SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse Crunch tamed the Hartford Wolf Pack, 7-2, tonight at the Upstate Medical University Arena.
The Crunch had six different goal scorers led by Jakob Pelletier, who potted a shorthanded penalty shot and a power-play goal. The win advances the Crunch to 15-9-1-0 on the season.
Crunch goaltender Ryan Fanti earned the win stopped 21-of-23 shots. Spencer Martin turned aside 25-of-32 between the pipes for the Wolf Pack. The Syracuse power play converted on 1-of-4 opportunities, while the penalty kill went a perfect 4-for-4.
The Wolf Pack were first on the board just 1:58 into the game. Fanti appeared to make the save on Connor Mackey’s long left-point shot, but the puck trickled past him and across the goal line. Finley evened the score halfway through the frame when he scored on a shorthanded breakaway. At 15:53, Trey Fix-Wolansky skated in on an odd-man rush and sent a cross-slot feed for Brennan Othmann to score from the left circle and put the Wolf Pack back on top. The Crunch responded yet again and Pelletier evened the score for a second time when he scored on a shorthanded penalty shot late in the period.
The Crunch had an offensive onslaught and added three goals in the second period to build up a 5-2 lead. Just 2:11 into the frame, Furry got his stick on the puck during a scramble and shoveled it across the goal line. Five minutes later, Gauthier potted his first professional goal. He deked around a defender in the neutral zone, skated across the blue line and scored with a wrister from the left circle. Pelletier rounded out the second-period scoring with his second goal of the night at the 9:36 mark when he jammed in a rebound while on the man-advantage.
Syracuse continued to build on their lead with two more goals in the third period. Pietroniro sent home a wrister from the left circle at the 12:16 mark. Two minutes later, Mercuri fired a shot on goal that got caught in traffic before sliding across the goal line. The Crunch maintained their dominance through the rest of regulation to secure the win.
The Crunch are back in action when they travel to Bridgeport to face the Islanders on Wednesday.