BELLEVILLE, ONTARIO – Seven different Syracuse Crunch players scored in an 8-2 victory over the Belleville Senators tonight at Yardmen Arena.
Five Crunch skaters tallied three points in the decisive win. Erik Condra, Mathieu Joseph, and Mathew Peca all recorded a goal and two helpers, while Alex Volkov and Carter Verhaeghe both contributed three assists. Mat Bodie had the only multi-goal performance as the Crunch stop a two-game losing streak, move to 15-11-1-2 on the season and build a 4-0-0-1 lead in the eight-game season series against the Senators.
Louis Domingue made 27 saves in net for the Crunch. Andrew Hammond allowed six goals on 19 shots before being relieved by Chris Driedger in the second period. Driedger went on to turn aside 16-of-18 for the Senators. Syracuse converted on 2-of-6 power play opportunities and went 3-for-4 on the penalty kill.
The Senators were first on the board 3:39 into the game. Ethan Werek cut down the slot and backhanded a feed to the top of the left circle for Colin White to one-time home.
The Crunch went on a run in the first period and potted four goals in the span of 10:17 to take control of the game. At 5:42, Verhaeghe deked around a defender at center ice and carried the puck into the zone down the right wing. He passed across the slot for Peca, who centered a feed for Dominik Masin to pot from between the circles on an odd-man rush. Halfway through the frame, Michael Bournival shoveled in a backhander from the right face off dot with assists from Volkov and Condra.
With 4:38 remaining in the stanza, Condra recorded a goal in his first game back since Nov. 15. He chipped in the rebound of Joseph’s shot from the high slot. Anthony Cirelli tallied a point on the play. Just 37 seconds later, Bodie netted his first of the game. Volkov sent the puck down to Peca at the goal line. The center fought off the defense and slid a centering pass to the slot for Bodie to tap in as he cut towards the net.
Syracuse continued their offensive onslaught with two more goals to start the second period. At the 3:34 mark, Stephens tipped in Bournival’s slap shot. The secondary assist went to Volkov. Eight minutes later, Masin got the puck from Condra and threw a last minute feed across the zone to Joseph waiting on the back door. His shot went over Hammond’s catching glove and chased the netminder from the game.
The Senators finally responded at the 14:27 mark with a power-play goal. Jordan Murray scored through traffic from the blue line with the help of Max Reinhart and Mike Blunden.
With 2:19 remaining in the second, Syracuse converted on the man-advantage to go back up, 7-2. Peca walked into the right circle and picked the corner off assists from Verhaeghe and Jamie McBain.
Syracuse finished adding to their highest scoring game of the season with a final power-play goal at the 13:22 mark of the third frame. After receiving the puck from Joseph, Bodie sent a give-and-go pass down to Verhaeghe at the side of the cage. The return feed gave the defenseman a wide open net to deposit his second of the game.
The Crunch return home to host the Utica Comets tomorrow at 7 p.m.
Single game tickets and packages 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. 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: Eight is the most goals scored by the Crunch this season…Dominik Masin played in his 100th AHL game tonight…Matthew Peca has goals in three consecutive games for the first time in his career…Carter Verhaeghe is on an eight-game point streak (4g, 7a)…The Crunch are 14-0-0-1 when scoring three or more goals in a game.
