CRUNCH EYE BOUNCE BACK PERFORMANCE
 
The Crunch make their lone trip this season to the PPL Center to face the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
 
It's the first of two meetings this season between the clubs. The Phantoms are the lone team the Crunch have not yet faced this season.
 
LAST TIME OUT
 
The Crunch lost a high-scoring affair against the Belleville Senators, 6-5, at the CAA Arena Wednesday night. 
 
Belleville took a 1-0 lead just 4:05 into the first period when Nikolas Matinpalo got loose in the slot. Syracuse surged with three goals in the second period. Jack Finley tied the game with a backhand goal in front of the net just 48 seconds into the period. The Crunch then scored back-to-back goals 44 seconds apart to open a 3-1 lead. Lucas Edmonds deflected a shot in the slot for the first and Cole Koepke tipped a puck near the left circle for three goals in the opening 7:13 of the period.
 
Belleville grabbed one late in the period to make it 3-2 before they tied the score 26 seconds into the third. The Crunch went back in front on a 4-on-4 goal from Waltteri Merelä, but the Senators scored three straight, including a tie-breaking goal with less than five minutes to play. Sean Day scored with less than a second left to make it a 6-5 final.
 
SCOUTING THE CRUNCH
 
The Crunch had their two-game winning streak and three-game point streak (2-0-1-0) snapped with their loss at Belleville on Wednesday, which kicked off a three-game road trip. Syracuse is 26-15-3-2 and has 57 points, which slipped the team back into second place in the division.
 
The loss was the Crunch's first regulation defeat all season when scoring at least three goals (24-1-2-1). The six goals allowed were also a season high; it was the first time since Nov. 18 they allowed at least five goals. The Crunch are tied for fifth in the AHL allowing 2.76 goals per game. 
 
Cole Koepke scored his fourth goal in the last four games, moving him in a tie for the team lead with 12 markers this season. Eight of his 12 goals have come since the start of January, which is the most on the Crunch in that span. He has 54 shots in that time, 20 more than the next closest player on the Crunch (Jack Thompson, 34). 
 
AN ATLANTIC FOE  
 
The Crunch just wrapped up a stretch of nine straight games against the North Division. Syracuse went 5-3-1-0 in those games with three of their four defeats coming against Belleville. 
 
Tonight Syracuse faces an Atlantic Division opponent for the first time since Jan. 19 when the Crunch defeated Providence, 4-2. They are 7-4-0-0 against Atlantic Division teams. Seven of the Crunch's final 26 games will be against the Atlantic Division.
 
SCOUTING THE PHANTOMS
 
The Phantoms emerged from the All-Star Break with two straight shootout wins last weekend against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Bridgeport. It's the first time they've won consecutive games since Jan. 12-13. They've only won three games in a row once this season and that was a four-game run Nov. 12-21.
 
Lehigh Valley hasn't played since last Saturday at Bridgeport. The Phantoms are 20-18-5-2 and have 47 points, putting them in seventh place in the Atlantic Division.
 
Cooper Marody leads the Phantoms in scoring with 37 points (10g, 27a) in 45 games. He was held off the scoresheet in their two wins last weekend. 
 
HEAD-TO-HEAD
 
Tonight marks the first of two head-to-head meetings between the Crunch and Phantoms. They will rematch in Syracuse on March 29. The teams met twice last season with the Crunch winning both contests. Syracuse won, 5-2, at the PPL Center on Jan. 14, 2023.
 
The Crunch are 14-3-0-1 in 18 meetings against the Phantoms since their move to Lehigh Valley ahead of the 2014-15 season; they have a 6-3-0-0 mark at the PPL Center.
 
Cole Koepke led the Crunch with four points (2g, 2a) last season against the Phantoms. Lehigh Valley was limited to just three goals over the two games. 
 
FINLEY KEEPS ROLLING  
 
Jack Finley recorded his seventh multi-point game of the season with a goal and assist Wednesday at Belleville. 
 
All seven multi-point games have come since the start of January. In that span Finley is the Crunch's leading scorer, and ranks tied for 12th in the AHL, with 16 points (6g, 10a) in 15 games. He has 19 points (7g, 12a) in 29 games this season. He is two points shy of matching last season's point totals, which he notched in 67 games.
 
EDMONDS STAYS HOT  
 
After going nearly three months without scoring a goal, Lucas Edmonds has now tallied in back-to-back games. The second-year-pro sparked the Crunch's comeback with a goal last Saturday against Rochester for his first goal since Nov. 1. He followed up with a deflection goal in the second period Wednesday, which gave the Crunch a lead in Belleville.
 
It's the second time this season he's scored in consecutive games; Edmonds scored in the first two games of the season. The North Bay, Ontario native has seven points (5g, 2a) in 29 games this season. 
 
CARLILE STREAKING 
 
Defenseman Declan Carlile picked up an assist Wednesday to extend his scoring streak to three straight games since the All-Star Break. It's the third three-game scoring streak of his pro career and his first of the season. Carlile had a pair of three-game runs as a rookie last season (March 1-5 and Nov. 16-23).
 
The second-year-pro has 18 points (5g, 13a) while skating in all 46 Crunch games this season.