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Syracuse Crunch

Big night from Adam Erne leads Syracuse Crunch to seventh consecutive victory

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By Steven DiOssi | @StevenDiOssi | Like us on Facebook
December 6, 2017

Adam Erne’s hat trick helped lead the Syracuse Crunch to a 6-1 victory over the Utica Comets at Adirondack Bank Center on Wednesday.

Carter Verhaeghe scored a pair of goals and Matthew Spencer notched his first as a professional, as the Crunch extended their win streak to seven games and improved to 11-9-1-2 on the season. In that seven-game span, the Crunch have outscored their opponents 31-17.

Louis Domingue stopped 24-of-25 shots to earn his fifth win with the Crunch since being acquired in a trade from the Arizona Coyotes on Nov. 14. Comets goaltender Richard Bachman yielded six goals on 28 shots.

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Syracuse converted on 1-of-6 power play opportunities but held the Comets scoreless in five attempts with the man advantage.

The Crunch have continued their dominant play despite being without their leading scorer, Cory Conacher, after he was recalled by the Tampa Bay Lightning on Dec. 1. Syracuse is also battling through injuries, with Daniel Walcott and Dennis Yan out of the lineup.

The Comets got out to a 1-0 lead at 9:54 of the first period on a goal by Carter Wiercioch. But it was all Syracuse from there.

Erne tallied his first goal of the night to tie the game at 17:57 of the period. Kevin Lynch carried the puck around the Comets’ net and fed a pass to Erne who one-timed it past Bachman.



The Crunch took over the game in the middle frame, as Verhaeghe potted a rebound off Dominik Masin’s shot at 9:55. Verhaeghe struck again at 11:02, beating Bachman over his shoulder with a shot from the right circle.

Anthony Cirelli had a penalty shot attempt but was stopped by Bachman at 15:48 of the period.



The Crunch added to their lead in the third period, behind Spencer’s tally and a pair of goals from Erne.

With traffic in front of the Comets’ net, Spencer’s shot got past Bachman at 7:54. Cirelli and Erne each added assists on the goal. Spencer has scored a point in two consecutive games (one goal, one assist) since being reassigned to the Crunch from the Adirondack Thunder of the ECHL on Dec. 2.



Erne’s second goal of the game came on a backhand shot from the point at 10:50. Mat Bodie and Cirelli added the assists. Under two minutes later, Erne tipped Mathieu Joseph’s shot past Bachman to earn his first professional hat trick and cap a four-point game. Cirelli also added an assist to finish with three points on the night.



In the past three games, Erne has been an offensive force, tallying five goals and an assist. On Saturday, his goal with just 47.2 seconds in regulation sent the game into overtime before the Crunch prevailed 5-4 after a seven-round shootout over the Belleville Senators.

After Wednesday night’s performance, Erne has moved into a tie with Conacher for the team lead with 15 points.

Erne and the Crunch will look to extend their win streak to eight games when they face the Binghamton Devils on Friday.

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