SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse Crunch defeated the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, 3-2, tonight at the Upstate Medical University Arena.
The win advances the team to 24-18-4-3 on the season and 2-0-0-0 in the four-game season series against the Penguins.
Crunch goaltender Max Lagace earned his third consecutive win stopping 26-of-28 shots. Dustin Tokarski turned aside 27-of-30 between the pipes for the Penguins.
Both Syracuse and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton went 1-for-4 on the power play.
The Crunch opened scoring with a power-play goal halfway through the first period. Simon Ryfors carried the puck down the right-wing boards before passing over to Gabriel Dumont. The captain then dished a backhand feed across the crease for Alex Barre-Boulet to chip in on the backdoor. The Penguins evened the score with a power-play goal of their own at 12:46 when Alexander Nylander was positioned next to the post to sweep in a redirected puck.
Syracuse regained their lead 4:37 into the second period when Trevor Carrick’s cross-slot pass ricocheted off a Penguin’s defender and over to Rudolfs Balcers in front of the net. At 14:20, the Crunch went up, 3-1. Jack Finley centered a feed from along the end boards for Lucas Edmonds to one-time in.
Valtteri Puustinen pulled the Penguins back within one with just 1:11 remaining in the game, but the Crunch smothered a comeback effort and took the win.
The Crunch host the Hartford Wolf Pack tomorrow.
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