CRUNCH SPLIT SERIES WITH PENGUINS
The Crunch and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins both earned a win during their home-and-home series in Week 3.
Syracuse held serve on home ice Friday night in a 2-0 victory.
Brandon Halverson made 22 saves to earn his second shutout of the season, while
Dylan Duke tallied the game-winning goal in the first period. The Penguins answered the next night in Wilkes-Barre with a 3-2 win over the Crunch.
The week capped off a 4-3-0-0 October as the Crunch finished with an above 0.500 record in October for the second straight season. The Crunch are tied for third in the North Division with eight points.
TOP PERFORMERS
Goaltender
Brandon Halverson remained locked in early in the 2024-25 campaign by securing his second shutout in three starts this season. The 28-year-old made 22 saves to improve to 2-1-0.
Through three starts, Halverson has a league-best 0.34 goals-against average and a .985 save percentage, giving up only one goal on 68 shots against. He is tied for the AHL lead with two shutouts (Yaroslav Askarov).
All three of his starts have resulted in shutouts, including a 1-0 loss in Laval. He has more shutouts (2) than goals allowed (1) this season.
Halverson is on the second year of a two-year AHL contract. He entered the season with one career AHL shutout (Nov. 24, 2023 vs. Utica).
***
Rookie
Gabriel Szturc continued his strong play in his first season in Syracuse. Szturc extended his scoring streak to three with assists in both games in Week 3. Coming off a two-assist game on Oct. 20 in Belleville, Szturc opened last week with a pair of helpers in the Crunch's 2-0 win against the Penguins on Friday. He then added another assist Saturday in their loss to the Penguins.
Szturc leads the Crunch with five assists in seven games. He is tied for second among AHL rookies in that category.
Szturc signed as an undrafted free agent with the Lightning in March. He made his AHL debut last season in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
HOT START AT HOME
The Crunch have their first two-game homestand of the season this weekend. They are 2-0-0-0 at home, marking the first time that has happened since 2011-12. Syracuse opened that season with a 2-0-1-0 mark at home.
The Crunch last began a season with three straight home wins in 2009-10.
Syracuse has allowed only one goal in its first two home games. The Crunch have outscored their opponents, 4-1.
UPCOMING WEEK
Friday, Nov. 1 vs. Hartford | 7 p.m.
The Crunch play the first of two home games in Week 4 Friday night against the Hartford Wolf Pack. It's the first of two meetings between the clubs this season; they rematch less than a week later in Hartford.
The Wolf Pack, which plays Wednesday at home against Grand Rapids, is off to a 3-2-0-1 start this season, averaging 3.33 goals per game (8th) and 4.17 goals against per game (28th). Brett Berard (5g, 3a) and Bo Groulx (4g, 4a) — son of former Crunch head coach Ben Groulx — are tied for the team lead with eight points.
The teams split last year's two-game series, which was played out in a home-and-home over two days. The home team won both contests.
Saturday, Nov. 2 vs. Belleville | 7 p.m.
The Crunch finish off the weekend with a match up against the Belleville Senators Saturday night. It's the third meeting already this season between the clubs. After securing one win in eight contests head-to-head last season, the Crunch have won the first two this year.
The Senators are 3-1-0-2 this season and their only regulation loss came in Belleville against the Crunch on Oct. 20. Belleville has been bolstered by the addition of Adam Gaudette and Cole Reinhardt from Ottawa earlier this week. Gaudette fired home a league-high 44 goals in 67 games last year with Springfield; he has played in seven games for Ottawa this season.
Mads Sogaard has started in net both games against the Crunch. He left with an injury in their previous meeting and has not played since. Belleville signed Malcolm Subban to an AHL contract on Monday.
WEEK 3 RESULTS
Friday, Oct. 25 | Game 6 vs. W-B/Scranton | W, 2-0
W-B/Scranton 0 0 0 - 0 Shots: 9-7-6-22 PP: 0/5
Syracuse 1 0 1 - 2 Shots: 6-9-4-19 PP: 0/3
1st Period-Duke 3 (
Szturc), 7:55. 3rd Period-Groshev 2 (
Duke, Szturc), 19:27. . . .
Halverson 2-1-0 (22 shots-22 saves) A-5,389
Saturday, Oct. 26 | Game 7 at W-B/Scranton | L, 3-2
Syracuse 0 1 1 - 2 Shots: 7-15-12-34 PP: 0/4
W-B/Scranton 0 3 0 - 3 Shots: 10-12-5-27 PP: 2/6
2nd Period-Santini 1 (
Szturc), 11:58. 3rd Period-Smith 1 (
Huuhtanen, Goncalves), 1:21. . . .
Tomkins 2-2-0 (27 shots-24 saves) A-3,439
| Category |
Average/Total |
AHL Rank (Prev) |
| Power Play |
10.0% (3-for-30) |
26th (T-19th) |
| Penalty Kill |
84.8% (28-for-33) |
14th (T-11th) |
| Goals For |
2.57 GFA (18) |
T-21st (16th) |
| Goals Against |
1.71 GAA (12) |
2nd (6th) |
| Shots For |
25.86 SF/G (181) |
30th (25th) |
| Shots Against |
26.86 SA/G (188) |
8th (13th) |
| Penalty Minutes |
19.14 PIM/G (134) |
4th (4th) |
| Category |
|
Leader |
| Points |
6 |
Duke |
| Goals |
3 |
Duke |
| Assists |
5 |
Szturc |
| PIM |
24 |
Kessy |
| Plus/Minus |
+6 |
Duke |
| Wins |
2 |
Halverson|Tomkins |
| GAA |
0.34 |
Halverson |
| Save % |
.985 |
Halverson |
| North Division |
GP |
W |
L |
OTL |
SOL |
PTS |
PCT |
GF |
GA |
PIM |
HOME |
ROAD |
LAST 10 |
STREAK |
S/O |
| 1. Toronto |
7 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
13 |
0.929 |
24 |
13 |
52 |
5-0-0-0 |
1-0-0-1 |
6-0-0-1 |
6-0-0-1 |
1-1 |
| 2. Laval |
6 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
0.833 |
20 |
13 |
66 |
3-0-0-0 |
2-1-0-0 |
5-1-0-0 |
4-0-0-0 |
0-0 |
| 3. Syracuse |
7 |
4 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
0.571 |
18 |
12 |
134 |
2-0-0-0 |
2-3-0-0 |
4-3-0-0 |
0-1-0-0 |
1-0 |
| 4. Belleville |
6 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
8 |
0.667 |
16 |
18 |
103 |
2-1-0-0 |
1-0-0-2 |
3-1-0-2 |
1-0-0-1 |
1-2 |
| 5. Rochester |
6 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
0.500 |
21 |
16 |
65 |
1-2-0-0 |
2-1-0-0 |
3-3-0-0 |
2-0-0-0 |
1-0 |
| 6. Cleveland |
6 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
0.417 |
20 |
28 |
78 |
0-0-0-1 |
2-3-0-0 |
2-3-0-1 |
0-1-0-1 |
0-1 |
| 7. Utica |
6 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.000 |
11 |
26 |
76 |
0-3-0-0 |
0-3-0-0 |
0-6-0-0 |
0-6-0-0 |
0-0 |
