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Syracuse Crunch

Syracuse Crunch furious rally comes up just short at Albany

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by Steven DiOssi | @StevenDiOssi | Like us on Facebook
February 2, 2017

The Syracuse Crunch fell short in their attempt to overcome a three-goal third period deficit and dropped a 3-2 decision to the Albany Devils at Times Union Center on Thursday.

Yanni Gourde and Tanner Richard each tallied goals for the Crunch who are now 2-1-1-0 in the eight-game season series against the Devils and 22-13-4-5 overall on the season. The Crunch maintain first place in the North Division with 53 points, with one game in hand over the second place Devils.

Kristers Gudlevskis made 24 saves while Albany goaltender Ken Appleby stopped 22-of-24 shots in the winning effort. The Crunch went 1-for-5 on the power play, tallying their first goal with the man advantage since Jan. 16 against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, and went a perfect 3-for-3 on the penalty kill in the contest.

The Crunch were unable to convert on an early power play opportunity after Albany defenseman Vojtech Moziik was called for tripping at the 2:19 mark of the period. Shortly after, Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond and Ben Thomson dropped the gloves and fought each other before receiving five-minute majors at the 7:51 mark.

The Crunch gave the Devils their first power play of the contest when Jonathan Racine was called for cross-checking at 8:24. Racine, a 6’2”, 202-pound defenseman, skated in his first game with the Crunch since being acquired by the Tampa Bay Lightning, along with a sixth-round pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, in exchange for defenseman Nikita Nesterov on Jan. 26.

Syracuse was able to keep the Devils off the board with the man advantage but it wouldn’t last long as Albany broke the scoreless tie minutes later. Jake Jacobs fed a pass to Nick Lappin who skated into the offensive zone and beat Gudlevskis with a shot from the right circle at 14:27 of the period.

At the end of twenty minutes, the Crunch lead in shots 9-8, but were unable to find the back of the net and trailed 1-0.

The Devils played a dominant middle period, outshooting Syracuse by a 12-5 margin and scoring two goals to build a three-goal lead.

Brian Gibbons cut off a Syracuse pass at their own blue line and made them pay, tallying his 10th goal of the season at 2:17 of the period. Albany made it a three-goal game minutes later when Ben Sexton tipped a Blake Coleman shot past Gudlevskis for his 14th marker of the year at 6:53.

The Crunch entered the third period down three goals but began a strong comeback attempt in the final period.

Albany forward Kevin Rooney was taken off for interference at 6:22 of the period and Syracuse made quick work of the man advantage, as Gourde tallied his team-leading 16th goal of the season to make it a two-goal game. Cory Conacher controlled the puck in the offensive zone and fed a pass down low to Joel Vermin in the left circle. Vermin found Gourde alone in the slot and sent a pass underneath a Devils’ player’s stick and onto the tape of Gourde, who fired a one-timer past Appleby at 7:03 of the period.

For Conacher, who represented the Crunch at the 2017 AHL All-Star Classic this past weekend along with Gourde and Matt Taormina, his helper extended his league-leading streak of consecutive road games with an assist to seven.

With Gudlevskis pulled for an extra attacker, Erik Condra fired a shot from the right circle onto the Albany net. Appleby made the initial save but the puck bounced just outside the crease and Richard got a stick on it, backhanding it home to make it a one-goal game with just 5:23 left to play.

Despite outshooting the Devils 10-7 in the final period, the Crunch were unable to tie the contest and fell to the Devils for the first time in regulation this season.

Syracuse continues their six-game road trip when they faceoff against the Toronto Marlies on Saturday.



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