CRUNCH GO FOR SWEEP IN CLEVELAND
 
The Crunch and Cleveland Monsters wrap up their two-game weekend series tonight at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
 
The Crunch earned a 5-0 win last night in Cleveland's home opener, and now attempt to sweep the Monsters during their opening-weekend series for the second time since 2019-20.
 
LAST TIME OUT
 
Hugo Alnefelt made 35 saves as the Crunch blanked the Monsters, 5-0, last night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
 
Gabriel Dumont opened the scoring with a power-play goal just 1:36 into the game. He accepted a pass from Mitchell Chaffee and raced toward the net before cutting right and banking a shot off the glove of goaltender Jet Greaves. Three minutes later, Felix Robert doubled the lead with a shot off the rush from the right circle for his third goal of the season.
 
Alnefelt was busy early in the second period to keep it 2-0 before the Crunch pulled away with a pair of markers. Daniel Walcott grew the lead to three with a shorthanded goal on a breakaway at 8:21. Then Cole Koepke converted a 2-on-1 rush at 10:39 to make it 4-0 and chase Greaves.
 
Max Groshev extended the lead to five in the third with a power-play goal at 4:46. Alnefelt made 16 saves in the third to seal his second win of the season.
 
ROBERT ROLLS ON
 
Crunch forward Felix Robert is off to a hot start in his second season with the Crunch. His goal last night, which officially goes down as an insurance goal, was his third in three games to begin the season. He delivered the overtime game-winning in the season opener last Friday at Utica. For an encore, Robert added another goal and assist for his first multi-point game of the season in the team's home opener on Saturday. He leads the team with four points (3g, 1a) after two games.
 
The Lambton, Quebec native now has six points (3g, 3a) In three games at Cleveland as a member of the Crunch. He exploded for five points (2g, 3a) in their season-opening two-game series in Cleveland last season.
 
Robert is the first Crunch player to open the season on a three-game goal streak since Michael Bournival in 2016-17. The last player with a goal streak of at least four games to begin a season for the Crunch is Kyle Palmieri, who scored goals in five straight to open the 2011-12 season.
 
SCOUTING THE CRUNCH
 
The Crunch are off to one of their best starts in team history in 2023-24. They are 3-0-0-0 for just the fourth time in franchise history (also 2008-09, 1996-97 and 1995-96). A win tonight would match their best four-game start; they started 4-0 in both 1995-96 and 1996-97.
 
The Crunch are one of five AHL teams without a regulation loss so far this season; the only other Eastern Conference team on that list is Hartford (3-0-0-0). Syracuse leads the North Division with six points.
 
Sean Day collected two assists last night for his first multi-point game of the season, and his first since March. Day had only two such games in 2022-23 after notching eight in his career-best 2021-22 season that saw him record 40 points (8g, 32a).
 
The only other player with a multi-point game last night was Gabriel Dumont, who finished with a Gordie Howe Hat Trick (goal, assist and fight). The captain enters the season ranked seventh in team history in scoring; he's now at 177 points in 230 career Crunch games.
 
HUMONGOUS HUGO
 
Hugo Alnefelt denied 35 Cleveland shots to earn his first shutout of the season. The Swede was at his best in the first half of the second period, and then again in the third when he was called upon to make 16 saves to preserve his fourth career shutout.
 
The 22-year-old has won his first two starts of the season, stopping 56 of the 58 shots he's faced for a .966 save percentage.
 
It's the fifth shutout for the Crunch against the Monsters, and the second in Cleveland (also Karl Goehring, Feb. 3, 2005).
 
SCOUTING THE MONSTERS
 
After being shut out just twice all of last season, including only one time at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Cleveland was held scoreless in its home opener last night by the Crunch.
 
The Crunch kept Trey Fix-Wolansky at bay, limiting him to zero points and just one shot on goal. The winger collected five points (2g, 3a) in Cleveland's first two games. He ended last season seventh in AHL scoring with 71 points (29g, 42a) in just 61 games, and he had 32 more points than his closest teammate. Fix-Wolansky had seven points (2g, 5a) in four games versus Syracuse last year.
 
The Crunch chased starter Jet Greaves, who allowed four goals on 17 shots. Pavel Cajan turned aside 15-of-16 in relief.
 
GROSHEV GRABS HIS FIRST
 
Rookie forward Max Groshev scored his first career AHL goal last night. His perfectly placed shot over the shoulder of Pavel Cajan made Groshev the first Crunch player this season to score their first career AHL goal. 
 
The only other players on the current roster without an AHL goal are Tristan Allard, Max Crozier and Emil Lilleberg. Allard earned his first pro point on Groshev's goal.
 
ROAD READY
 
The Crunch have won their first two road games for the first time since the 2008-09 season. They lost their third road game that season, and the team has never began a campaign with a three-game road winning streak.
 
Last season, the Crunch finished with more road wins (18) than home wins (17) for just the third time in team history.