PLAYOFF BOUND CRUNCH FACE COMETS

The Crunch begin a home-and-home series with the Utica Comets to kick off the final weekend of the regular season.
 
Syracuse locked up a playoff berth on Wednesday and now tries to nail down third place and a berth in the North Division Semifinals.
 
BROADCAST COVERAGE

Countdown to Crunch Time at 6:45 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

Conor Sheary scored 23 seconds into overtime and the Crunch defeated the Hershey Bears, 3-2, at the Giant Center Wednesday night. The road team won all four games in the season series.
 
The Bears struck first to take a 1-0 lead at 4:42 of the opening frame. Hendrix Lapierre tipped a point shot past Brandon Halverson to open the scoring.
 
The Crunch flipped things around in the second period with a pair of tallies to grab a 2-1 lead. Gabriel Szturc blasted his seventh goal of the season at 11:31 to tie the score. Gabriel Dumont scored a power-play goal at 16:30 to make it 2-1. Hershey tied the game by converting off a turnover three minutes into the third period.
 
The game remained tied into overtime. Sheary stole an errant Bears pass and beat Hunter Shepard on a breakaway to earn the win.
 
SCOUTING THE CRUNCH

The Crunch got back in the win column Wednesday at Hershey to make it 13 wins in the last 16 games since March 9. Syracuse enters tonight's game with 84 points and a 36-22-8-4 record. The Crunch have a 0.600 points percentage for the first time since Nov. 1. 
 
They lead Toronto by two points and Cleveland by three for third place in the North Division. Whichever team finishes in third place will face Rochester in the North Division Semifinals.
 
Dylan Duke picked up a pair of assists on Wednesday for his ninth multi-point game of the season. It was his first such game since March 15, snapping a stretch of 11 games without more than one point. Duke leads Crunch rookies and ranks third on the team with 38 points (18g, 20a). 
 
HEADED TO THE PLAYOFFS

The Crunch clinched their seventh consecutive playoff berth on Wednesday. Syracuse has made the playoffs each season the Calder Cup Playoffs have been held since the 2016-17 campaign.
 
It marks the ninth time in 11 seasons in which playoffs have been held during their affiliation with the Tampa Bay Lightning that they've qualified for the postseason.
 
The Crunch now have their eyes on third place. They can clinch that position — and a berth in the division semifinal round — with:
(a) A win vs. Utica, OR
(b) An OTL/SOL vs. Utica AND a Toronto OTL/SOL at Rochester, OR
(c) A Toronto regulation loss at Rochester AND a Cleveland loss (reg/OT/SO) at Lehigh Valley
 
POULIOT NAMED TO FIRST ALL-STAR TEAM

Defenseman Derrick Pouliot was named to the AHL's First All-Star Team, as voted by AHL coaches, players and media representing each of the league's 32 member cities.
 
The veteran ranks second in the AHL among defensemen with 53 points (7g, 46a). He leads blueliners — and is one back of the overall league lead — in assists. Pouliot currently ranks second on the team in scoring, but he was the team's leader for a majority of the season.
 
Pouliot is the fourth Crunch defensemen to earn First All-Star Team recognition. He joins Andy Delmore (2005-06), Matt Taormina (2016-17) and Darren Raddysh (2022-23). 
 
ROAD SUCCESS 

The Crunch have secured a better road record than home record for the second consecutive season. Syracuse enters its final road contest of the season with 20 road wins, making the Crunch one of eight teams in the league with at least 20. 
 
The Crunch are 20-11-4-0 on the road versus 16-11-4-4 at home. They ride an eight-game road winning streak, which began March 9 at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The streak is one shy of their franchise record, set Oct. 19-Nov. 25, 2012. The eight wins have come in eight different cities; one of those was Utica on April 9.
 
SCOUTING THE COMETS

The Comets enter the final weekend of the regular season needing a pair of wins to finish with a 0.500 record. They have finished at least 0.500 in every season since joining the league in 2013-14. The Comets are 30-32-6-2 and have 68 points; they will finish last in the North Division and will miss the playoffs for the second straight season.
 
Captain Ryan Schmelzer leads the team with 41 points (21g, 20a) while playing in all 70 games so far. He is the only Comet to appear in every game, and he is trying to make it two straight seasons without missing a Utica game. Brian Halonen tops the squad with 27 goals. He has five in the last four games, and the only game without a tally was last Wednesday versus Syracuse.
 
HEAD-TO-HEAD

The Crunch and Comets enter their home-and-home finale with identical 6-5-1-0 records in the season series. The Crunch have won the last three matches after the Comets rattled off five straight wins from Jan. 8 to March 7.
 
Most of the contests have been low-scoring games. Utica has outscored Syracuse 26-25, meaning the teams are averaging 2.17 and 2.08 goals per game respectively. The Crunch have scored more than two goals only three times in 12 games.
 
Conor Sheary leads all scorers with 10 points in 11 games. His four goals are the most on the Crunch. Xavier Parent paces the Comets with eight points (4g, 4a) in 11 games.
 
Brandon Halverson (5-0-1/1.16/.954) and Isaac Poulter (5-0-0/2.17/.914) have earned the majority of the wins for their teams.