SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse Crunch took down the Belleville Senators, 5-2, tonight at CAA Arena to sweep the home-and-home series. 
The teams exchanged blows in the opening frame and went into the first intermission tied at two. After a quiet beginning to the second period, the Crunch took a 3-2 lead after the 15-minute mark and then added two more tallies in the third period to earn the win.
Mitchell Chaffee led the Crunch in scoring with two goals while Conor Geekie and Jakob Pelletier added a goal and an assist each. Max Groshev recorded two helpers on the evening and four other Syracuse skaters tallied a point.
The Crunch improve to 26-16-3-1 on the season and 3-2-0-0 in the eight-game seasons series with the Senators.
Crunch goaltender Brandon Halverson earned the win turning aside 21-of-23 shots faced. Hunter Shepard put a stop to 18-of-22 shots in net for the Senators. Syracuse special teams converted on 2-of-3 power play opportunities while holding Belleville scoreless on two man-advantages.
Syracuse struck first while on the power play just 1:37 into the opening frame. Conor Geekie dished the puck from the bottom of the right circle to Jakob Pelletier at the right point. Pelletier sent it back to Geekie who then potted a snapshot from the right faceoff dot. Belleville knotted the score at the 8:20 mark of the period as Lassi Thomson netted a bouncing puck at the right side of the crease.
The Crunch regained the lead, 2-1, with less than five minutes to go in the first when Geekie and Pelletier teamed up again. Geekie fed a pass from the right goal line over to Pelletier and he snapped a one-timer home as he was entering the right circle. Less than a minute later, the Senators evened the score again as Carter Yakemchuk netted a wraparound goal.
Syracuse regained a one-goal lead for the third time in the evening as Gabriel Szturc potted a power-play goal at the 15:57 mark of the second frame. Lucas Mercuri battled for the puck along the boards and passed it back to Dylan Duke behind the net. Duke found Szturc in the middle of the left circle and he fired a one-timer home to take a 3-2 lead.
With just under four minutes left to play in the third period, the Crunch took a two-goal lead while playing four-on-four. Brendan Furry found Mitchell Chaffee in the neutral zone as they were rushing up the ice and Chaffee fired the puck home from the right circle. Chaffee added his second goal of the night to ice the game with 2:06 remaining. Max Groshev poked the puck away from a Belleville skater and Chaffee delivered an empty-net goal from the middle of the circles in the defensive zone.
The Crunch return from the AHL All-Star break on February 14 when they play a road contest against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
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