Connect with us

Syracuse Crunch

Overtime once again unkind to Syracuse Crunch

Published

8 years ago

on

by Steven DiOssi | @StevenDiossi | Like us on Facebook
January 25, 2017

For the 12th time this season the Syracuse Crunch played extra hockey.

For the ninth time, the Crunch failed to secure the extra available point in overtime.

David Warsofsky scored the winning goal with 1.2 seconds remaining in the extra session on Wednesday to give Wilkes-Barre/Scanton the 3-2 victory at Mohegan Sun Arena. The goal came seconds after an apparent tripping penalty against the Penguins went uncalled.

Joel Vermin, returned to the Crunch earlier this week after a short stint with the Lightning, and Adam Comrie scored for the Crunch, which continues a string of six consecutive road games at Springfield on Friday.

Syracuse remains winless in its past four contests but maintains a lead in the North Division with 49 points and one game in hand over the Albany Devils.

{mprestriction ids=”1,2″}

Kristers Gudlevskis finished with 26 saves while the Crunch outshot the Penguins 41-29.

The Crunch came out of the gate with a strong effort in the opening frame — outshooting the Penguins by a 17-8 margin and taking a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

Vermin opened the scoring with his eighth goal of the season at 13:26 of the first period. Cory Conacher controlled the puck from behind the Penguins’ goal line and skated to the bottom of the right circle before feeding Vermin in the slot. Vermin held the puck momentarily before wristing it past Jarry on the blocker side. Yanni Gourde also added an assist on the goal and is second among all Crunch players with 31 points — two more than Conacher, who is third. Conacher continued his red-hot scoring pace and has now tallied two goals and 12 assists in his last 13 games.

Syracuse was unable to capitalize on a power play at 14:08 of the period but killed off back-to-back penalties to maintain the one-goal lead.

The Penguins got to work in the second period, despite being outshot 11-8 by the Crunch. Wilkes-Barre knotted the game at one goal a side when Tom Kostopoulos beat Gudlevskis at the 4:15 mark. The Penguins continued to build upon the momentum as they took the lead on Kevin Porter’s seventh goal of the season at 6:30 of the middle frame.

The Crunch continued to battle and evened the score minutes later as Comrie scored his fourth goal of the year at 9:31 of the period. Comrie fired a slap shot from the faceoff dot in the left circle toward Jarry who made the initial save. He wasn’t able to cover up the puck and it got loose behind him. Comrie followed his shot and skated behind Jarry and two Penguins players along the goal line before backhanding the loose puck into the net. Brian Hart and Henri Ikonen each added assists on the tally.

Slater Koekkoek and Penguins forward Tom Sestito were each called for roughing at 10:06, but Syracuse received a two-minute power play as Ryan Taggerty was also taken off for high-sticking. The Crunch weren’t able to convert with the man advantage and the game remained tied.

Tensions boiled over when Mathieu Brodeur and Penguins forward Patrick McGrath dropped the gloves and earned five minute majors for fighting at 13:04 of the period. The Crunch gave the Penguins a chance to take the lead when Daniel Walcott received a hooking penalty at 16:50, but killed off the power play to keep it tied up.

The Crunch outshot the Penguins 10-9 in the third period, but neither team was able to find the back of the net and the game went into overtime. For the Crunch, this was the league-leading 12th time they have entered the extra session this season. The Penguins earned the extra point, however, when with just 1.2 seconds left to play, Ed Warsofsky got behind the Syracuse defense and skated in all alone on Gudlevskis before chipping a shot over his blocker side and into the net.


{/mprestriction}

Related Topics:

Copyright © 2021 National Hockey Now and Erik Erlendsson. Tampa Bay Hockey Now is an independently owned and operated site and is not affiliated with the Tampa Bay Lightning organization or the National Hockey League.