By Scott Kinville/315 Hockey.
The Syracuse Crunch (2-5-1-2, 7 pts, 6th in the North Division) returns home after a three-game road trip to face the Rochester Americans (6-4-0-0, 12 pts, 2nd in the North Division) on Wednesday night. The Crunch last played on Saturday night in Charlotte against the Checkers, in which they ended their road trip with a 4-0 victory and in the process ended a five-game losing streak. The Americans are coming off a 2-1 loss Saturday night against the Utica Comets in Utica. This will be the fourth of twelve meetings between the teams in the regular season – Rochester has won two of the three games played thus far.
Scoring has not been a problem for either team, as they both have thirty-four goals in ten games which puts them in the top ten overall in the American Hockey League. The Crunch, in particular, has two players (Darren Raddysh and Alex Barre-Boulet) in the top twenty of the league in points. The trouble both Syracuse and Rochester have had this season is keeping the puck out of the net, as each is in the bottom half of the league in goals against. Both teams have similar strengths and weaknesses, let’s take a look at how exactly they stack up against each other.
Syracuse Crunch Team Offense
Goals For: 34 (10th in the AHL).
Goals Per Game (average): 3.4.
Power Play: 25.0% (8 for 32 – 7th in the AHL).
Syracuse Crunch Top Five Scorers
1.) Darren Raddysh: 5 goals and 8 assists = 13 points. Raddysh is ninth overall in the AHL in points and leads all defensemen in that category.
2.) Alex Barre-Boulet: 2 goals and 11 assists = 11 points. Barre-Boulet is second overall in the AHL in assists and twelfth in points.
3.) Felix Robert: 6 goals and 5 assists = 11 points. Robert is thirteenth overall in the AHL in goals.
4.) Simon Ryfors: 7 goals and 3 assists = 10 points. Ryfors is sixth overall in the AHL in goals.
5.) Gemel Smith: 3 goals and 7 assists = 10 points.
Alex Barre-Boulet leads the Crunch and is fifth in the AHL in shots with forty.
Rochester Americans Team Offense
Goals For: 34 (6th in the AHL).
Goals Per Game (average): 3.4.
Power Play: 23.7% (9 for 38 – 10th in the AHL).
Rochester Americans Top Five Scorers
1.) Brandon Biro: 3 goals and 8 assists = 11 points. Biro is nineteenth in the AHL in assists.
2.) Linus Weissbach: 6 goals and 4 assists = 10 points. Weissbach is fifteenth in the AHL in goals.
3.) Lukas Rousek: 3 goals and 6 assists = 9 points.
4.) Jiri Kulich: 2 goals and 6 assists = 8 points.
5.) Isak Rosen: 2 goals and 5 assists = 7 points.
Jiri Kulich leads the Americans in shots with twenty-five.
Syracuse Crunch Team Defense
Goals Against: 40 (28th in the AHL).
Goals Against Per Game (average): 4.0.
Penalty Kill: 76.3% (29 for 38 – 21st in the AHL).
Rochester Americans Team Defense
Goals Against: 33 (23rd in the AHL).
Goals Against Per Game: 3.3.
Penalty Kill: 72.7% (24 for 33 – 26th in the AHL).
Syracuse Crunch Goaltending
Max Lagace has a record of 1-4-2 with a GAA of 4.10, and a 0.873 save percentage.
Hugo Alnefelt has a record of 1-1-1 with a GAA of 2.71, 0.918 save percentage and one shutout. Alnefelt is fourteenth in the AHL in save percentage.
Rochester Americans Goaltending
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has a record of 5-3-0 with a GAA of 3.34, and a 0.887 save percentage. Luukkonen is fourth in the AHL in wins.
Michael Houser has a record of 1-1-0 with a GAA of 2.30, and a 0.923 save percentage. Houser is ninth in the AHL in save percentage and tenth in GAA.
Malcolm Subban does not have any statistics yet this season.
Wednesday night’s game at the Upstate Medical University Arena is scheduled to begin at 7 pm EDT. Television coverage will be on AHLTV.
