CRUNCH CLOSE OUT ROAD SWING   

The Crunch hope to shake off consecutive losses as they face the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins this afternoon at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza.
 
It's the final game of a three-game road trip for the Crunch, who have gone 0-1-1-0 so far. It is also the fourth and final head-to-head meeting between the clubs. The Penguins have won two of the first three matches.
 
BROADCAST COVERAGE

Countdown to Crunch Time at 2:50 p.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 gave up a pair of first period power-play goals and fell to the Utica Comets, 4-1, Friday night at the Adirondack Bank Center.
 
The Comets cashed in on their two power-play chances in the first period. Joe Gambardella scored at 2:07 and Nathan Legare doubled the lead at 19:37 as the Comets carried a 2-0 advantage into the second period.
 
The Crunch cut the deficit to one with their own power-play goal. Conor Geekie sniped his second goal of the season on a setup from Dylan Duke at 8:17 to make it 2-1.
 
Syracuse failed to tie the score before Legare added to the Comets lead in the third period. Gambardella also scored his second of the game in the third period as the Comets earned their fifth straight win head-to-head versus the Crunch.
 
SCOUTING THE CRUNCH

The Crunch finish off their three-game road trip today in Wilkes-Barre. They've lost the first two games (0-1-1-0) — both against the Comets — and they've lost three straight road games dating to Feb. 15. The three straight road losses is their longest road losing streak of the season. 
 
Syracuse is two points behind the Belleville Senators for the final playoff position in the North Division. The Crunch are 23-19-8-4 this season and they have 58 points.
 
ANGELLO DEBUTS  

Newly acquired forward Anthony Angello made his Crunch debut Friday at Utica. The Syracuse native joined the organization last week following a trade with the Nashville Predators. He had 14 points (7g, 7a) in 41 games with the Milwaukee Admirals prior to the trade.
 
Angello grew up in Manlius and played for the Syracuse Jr. Stars and F-M High School. He also played three seasons at Cornell.
 
Angello was selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the fifth round of the 2014 NHL Draft. He started his pro career with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and played parts of five seasons there. He totaled 171 games played for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
 
ONE QUARTER REMAINING

The Crunch have one quarter of their schedule remaining as they try to make a push for the Calder Cup Playoffs. Syracuse has not failed to qualify for the playoffs since the 2015-16 season.
 
The Crunch are coming off their least productive quarter stretch of the season. They collected 19 standings points in the first 18 games of the season (8-7-1-2), 22 points over the next 18 games (8-4-4-2) and 17 points over the most recent 18-game stretch (7-8-3-0).
 
The Crunch scored more goals per game during the last 18 games (2.78), but they also allowed 3.00 goals per game, a half a goal per game more than they did over the first half of the season. 
 
SCOUTING THE PENGUINS

The high-scoring Penguins are in contention for their first division championship since 2016-17. The Penguins have back-to-back wins to begin their three-in-three weekend, scoring 15 goals in the two games. The Penguins are 31-15-7-1 and are five points out of first place in the Atlantic Division. 
 
The Penguins offense is especially potent at home, where they have scored 3.74 goals per game. That has helped them to an 18-6-2-1 record at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza. 
 
HEAD-TO-HEAD

The Crunch and Penguins end their four-game season series tonight with their second match in just over a week. The teams split a home-and-home set in October, and the Penguins shut out the Crunch in Syracuse last week to give them two wins through three contests.
 
Brandon Halverson (1-1-0/1.03/.966) and Filip Larsson (1-1-0/0.51/.980) have dueling shutouts in the series. Halverson blanked the Penguins in a 22-save effort on Oct. 25. Larsson flipped the script with a 31-save performance on Feb. 28. Both games ended in 2-0 scores, but were mainly played with the winning team leading 1-0 until a late insurance goal was scored. 
 
Gabriel Szturc leads all scorers with three points — all assists — in the three games. He has a hand in three of the Crunch's four goals in the series. The Penguins have only scored five goals against the Crunch, and they have four players tied with two points apiece.
 
KEY FIRST 20 

Today's match features the highest and lowest scoring first period teams in the AHL. The Penguins pace the AHL with 72 first period strikes, while the Crunch rank last with only 28 tallies in the first frame. Those 28 goals are the fewest for any team in any single period.
 
The Crunch double their scoring in both the second and third periods, adding 57 goals in both of those segments.
 
KHAIRA DEALT TO ABBOTSFORD

The Crunch traded veteran forward Jujhar Khaira to the Abbotsford Canucks for future considerations. Khaira was signed to an AHL contract in September and was coming off a back injury that limited him to 23 combined games between the Minnesota and Iowa Wild in 2023-24. 
 
Khaira missed the start of this season due to injury and did not make his season debut until Jan. 10. He had nine points (3g, 6a) and a minus-8 rating in 18 games.