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Syracuse Crunch

Crunch fail to build on momentum, drop shootout to Binghamton

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by Steven DiOssi | @StevenDiossi | Like us on Facebook
December 30, 2016

The Syracuse Crunch fell to the Binghamton Senators, 3-2, in a shootout at War Memorial Arena on Friday.

The Crunch fired 39 shots on goal but Binghamton goaltender Chris Driedger was the difference, as Syracuse has dropped four of the past five games. The Crunch maintain a one-point lead in the North Division over the St. John’s IceCaps with a 17-9-0-4 record this season.

Adam Wilcox stopped 20-of-22 shots and 1-of-2 shootout attempts, while Driedger made 37 saves and stopped 3-of-3 shots in the shootout to earn the victory. Both teams went 1-for-4 with the man advantage on the night.

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Jake Dotchin was called for cross-checking just over five minutes into the opening period, giving the Senators their first power play opportunity. Binghamton made quick work of the man advantage as Jack Rodewald connected on a pass from Phil Varone and tallied his fifth goal in the past six games.

The Crunch evened the score with under four minutes remaining in the period when Gabriel Dumont stole the puck from Binghamton forward Mike Blunden – who spent the previous two seasons with the Lightning organization – at the top of the right circle before he deked Driedger and buried his fifth goal of the year. Dumont now has nine points in 16 games after missing time earlier in the season due to injury.

The teams remained locked at one goal a side at the end of the first period, despite the Crunch outshooting the Senators, 14-11.



The Syracuse power play unit was unable to convert on a chance that carried into the middle frame, but received their second chance with the man advantage when Senators defenseman Ben Harpur was called for slashing at 5:04. Adam Comrie took a Matt Taormina pass and skated towards the Binghamton goal before wristing a shot over the blocker side of Driedger to give the Crunch a 2-1 lead just 50 seconds into the power play. Adam Erne also registered an assist on the goal. For Taormina, his 19th assist of the season moved him past Yanni Gourde for the team lead with 27 points in 25 games.



Syracuse and Binghamton each had two more power play opportunities in the second period but their penalty killing units kept both teams off the board.

The Crunch outshot the Senators by a margin of 15-3 in the period, but Binghamton tied the game when Buddy Robinson beat Wilcox with just 37 seconds left in the middle frame.

After Syracuse killed off a Taormina hooking penalty in the third period, Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond and Senators defenseman Guillaume Lepine dropped the gloves just past the midway point of the final session and received five-minute majors for fighting. It was Letourneau-Leblond’s second fight in as many games and his 48 penalty minutes are third among all Syracuse players.

The teams remained tied after regulation and were unable to decide the game in overtime as the Crunch outshot the Senators, 3-2 in the extra session.

During the shootout, Cory Conacher, Dumont and Erne were unable to find the back of the net, while Varone beat Wilcox on his attempt to earn the extra point for the Senators.

With the shootout loss, Syracuse has earned just three points in their past five contests, as the team has been forced to play without some of their top players who have been recalled to the Tampa Bay Lightning because of a string of injuries. Crunch forwards Matthew Peca, Michael Bourniva land Gourde are each currently on the Lightning roster.

The Crunch return to action when they host the St. John’s IceCaps on Saturday.


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