SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse Crunch brought the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins’ seven-game win streak to a halt tonight as they surpassed the visitors, 4-2, at the War Memorial Arena.
The Crunch power-play unit notched back-to-back goals by Adam Erne and Tye McGinn in the first before Mike Blunden added a late period marker. Tanner Richard topped off scoring with a third period tally.
Crunch goaltender Adam Wilcox made 25 saves in his fourth win this season. Penguins netminder Matt Murray was handed his first loss in seven starts, allowing three goals on 21 shots. Syracuse struck on 2-of-7 power-play opportunities, while the penalty kill unit stopped 1-of-5 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton man-advantages.
The win improves the Crunch to 17-15-6-1 on the season. The Penguins are now 28-9-0-1. The teams split the four-game season series, 2-2.
The Crunch opened scoring with two power-play goals in less than a minute halfway through the first period. At the 11:31 mark, Matt Taormina received the puck from Jeff Tambellini at the point. He fired a high slap shot that Erne tipped down and past Murray. McGinn built a two-goal lead 49 seconds later. After Yanni Gourde’s shot was stopped, McGinn found the puck during a battle in the crease and jammed it across the goal line. Jonathan Drouin tallied the secondary assist.
The Penguins cut the lead in half late in the stanza. Off a feed from Dominick Simon, Josh Archibald rolled passed the Crunch defense and put the Penguins on the board with a wrister.
With 13 seconds remaining in the frame, the Crunch went back up by two. Matthew Peca skated the puck across the blue line on a 2-on-1 with Blunden. At the last minute, Peca threw it across the slot for a quick redirection by Blunden for his second goal in as many games.
Four minutes into the third period the Penguins came back within one. A bouncing rebound by Jean-Sebastien Dea found its way into the net while on the man-advantage. Carter Rowney and Dominik Uher assisted on the marker.
Despite the late attempt, Syracuse was unable to be caught and with just 21 seconds left, Tanner Richard added an empty net goal off a pass from Blunden to secure a 4-2 victory.
The Crunch travel to face the Rochester Americans on Jan. 18 at 3:05 p.m.
Syracuse Crunch single game and season tickets are on sale now and can be purchased either in person at the Crunch Box Office located in the War Memorial at 800 South State Street in Syracuse or by calling the office at 315-473-4444. For the latest Crunch news, visit www.syracusecrunch.com or follow the club on Facebook (www.facebook.com/syracusecrunch), Twitter (@SyracuseCrunch) and Instagram (@officialsyracusecrunch) using #SyrCrunch and #BelieveInBlue.
Crunchables: Matt Taormina played in his 400th professional game tonight…The Crunch had two power-play goals for the first time since Dec. 22 at Utica…The last time Mike Blunden had a two-point game was against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Dec. 31.
