CRUNCH FACE OFF AGAINST PHANTOMS

The Crunch eye a five-game winning streak as they host the Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Upstate Medical University Arena.
 
It's the first game of a four-game season series between the clubs. They face off once per month now through April.
 
BROADCAST COVERAGE

Streaming: Pay-to-watch video via AHLTV on FloHockey | www.syracusecrunch.com/watch
Television: CNY Central — CW6 beginning at 7 p.m.
Radio: ESPN Radio Syracuse | www.espncny.com beginning at 6:45 p.m.
 
LAST TIME OUT

Matt Tomkins made 41 saves and the Crunch held off the Belleville Senators, 3-2, last night at Upstate Medical University Arena.
 
All the Crunch's scoring came in the first 10 minutes of the second period. Daniel Walcott stole a breakout pass, curled into the slot and fired a shot on goal. Jesse Ylonen ripped home the rebound at 4:27 for a 1-0 lead. A minute and a half later, with the Crunch on a power play, Max Crozier blasted a left circle one-timer to make it 2-0. Three minutes after that, Steven Santini skated into the offensive zone and threw a puck on net. It squeezed through Mads Sogaard to make it 3-0 at 8:56.
 
The Senators pushed back in the second half of the game. They made it 3-1 with a Tyler Boucher shorthanded goal late in the second period. It remained 3-1 until Matthew Highmore muscled home a rebound with an extra attacker at 18:39 of the third period. Tomkins made 16 saves in the final frame, including several in the final minute, to preserve his fifth win.
 
SCOUTING THE CRUNCH

The Crunch have won a season-high four straight games after capturing a 3-2 win over the Belleville Senators last night. It also extended their home point streak to seven games (3-0-3-1); they haven't lost in regulation on home ice since Nov. 22.
 
Syracuse is 15-9-4-3 this season and sits in fifth place in the North Division with 37 points. Tonight is the seventh matchup against an Atlantic Division team; they are 2-1-2-1 this season against those squads.
 
Max Crozier continues to impress since returning from a 13-game absence due to injury. After leaving the game in the first period last night, Crozier returned in the second period to deliver a power-play goal. He has four points (2g, 2a) and a plus-6 rating in four games since rejoining the Crunch lineup last weekend in Laval. The Crunch have won all four games and they are 11-5-1-1 (0.632) with Crozier in the lineup this season.
 
BACK IN THE BARN

The Crunch returned home last night to begin what is tied for their busiest home month of the season, with eight home games on the docket in January.
 
Syracuse's win over the Senators extended its home point streak to seven games (3-0-3-1). The Crunch's extra session losses in that span came to Hershey twice, Laval and Rochester. It's the Crunch's longest home point streak since a 13-game run (12-0-0-1) from March 12 to April 29, 2022.
 
SCOUTING THE PHANTOMS

The Phantoms earned a win in Utica last night in their first game of 2025. The 4-2 win over the Comets improved the Phantoms to 5-3-0-0 in the last eight games since Dec. 14. They are 14-13-4-1 this season, giving them 33 points and a spot in fifth place in the Atlantic Division.
 
With leading scorer Olle Lycksell on recall with Philadelphia, Samu Tuomaala paces all active Phantoms with 23 points (8g, 15a) in 30 games. He was unavailable last night in Utica due to an illness. The Finnish forward has only three assists in the last 11 games since the start of December.
 
Cal Petersen has seen the bulk of the action in the Phantoms net. In 20 appearances he is 8-10-2 with a 3.25 goals-against average and a .894 save percentage.  Parker Gahagen is 2-1-1 with a 3.67 goals-against average and a .877 save percentage in six appearances. He was sharp in a 2-1 loss to the Crunch last season.
 
HALVERSON SETS NEW CAREER BENCHMARK   

Brandon Halverson continued his strong play into the new year with a 28-save shutout in Toronto three days ago. It's his fourth shutout of the season and the fifth of his AHL career — all with the Crunch. The 28 saves are the most he's had in an AHL shutout.
 
The win was his 10th of the season, marking the first time he's won 10 AHL games in a single season. Halverson is 10-4-4 this season and sports an AHL-best 1.70 goals-against average to go with a .937 save percentage. His four shutouts are tied with Ken Appleby for the most in the league.
 
LAPPING THE FIELD

The Crunch have won four games in a row since Dec. 27, and they have allowed a total of five goals in that span. They've outscored their opponents 14-5 during the winning streak.
 
The Crunch are the stingiest team in the AHL this season. They've allowed 73 goals in 31 games played for a league-best 2.35 goals against per game average.
 
Last night was also the Crunch's first game decided by one goal since Dec. 14, which marked the end of a franchise record seven straight games decided by one goal.
 
HEAD-TO-HEAD

The Crunch and Phantoms play the first of four matches in their regular season series tonight. It's the first time since the 2015-16 season they'll go head-to-head more than twice.
 
The teams split a two-game set last year and the road team won both contests. The two games were drastically different. The Crunch won, 2-1, in Lehigh Valley, but the Phantoms scored a 6-4 win in Syracuse.
 
The Crunch are 15-4-0-1 in 20 matches against the Phantoms since they moved to Allentown for the 2014-15 season.