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Syracuse Crunch

Syracuse Crunch hold off Marlies to get back in the win column

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by Steven DiOssi | @StevenDiOssi | Like us on Facebook
January 13, 2017

The Syracuse Crunch defeated the Toronto Marlies, 5-4, at War Memorial Arena on Friday.

The Crunch took a two-goal lead before the Marlies scored three unanswered goals to make it 3-2 at just past the midway point of the second period. Syracuse answered with three straight goals of their own and held on to secure the victory.

With the win, the Crunch have earned points in each of their past seven games and are 19-9-2-5 overall. Their 45 points lead the North Division and they have a one-point cushion over the Albany Devils.

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Matt Taormina and Tanner Richard paced the Crunch with three points a piece and nine Syracuse players managed at least a point in the winning effort. Taormina’s pair of goals gave him 12 for the season and he leads the Crunch in goals and points (36). Richard snapped a nine-game pointless streak and this was his third three-point effort of the season.

Adam Wilcox stopped 17-of-20 shots in two periods of action before being injured and replaced by Kristers Gudlevskis who started the third period and managed six saves on seven shots. Marlies goaltender Antoine Bibeau turned aside 28 shots on 33 shots. The Crunch converted on 2-of-7 power plays and their penalty-killing unit shut down the Marlies in six attempts.

Syracuse opened the scoring with under two minutes left in the first period when Richard won a faceoff in the right circle and kicked the puck to Mike Halmo who fed it to Taormina who fired a shot off the crossbar and into the net for the 1-0 lead. The Crunch managed just one goal in the period despite outshooting the Marlies 13-6.

Syracuse made it a two-goal game just 12 seconds into the second period when Jeremy Morin wristed a shot past Bibeau from the top of the right circle for his seventh goal of the season with Joel Vermin and Ben Thomas adding helpers. The lead was short-lived, however, as the Marlies scored the first of three straight unanswered goals at 4:03 of the period. Toronto’s Byron Froese, Tony Camoranesi and Brendan Leipsic each tallied goals in under a 10-minute span to take a one-goal lead in the contest.

The Crunch tied the game at three goals a side with just 20 seconds left in the period when Taormina found the back of the net for the second time in the game with assists to Richard and Cory Conacher. After 40 minutes of play, the Crunch outshot the Marlies 24-20 and managed to hold the Toronto power play unit scoreless in four attempts.

Syracuse head coach Benoit Groulx was forced to turn to Gudlevskis between the pipes to start the third and the Latvian netminder responded.

The Crunch regained the lead when Yanni Gourde got a stick on a loose puck in front of the Toronto net after Daniel Walcott was stopped by Bibeau on a breakaway attempt. Gourde’s 11th marker of the season was his 27th point and he’s second among all Crunch players.

When Marlies forward Brett Findlay was called for slashing at 5:53 of the period, the Crunch took advantage of the ensuing power play. Conacher fired a slap shot on goal and Richard potted a rebound attempt at just past the six-minute mark. Taormina capped a three-point night with an assist on the goal.

Toronto cut the Syracuse lead to one goal at just past the midway point of the third period when Camoranesi beat Gudlevskis for his second goal of the game, but the Crunch held on to earn two points.

The Crunch are back in action when they host the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at War Memorial Arena on Saturday.

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