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Syracuse Crunch

Crunch squeeze out a point against St. John’s with shorthanded lineup

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By Steven DiOssi | @StevenDiOssi | Like us on Facebook
March 11, 2017

The Syracuse Crunch overcame a one-goal deficit in the third period but fell in overtime, 3-2, to the St. John’s IceCaps at War Memorial Arena on Saturday.

Byron Froese scored his 26th goal of the season and Ty McGinn tallied a goal for the third straight game as the Crunch dropped to 30-20-6-5 this season. Syracuse maintains their lead in the North Division with 71 points — one more than the second place Albany Devils — despite often playing without some of their best players who have been called up to the Tampa Bay Lightning this season.

The Lightning, who have battled injuries to key players throughout the season, recalled Matthew Peca before their game against the Florida Panthers on Saturday, after they lost Tyler Johnson, Vladislav Namestnikov and Cedric Paquette to injuries against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.

This forced the Crunch to play with just three traditional centers — Kevin Lynch, Mike McNamee and Froese — against the IceCaps.

Mike McKenna made 28 saves in his third start for the Crunch since being acquired via trade at the NHL’s trade deadline on March 1. IceCaps goaltender Yann Danis stopped 31-of-33 shots he faced in his first start since posting a shutout victory on Sunday. Syracuse went 1-for-5 with the man advantage and held the IceCaps scoreless in four opportunities with the man-advantage. The Crunch penalty killing unit is now a perfect 13-for-13 in their past three contests.

The Crunch opened the scoring at 12:49 of the first period when Froese scored his second goal in as many games. Joel Vermin carried the puck into the offensive zone and sent a pass to Henri Ikonen in the left circle. Ikonen faked a shot and thread a pass through the slot to Froese who held the puck momentarily before wristing it past a sliding Danis.

St. John’s answered minutes later on an 3-on-1 rush into the offensive zone, when Chris Terry beat McKenna with a one-timer at 16:31 of the period.

The teams remained tied at one goal a side as they entered the first intermission, despite the Crunch holding a 13-11 lead in shots.

The Crunch went on a power play at 13:04 of the second period but the IceCaps’ penalty killers broke the tie when Jacob de la Rose scored a shorthanded goal at the 14:29 mark.

Syracuse evened the score on the power play in the third period on McGinn’s fifth goal of the year just two and a half minutes in. McGinn was parked out front of the St. John’s net and tipped a Matt Taormina wrist shot past Danis. McGinn now has five goals and an assist in just eight games this season. Vermin also tallied his second assist of the game and has registered 27 points in 42 contests.

The Crunch outshot the IceCaps, 10-8, in the third period but the teams were unable to break the tie and headed to overtime.

Just 1:40 into the extra session, St. John’s earned the extra point when Charles Hudon potted the game winner on a breakaway.

The Crunch return to the road where they will face the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Wednesday.

Full game highlights from Syracuse Crunch


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