TORONTO – The Syracuse Crunch opened scoring, but went on to give up two goals in the first period in a 2-1 loss to the Toronto Marlies tonight at Ricoh Coliseum.
The loss drops the Crunch to 4-8-1-2 on the season and 0-2 in the eight game season series against the Marlies.
Goaltender Louis Domingue turned aside 25-of-27 in his Crunch debut. Garret Sparks earned the win with 31 saves. Syracuse converted on 1-of-5 power play opportunities, while Toronto went 2-for-5 on the man-advantage.
The Crunch opened scoring on the power play three minutes into the game. Ben Thomas fired a shot from the top of the left circle that was stopped by Sparks. The rebound dropped down for Erne to chip in for his first of the season. Dennis Yan recorded the secondary assist.
The Marlies potted two power-play goals of their own to take a 2-1 lead before the first intermission. At the 13:54 mark, Chris Mueller threw a feed into the slot where Andreas Johnsson redirected it past Domingue. Kasperi Kapanen earned the secondary helper before netting the go-ahead goal with 1:04 remaining in the opening frame. He picked up the puck at Toronto’s blue line, skated it through the neutral zone and sent it bar down. Calle Rosen and Johnsson tallied points on the eventual game-winner.
The Crunch and Marlies return to Ricoh Coliseum for a rematch tomorrow at 4 p.m.
Ticket packages for the 2017-18 season are on sale now and can be purchased in person at the Crunch office located inside the War Memorial Arena at 800 S. State St. in Syracuse, by calling the office at 315-473-4444 or by logging on to Ticketmaster. For the latest Crunch news, visit www.syracusecrunch.com or follow the club on Facebook (www.facebook.com/syracusecrunch), Twitter (@SyracuseCrunch) and Instagram (@syracusecrunch) using #SyrCrunch.
Crunchables: The Crunch have scored a power-play goal in seven consecutive games…Dennis Yan is on a three-game point streak with an assist in each game.
