CRUNCH REACH FINAL WEEKEND OF SEASON
 
The Syracuse Crunch play the first game of their season-ending home-and-home set against the Belleville Senators tonight at CAA Arena. It marks the Crunch's final road game of the regular season.
 
The Crunch have won four of the first six meetings in the season series. The road team has won five of the six contests, including a 3-0-0-0 mark by the Crunch in Belleville.
 
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
 
The Crunch were topped by the Toronto Marlies, 4-1, at Upstate Medical University Arena on Sunday.
 
Syracuse cashed in on an early power-play chances to grab a quick 1-0 lead. Dylan Duke deflected a Jakob Pelletier shot for his 32 goals — and his 18th power-play strike — at 2:43 of the first period.
 
The Marlies scored four unanswered goals the rest of the game. They tallied twice off the rush in the first period before expanding the lead with a pair of goals in the third period. 
 
It was only the Crunch's fifth regulation loss when scoring first, but it happened twice last week.
 
PELLETIER NAMED TO FIRST ALL-STAR TEAM
 
Jakob Pelletier has been named to the AHL First All-Star Team. The league's leading scorer paces the Crunch with 77 points (28g, 49a) in 63 games. He enters the final weekend of the season with a seven-point lead in the AHL's scoring race as he aims to become just the second Crunch player ever to lead the league in scoring (Carter Verhaeghe). 
 
Pelletier has logged a point in his last 20 Crunch games played. He is currently on recall with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
 
Pelletier is the fourth Crunch player in the last four seasons named to the AHL's First All-Star Team. He joins Derrick Pouliot (2024-25), Alex Barré-Boulet (2022-23) and Darren Raddysh (2022-23) as recently recognized Crunch players.
 
WRAPPING UP ON THE ROAD
 
The Crunch play their final road game of the regular season tonight. Syracuse has collected points in all nine road games since the game prior to the AHL All-Star Break. The Crunch are 7-0-0-2 on the road since Feb. 7, including a 2-0-0-0 record in Belleville.
 
Syracuse is 18-12-2-3 on the road this season, and the Crunch carry a plus-11 goal differential into their final road contests of the season.
 
Nick Abruzzese has scored goals in his last five road games played since Jan. 17. He has six goals in those five games.
 
SCOUTING THE SENATORS
 
The Senators are playing out the final weekend of the season and are already eliminated from playoff contention for the second straight season. They are 27-34-8-1 and locked into a last place finish in the North Division for the first time since the 2022-23 campaign.
 
One storyline heading into the weekend is AHL First All-Star Team selection Arthur Kaliyev's quest to become the franchise's first 40-goal scorer. He has 39 tallies and a team-leading 67 points entering tonight's game. No AHL player scored 40 goals last season. The last Senators player to win the Willie Marshall Award as the league's top goal scorer was Denis Hamel with the Binghamton Senators in 2005-06. 
 
GEEKIE RETURNS FROM TAMPA BAY
 
Forward Conor Geekie was returned to the Crunch by the Tampa Bay Lightning prior to their final game of the regular season. He scored his first NHL goal of the season on April 13 during this three-game recall.
 
Geekie returns to the Crunch where he ranks second on the team with 59 points (17g, 42a) in 56 games. He is guaranteed to finish at over a point per game in his second pro season. He is scoreless in the two Crunch games he's played in in April.