SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse Crunch defeated the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, 4-1, tonight at the Upstate Medical University Arena.
The Crunch have now won three consecutive games and sit at 27-19-4-3 on the season. Syracuse swept the two-game season series against Lehigh Valley, 2-0.
Max Lagace stopped 35-of-36 shots in victory for the Crunch. Samuel Ersson turned aside 26-of-30 between the pipes for the Phantoms.
Syracuse was successful on their sole power play opportunity, while the penalty kill went a perfect 4-for-4.
The Crunch were first on the board late in the opening frame. Ilya Usau fired a shot towards the net that was tipped in by Cole Koepke.
Syracuse added two more in the second period to build a three-goal lead. Ryan Jones lit the lamp with a wrister from the left face off dot at the 7:54 mark. Five minutes later, Felix Robert sent the puck off the goal post and in from the right circle.
Robert scored his second of the game just 3:56 into the final frame. Gage Goncalves centered a feed for Robert to send home from in between the circles. The Phantoms finally responded two minutes later while Artem Anisimov was in front of the crease to redirect Kevin Connauton’s shot into the net, but the Crunch stifled a comeback effort and took the win.
The Crunch travel to face the Utica Comets on Sunday.