CRUNCH LOOK TO PASS TEST IN TORONTO 

The Crunch hit the ice this morning against the Toronto Marlies in a school field trip matchup at Coca-Cola Coliseum.
 
It's the third game of the six-game head-to-head series this season. The road team has earned wins in the first two contests, which both took place in January.
 
BROADCAST COVERAGE

Countdown to Crunch Time at 10:45 a.m.
Streaming: Pay-to-watch video via AHLTV on FloHockey | www.syracusecrunch.com/watch
Radio: ESPN Radio Syracuse | www.espncny.com
 
LAST TIME OUT

The Crunch earned their first shutout against the Hershey Bears in over a decade with a 5-0 victory Saturday at Giant Center.
 
Matt Tomkins faced only 16 shots to earn his second shutout of the season. It was the Crunch's first against Hershey since Feb. 22, 2014 (Allan York).
 
Spencer Kersten opened the scoring with an unassisted goal at 9:52 of the first period. His first career AHL goal held up as the game-winning tally.
 
Syracuse stretched the lead with three goals in just over three minutes midway through the second period. Conor Sheary and Derrick Pouliot both scored with the aid of deflections off Hershey sticks. Declan Carlile slammed home a rebound and the Crunch led 4-0 at 10:57.
 
Ryder Korczak capped the scoring by banging home a puck that initially hit off his body. 
 
The win was the Crunch's sixth shutout of the season, their most since 2018-19 (12).
 
SCOUTING THE CRUNCH

The Crunch snapped a three-game losing streak (0-2-1-0) with their 5-0 win against the Bears on Saturday. It was the first time since Jan. 11 that they scored at least five goals in a game; they had scored six goals total during the losing streak.
 
Syracuse continues to sit in fifth place in the North Division with a 19-16-6-4 record and 48 points. The Crunch have a six point lead for the final playoff spot, but the two teams behind the Crunch have multiple games in hand.
 
Spencer Kersten potted his first career AHL goal in Saturday's win at Hershey. The goal — which proved to be the game-winning goal — came in his second Crunch game and fourth career AHL appearance. 
 
Kersten signed a PTO with the Crunch last week. He leads the ECHL's Orlando Solar Bears with 46 points (22g, 24a) in 48 games this season. 
 
REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVE

With the NHL regular season paused for the next week and a half, the Lightning assigned three players to the Crunch. Gage Goncalves, Dylan Duke and Brandon Halverson were all returned to Syracuse following the Lightning's win in Montreal on Sunday afternoon.
 
Goncalves has made the most of his most recent stint with the Bolts, which came immediately following he scored an overtime winner for the Crunch on Jan. 25. In seven NHL games since then, Goncalves has five assists; he had two points in his first 26 games.
 
Duke played two games, including his NHL debut on Saturday at Detroit, and he scored his first NHL goal. He leads the Crunch with 13 goals this season.
 
Halverson has not appeared in a game yet for the Lightning after he inked a two-year NHL contract with the Bolts. He leads the Crunch with a 12-7-7/2.20/.918 mark in 26 appearances this season. 
 
DUKE MAKES WAVES IN NHL DEBUT

Rookie forward Dylan Duke made waves in his NHL debut for the Tampa Bay Lightning Saturday at Detroit. Playing down the road from his alma mater (University of Michigan), Duke netted his first NHL goal in his debut, providing insurance in the Lightning's win over the Red Wings on national television.
 
Duke's family was in attendance for the win. Later that night, his brother Tyler scored Michigan's lone goal in a loss to Michigan State in the same building that Dylan scored in hours before.
 
ON THE ROAD AGAIN

The Crunch continue a stretch of four straight road games over eight days that brings the Crunch to four different cities. They began the stretch Saturday in Hershey. After today, the Crunch play back-to-back games starting Friday in Rochester and finishing Saturday in Allentown against Lehigh Valley.
 
Syracuse has lost three of its last five road games, but the Crunch have still been a better road team (11-9-2-0) than a home team (8-7-4-4) this season.
 
SCOUTING THE MARLIES

The Marlies returned from the All-Star Break and played their first home games in a month but came out winless (0-1-0-1) in a pair of contests against Laval. That came after Toronto ripped off a 7-2-0-1 mark during a 10-game road trip, which took the Marlies to the west coast prior to the break.
 
Alex Steeves leads a dangerous Marlies attack with a league-leading 26 goals in 36 games. Already the Marlies all-time leader in points (195), Steeves set the new franchise record for goals (95) with a tally last week. The AHL All-Star had his four-game goal streak snapped in the final game of the weekend.
 
Toronto enters the day in fourth place in the North Division with 55 points (24-12-2-5).
 
RISE AND GRIND

Today marks the Crunch's lone morning game day of the season.
 
Syracuse has won five straight games as a visitor during an opponents' school field trip game; that streak began Feb. 28, 2018 with a 4-3 overtime win against the Marlies. 
 
Last season in Bridgeport, Max Groshev netted a hat trick to lead the Crunch to a 5-4 win against the Bridgeport Islanders. 
 
The year before that required a comeback from 4-1 down to win a shootout in Springfield, 5-4, on Nov. 16, 2022.
 
They also won in Bridgeport, 3-2, Feb 5, 2020 and in Hartford, 3-1, on Nov. 20, 2019 during this morning win streak.