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Syracuse Crunch

Crunch rally late to pick up last-minute victory against Rochester

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by Steven DiOssi | @StevenDiOssi | Like us on Facebook
February 24, 2017

The Syracuse Crunch completed a third period comeback by tallying two goals in just over a minute to defeat the Rochester Americans 5-4 at Blue Cross Arena on Friday.

Matthew Peca, Joel Vermin and Kevin Lynch scored in the first two periods to give the Crunch a 3-2 lead as they entered the final frame. After Syracuse fell behind 4-3 in the third, they rallied behind goals by Adam Erne and Yanni Gourde in the final minute and 11 seconds of regulation to earn the victory. With the win, the Crunch improve to 27-17-5-5 on the season and lead the North Division with 64 points

Gourde’s goal came with just six seconds remaining — his team-leading sixth game-winner and a fitting way to earn head coach Benoit Groulx the 100th win of his American Hockey League career.

Kristers Gudlevskis got the call between the pipes for the fourth time in the past seven contests and made 19 saves to earn his 10th win of the season. Amerks goaltender Linus Ullmark stopped 31-of-36 shots he faced in the losing effort. The Crunch went 2-for-4 on the power play and limited Rochester to just one goal in three chances with the man advantage.

Syracuse went down a goal in the first period after Brady Austin beat Gudlevskis at 11:05 of the frame. The Crunch, who were outshot 7-6 in the period, evened the score with just 49 seconds left in the first when Peca tallied his seventh goal of the season on the power play. Just 11 seconds after Rochester forward Derek Grant was called for a tripping penalty, Adam Comrie faked a shot from the point before feeding the puck down low to Peca, who wristed it along the ice past Ullmark. Matt Taormina also added an assist on the play to earn his 44th point of the season, tying him with Cory Conacher for the team lead.

Syracuse fell behind again when Cole Schneider scored his 19th goal of the year on the power play at the 6:44 mark of the second period. Despite yielding that goal early on, the middle period belonged to the Crunch, as they doubled up Rochester in shots, 14-7. The Crunch knotted the game at two goals a side when Vermin beat Ullmark with a shot from inside the left circle for his 12th goal of the year. Cory Ward tallied the lone assist on the goal, giving him his first point as a member of the Crunch since signing a professional tryout contract on Wednesday.

The Crunch took their first lead of the game when Kevin Lynch tapped home a loose puck in the crease with just 2:44 left in the second period. Mike Halmo and Vermin each added assists on the play.<./p>

The Amerks took a 4-3 lead in the third period on a pair of goals by Hudson Fasching but the Crunch began their rally late in the frame.

After Rochester forward Tim Kennedy was called for tripping at 17:47, the Crunch power play got to work. Erne batted a puck out of the air above the Amerks’ crease to tie the game on his his 14th goal of the season. Peca and Comrie each tallied assists on the play — the second point of the evening for both players.

With just six seconds left to play, Gourde fired a wrist shot past Ullmark to tally his team-leading 19th goal of the season, with assists credited to Erik Condra and Peca. This gave Peca his first three-point game of the season and secured the victory.

The Crunch return to action when they face the Amerks on the back end of a home-and-home at War Memorial Arena on Saturday.

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