Cole Koepke earned his first career two-goal game to help advance the Crunch to 20-18-4-1 on the season and 3-2-0-0 in the eight-game season series against the Senators.
 
Goaltender Hugo Alnefelt stopped 28-of-30 shots in victory for the Crunch. Mads Sogaard turned aside 23-of-29 in net for the Senators before being relieved by Filip Gustavsson in the third period. Gustavsson went on to stop all 11 shots he faced. Syracuse went 2-for-6 on the power play and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill.
 
The Crunch were first on the board 9:51 into the game when Darren Raddysh blasted in a loose puck from the right point, but with just one second remaining in the frame, the Senators tied the game when Andrew Agozzino chipped a rebound in backdoor while on the power play.
 
Syracuse opened the second period with three consecutive goals to build up a commanding lead. At 2:44, Koepke skated down the left wing and fired in a wrister from the left faceoff dot. Five minutes later, Dumont scored from the same spot after Gage Goncalves forced a turnover. Koepke then potted his second of the game at 14:11 during a Crunch power play. Otto Somppi threw a cross-ice feed to set up Koepke for a shot from the right circle.
 
Belleville got one back at 17:35 mark of the middle frame when Zac Leslie finished off a cross-zone pass from Agozzino.
 
With just 37 seconds remaining in the second period, the Crunch regained their three-goal lead with another power-play goal. Alex Barre-Boulet centered a pass for Dumont to one-time from between the circles.
 
Dumont completed his hat trick 2:56 into the third period to lock in a Crunch win. He received a pass from Remi Elie as he cut down the slot and beat Sogaard for a third time.
 
The Crunch and Senators rematch tomorrow at 7 p.m.
 
Single game tickets and ticket packages for the 2021-22 season are on sale now and can be purchased in person at the Crunch office located inside the Upstate Medical University Arena at Onondaga County War Memorial at 800 S. State St. in Syracuse, by calling the office at 315-473-4444 or online through Ticketmaster. For the latest Crunch news, visit www.syracusecrunch.com or follow the club on Facebook (www.facebook.com/syracusecrunch), Twitter (@SyracuseCrunch) and Instagram (@syracusecrunch).
 
Crunchables: Gabriel Dumont set a new career-high in goals with 23…Today was Dumont's third hat trick with the Crunch…Head Coach Ben Groulx recorded his 200th Crunch win today.