CRUNCH SLOWED UP IN WEEK 23
The Syracuse Crunch hit a roadblock with a three-game winless spell in Week 23. All three losses came on home ice, matching the team's longest winless stretch of the season at Upstate Medical University Arena.
The Crunch had its five-game winning streak snapped in a 5-1 loss to the Toronto Marlies on Wednesday. Syracuse then slipped up, 4-1, against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Friday. The Crunch earned a standings point with a shootout loss to the Laval Rocket on Saturday; both teams rallied from third period deficits.
The Crunch have 75 points (35-19-3-2) and are four points behind the Rocket for first place in the North Division. Syracuse readies for its first three-in-three stretch of the season this weekend.
TOP PERFORMERS
Mitchell Chaffee led the Crunch with a pair of goals in Week 23. He scored the club's only tallies in their losses to Toronto and Lehigh Valley on Wednesday and Friday. He has reached 20 goals for the second time in his career (also 2021-22) and now has 48 points (20g, 28a) in 47 games. The Crunch are now one of three teams — with Grand Rapids and Ontario — that has three 20-goal scorers.
Chaffee has logged points in 13 of his last 16 games since Feb. 4, scoring 18 points (9g, 9a) in that span to rank second on the Crunch and tied for sixth in the AHL.
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Jacob Pelletier was the only Crunch skater with points in all three games last week. The AHL's leading scorer grabbed assists Wednesday and Friday before scoring a power-play goal Saturday. That extended his scoring streak to 10 games since Feb. 20; it is the longest active point streak in the AHL.
During the streak Pelletier has picked up 14 points (3g, 11a). He leads all AHL scorers with 64 points (23g, 41a) in 53 games. He is attempting to become only the second Crunch player to win the AHL's scoring title; Carter Verhaeghe won the scoring crown in 2018-19 with 82 points.
PECA, MITCHELL MAKE CRUNCH DEBUTS
The Crunch made two major trades leading up to the AHL Trade Deadline last week. They acquired forward
Matthew Peca from Springfield and defenseman
Ian Mitchell from Grand Rapids, in an NHL trade between Tampa Bay and Detroit. Both players played the final two games of the week for the Crunch.
Peca, 32, picked up one assist over the two games and has 35 points (8g, 27a) in 51 games between Springfield and Syracuse. Mitchell also nabbed an assist for the Crunch and has collected 21 points (4g, 16a) in 47 games between the Griffins and Crunch.
UPCOMING WEEK
Friday, March 20 at Rochester | 7:05 p.m.
The Crunch begin their first three-in-three weekend of the season with a road contest against the Rochester Americans Friday night at Blue Cross Arena. The Crunch have won the last two meetings in the season series to give both teams four wins in eight games. Four of the Crunch's final 13 games are against the Amerks.
Rochester's grip on a playoff position has become tenuous with only one win in its last 11 games (1-7-1-2) since Feb. 15. They have a three point lead for the final playoff spot, and they have the most games remaining in the Eastern Conference.
Saturday, March 21 vs. Cleveland | 7 p.m.
Sunday, March 22 vs. Cleveland | 4 p.m.
The Crunch host the Cleveland Monsters for a pair of contests to wrap up the weekend at Upstate Medical University Arena. If the playoffs began today, the Crunch and Monsters would meet in the North Division Semifinals; the Crunch enter the week with a four-point lead on the Monsters for second place and home-ice advantage in the division semifinal round.
The Monsters have won the two previous head-to-head matchups this season, including one in overtime. Cleveland is on a 6-0-1-2 streak against the Crunch dating to the 2023-24 season; that does not include the Monters' sweep of the Crunch during the 2024 North Division Finals.
WEEK 23 RESULTS
Wednesday, March 11 | Game 57 vs. Toronto | L, 5-1
Toronto 2 1 2 - 5 Shots: 10-11-5-26 PP: 0/3
Syracuse 0 0 1 - 1 Shots: 12-4-15-31 PP: 0/3
3rd Period-Chaffee 19 (
Samson, Pelletier), 4:23.
