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Syracuse Crunch

Condra’s first professional hat trick leads Crunch to victory

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by Steven DiOssi | @StevenDiOssi | Like us on Facebook
February 25, 2017

The Syracuse Crunch defeated the Rochester Americans 4-3 to sweep the home-and-home series between the teams at War Memorial Arena on Saturday.

Erik Condra scored a hat trick and Yanni Gourde tallied his team-leading 20th goal of the season as the Crunch improved to 28-17-5-5 overall and maintain their position atop the North Division with 66 points.

Adam Wilcox stopped 27 shots and earned his 17th win of the year, while Rochester goaltender John Muse stopped 31-of-35 shots he faced. The Crunch scored one power play goal on six chances and held the Amerks to a lone goal in three opportunities with the man advantage.

The Crunch got off to a quick start in the opening period, as Condra tallied his first goal of the game just 46 seconds into play. He carried the puck inside the left circle and stickhandled towards the slot before firing a shot past Muse and into the net. Matthew Peca and Mathieu Brodeur each added assists on the goal.

Syracuse continued their momentum after Dan Catenacci was called for a delay of game penalty and they went on their first power play of the contest. The Crunch set up in the offensive zone and Joel Vermin dished a puck down low to Mike Halmo near the goal line. Halmo tapped it to Gourde who beat Muse with a quick shot and made it a two-goal game at 7:23.

The Crunch offense continued to roll, as Condra carried the puck in the Rochester offensive zone and stickhandled toward the top of the left circle before snapping a shot past Muse for his second goal of the contest at the 12-minute mark of the first period.

The Amerks cut the Syracuse lead to two at the 11:03 mark of the middle period when Alexander Nylander scored his seventh goal of the season. It was short-lived, however, as Condra notched his hat trick at 15:59, assisted by Gourde and Ben Thomas. It was the first hat trick of Condra’s professional hockey career and came in his 584th game, according to Syracuse broadcaster Dan D’Uva. Condra had previously had four two-goal performances in 192 AHL games and scored two-goals four times in 392 NHL games.

As the second period came to a close, the Crunch held a commanding 4-1 lead after outshooting the Amerks 31-15.

The first two period may have belonged to Syracuse, but that didn’t stop Rochester from making it a game in the final frame. They outshot the Crunch by a 15-4 margin and Kyle Bonis and Nick Baptiste each tallied goals to cut the Syracuse lead to one-goal just 4:17 into the period.

Despite a strong push by the Amerks to tie the game in regulation, Wilcox preserved the one-goal lead and Syracuse held on to win their 28th game of the season.

The Crunch continue their three-game home stand at War Memorial Arena when they host the Hershey Bears on Friday.

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