Weekly Release – Vol. 28, No. 22

CRUNCH ROLL INTO ANOTHER 4-IN-5 WEEK

The Crunch took home seven of eight possible points over four games against North Division opponents in a five day span in Week 22.

The Crunch remain in sixth place in the North Division, but the gap to the final playoff spot has shrunk and the spread between second place and sixth place remains narrow. They are 25-21-6-2 this season and bring a 0.537 points percentage into the week.

Syracuse played three overtime games during the week. The team earned a 3-2 overtime win Wednesday at Utica. After a 3-2 regulation win over the Rochester Americans Friday night, they played back-to-back overtime games at home Saturday and Sunday. They fell to Toronto, 3-2, in a shootout and then defeated the Amerks, 4-3, in overtime after rallying from a 2-0 deficit in the third period.

TOP PERFORMERS

Darren Raddysh bookended the week with a pair of overtime game-winning goals for the Crunch. He provided the heroics with 0.6 seconds remaining in overtime Wednesday in Utica by cashing in on an end-to-end rush to give the Crunch a 3-2 win. He then iced the game away 59 seconds into overtime as the Crunch rallied past the Rochester Americans on Sunday.

The two overtime tallies give Raddysh seven in his AHL career. He is also tied with Charles Hudon for the team lead with two overtime winners; Cole Koepke and Jimmy Huntington have scored the other two this season. In Raddysh’s 269-game AHL career, he has scored 27 goals and 10 have been game-winners. He has scored five goals in the last 14 games after going the first 27 games without scoring.

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Defenseman Alex Green led all Crunch players with five points in four games while extending his career-best point streak to five games. The second-year pro has picked up an assist in the last four games and he also added a goal Friday at Rochester for his second multi-point performance of the season.

With his five points (1g, 4a) last week, the Cornell product now has 19 points (4g, 15a) over 51 games, ranking second among the team’s defensemen. The 23-year-old has logged points in seven of the last nine games, contributing eight points (2g, 6a).

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Goaltender Max Lagace played in all four games last week and posted a 3-0-1 record. He allowed two or fewer goals in three of his four appearances and posted a 2.31 goals-against average. The veteran goaltender earned wins in all three of his starts—Wednesday at Utica, Friday at Rochester and Sunday against the Amerks. He relieved an injured Hugo Alnefelt and took the shootout loss Saturday versus Toronto.

He improved to 9-7-1 this season and is now at 95 career AHL wins.

UPCOMING: HFD|WBS|BRI|BEL

The Crunch take to the ice for another four-in-five against four different opponents in Week 23.

Syracuse hosts the Hartford Wolf Pack, NHL affiliate of the New York Rangers, for the lone time this season tomorrow night. Hartford (27-18-5-2) is currently in third place in the Atlantic Division and hasn’t played in Syracuse since Nov. 23, 2019.

The Crunch make stops in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Bridgeport to kick off a three-in-three weekend. They fell to the Penguins (25-23-4-4) in overtime two weeks ago and lost to the Islanders (23-25-5-4) in November.

The crucial game comes Sunday at home against Belleville (27-22-1-0), who is a smidge ahead of the Crunch in the North Division playoff race.

WEEK 22 RESULTS

Wednesday, March 9 | Game 51 at Utica | W, 3-2 (OT)

Syracuse        0 2 0 1 – 3     Shots: 5-12-5-1-23  PP: 0/4

Utica               1 1 0 0 – 2     Shots: 6-8-7-2-23     PP: 0/5

2nd Period-Barré-Boulet 7 (Day, Green), 7:46. Elie 13 (Somppi, Goncalves), 17:59. Overtime-Raddysh 4 (Unassisted), 4:59. . . . Lagace 7-7-0 (23 shots-21 saves) A-3,917

Friday, March 11 | Game 52 at Rochester | W, 3-2

Syracuse        2 1 0 – 3     Shots: 18-16-9-43       PP: 1/3

Rochester     1 1 0 – 2     Shots: 8-4-4-16            PP: 0/3

1st Period-Green 4 (Katchouk, Day), 7:03. Barré-Boulet 8 (Day, Green), 17:42 (PP). 2nd Period-Hudon 21 (Barré-Boulet, Hora), 3:46. Lagace 8-7-0 (16 shots-14 saves) A-6,611

Saturday, March 12 | Game 53 vs. Toronto | SOL, 3-2

Toronto         0 1 1 0 1 – 3     Shots: 5-9-9-3-1-27      PP: 0/2

Syracuse        0 1 1 0 0 – 3     Shots: 8-16-10-3-0-37 PP: 0/4

2nd Period-Elie 14 (Somppi), 18:56. 3rd Period-Walcott 5 (Claesson, Green), 5:36. Shootout-Toronto 2 (Abramov G, Anderson G) Syracuse 0 (Goncalves NG, Jones NG). . . . Alnefelt ND (15 shots-14 saves); Lagace 8-7-1 (11 shots-10 saves) A-4,591

Sunday, March 13 | Game 54 vs. Rochester | W, 4-3 (OT)

Rochester     2 0 1 0 – 3     Shots: 10-5-9-1-25           PP: 1/3

Syracuse        0 0 3 1 – 4     Shots: 10-15-17-2-37      PP: 1/4

3rd Period-Jones 4 (Green, Somppi), 0:15. Goncalves 11 (Hudon, Dumont), 7:24. Koepke 16 (Hudon), 10:28 (PP) Overtime-Raddysh 5 (Barré-Boulet), 0:59. . . . Lagace 9-7-1 (25 shots-22 saves) A-3,744