Halverson 21-7-3 (25 shots-21 saves) A-3,871
Friday, March 13 | Game 58 vs. Lehigh Valley | L, 4-1
Lehigh Valley 2 0 2 - 4 Shots: 11-3-6-20 PP: 1/2
Syracuse 1 0 0 - 1 Shots: 22-12-6-40 PP: 1/2
1st Period-Chaffee 20 (
Peca, Pelletier), 15:37.
Fanti 11-12-1 (19 shots-16 saves) A-5,712
Saturday, March 14 | Game 59 vs. Laval | OTL, 4-3
Laval 1 0 2 0 1 - 4 Shots: 3-5-17-3-1-29 PP: 0/4
Syracuse 2 0 1 0 0 - 3 Shots: 14-9-6-2-0-31 PP: 1/5
1st Period-Gauthier 9 (
Mitchell, Pietroniro), 5:04. Pelletier 23 (
Geekie, Abruzzese), 16:47 (PP). 3rd Period-Kersten 1 (
Abruzzese), 17:37. Shootout-Laval 2 (
Blais NG, Belzile G, Farrell G) Syracuse 0 (
Chaffee NG, Geekie NG).
Halverson 21-7-4 (28 shots-25 saves) A-6,059
| Category |
Average/Total |
AHL Rank (Prev) |
| Power Play |
22.3% (47-for-211) |
6th (6th) |
| Penalty Kill |
82.7% (148-for-179) |
11th (11th) |
| Goals For |
3.20 GFA (189) |
T-12th (9th) |
| Goals Against |
2.53 GAA (149) |
T-3rd (3rd) |
| Shots For |
28.15 SF/G (1661) |
16th (19th) |
| Shots Against |
25.02 SA/G (1476) |
1st (1st) |
| Penalty Minutes |
13.49 PIM/G (796) |
12th (11th) |
| Category |
|
Leader |
| Points |
64 |
Pelletier |
| Goals |
29 |
Duke |
| Assists |
41 |
Pelletier |
| PIM |
102 |
Mercuri |
| Plus/Minus |
+22 |
Pelletier |
| Wins |
21 |
Halverson |
| GAA |
2.24 |
Halverson |
| Save % |
.910 |
Halverson |
| North Division |
GP |
W |
L |
OTL |
SOL |
PTS |
PCT |
GF |
GA |
PIM |
HOME |
ROAD |
LAST 10 |
STREAK |
S/O |
| 1. Laval |
61 |
37 |
19 |
2 |
3 |
79 |
0.648 |
198 |
165 |
992 |
19-7-1-2 |
18-12-1-1 |
5-5-0-0 |
1-0-0-0 |
5-3 |
| 2. Syracuse |
59 |
35 |
19 |
3 |
2 |
75 |
0.636 |
189 |
149 |
796 |
18-7-1-1 |
17-12-2-1 |
6-3-0-1 |
0-2-0-1 |
1-2 |
| 3. Cleveland |
58 |
32 |
19 |
6 |
1 |
71 |
0.612 |
170 |
170 |
679 |
16-8-4-1 |
16-11-2-0 |
7-3-0-0 |
2-0-0-0 |
3-1 |
| 4. Toronto |
59 |
29 |
20 |
5 |
5 |
68 |
0.576 |
187 |
185 |
796 |
15-7-1-3 |
14-13-4-2 |
5-2-1-2 |
2-0-1-0 |
3-5 |
| 5. Rochester |
57 |
25 |
23 |
5 |
4 |
59 |
0.518 |
171 |
178 |
646 |
11-12-3-2 |
14-11-2-2 |
1-6-1-2 |
0-1-0-0 |
0-4 |
| 6. Belleville |
60 |
24 |
28 |
8 |
0 |
56 |
0.467 |
192 |
219 |
849 |
11-15-3-0 |
13-13-5-0 |
4-6-0-0 |
3-0-0-0 |
3-0 |
| 7. Utica |
59 |
22 |
28 |
5 |
4 |
53 |
0.449 |
156 |
188 |
712 |
14-12-2-3 |
8-16-3-1 |
6-4-0-0 |
0-1-0-0 |
2-4 |
