CRUNCH FACE AMERKS IN HOME-AND-HOME
 
The Syracuse Crunch play the front side of a home-and-home against the Rochester Americans tonight at Upstate Medical University Arena. The teams will rematch tomorrow in Rochester.
 
Syracuse is 5-4-0-0 against the Americans this season and has won three straight meetings. The Crunch beat the Amerks, 5-3, on the road last Friday.
 
Syracuse's faces Rochester in three of its final nine games.
 
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
 
CANAL MULES HIT THE ICE
 
The Crunch wear specialty jerseys tonight to take on the Canal Mules identity for the third straight season. Canal Mules night pays homage to the first-known beer league hockey team that skated on the Erie Canal in the early 1920s.
 
The jerseys are royal blue with a white cream stripe along the bottom. There are three thin cream stripes around the wrists, one thick cream stripe around the elbows and five thin cream stripes around the arms to represent Syracuse's 315 area code.
 
Select game-worn jerseys will be available in a live postgame auction on the ice.
 
LAST TIME OUT
 
The Crunch fell to the Hershey Bears, 4-3, last night at Upstate Medical University Arena to snap their three-game winning streak.
 
Neither side scored in the first, but the teams combined for five goals in the second period. Hershey tallied three times in a 3:29 span midway through to take a 3-0 lead. Syracuse countered with a Dylan Duke power-play goal at 15:02 and a Conor Geekie tap-in 61 seconds later to make it 3-2 Bears after 40 minutes.
 
After Hershey retook its two-goal lead 6:35 into the third, Matthew Peca pulled the Crunch back within one with 4:03 remaining. Despite outshooting the Bears 15-4 in the final frame, Syracuse couldn't muster the equalizer and Hershey held on for the 4-3 win.
 
PELLETIER PIPING HOT
 
AHL scoring leader Jakob Pelletier racked up two more assists last night to increase his points total to 71 (26g, 45a). He's currently riding in a league-best 14-game scoring streak.
 
Pelletier leads the Crunch with 22 multi-point games, including seven during this scoring streak. The 25-year-old surpassed 200 career AHL points last night; he has 201 (77g, 124a) in 196 AHL games.
 
DUKE CLIMBING THE LEADERBOARD
 
Dylan Duke potted his team-leading 31st goal of the season last night. It was his 17th power-play goal of the season, but it was his first since Feb. 21, an 11-game drought. 
 
Duke's 17 power-play goals not only lead the AHL but also tie with Mark Hartigan and Alex Barré-Boulet for the second-most in a single season in Crunch history. The franchise record is 20 by Reggie Savage in 2000-01.
 
SCOUTING THE AMERICANS
 
The Amerks have won two straight games since their loss to the Crunch at home last Friday. They knocked off the Marlies, 5-2, last night at Blue Cross Arena.
 
Rochester has a four-point lead on Belleville for the final playoff spot in the North Division, and they have played four fewer games than the Senators.
 
Forward Carson Meyer has been on a tear for the Amerks recently. The veteran has five points (2g, 3a) in his last three games, including a goal and an assist in last night's win.
 
Scott Ratzlaff (4-3-1/3.46/.880) allowed five goals on 21 shots in last Friday's loss to Syracuse. Devon Levi (19-16-8/2.75/.907) started last night against Toronto and made 27 saves in the 5-2 victory.