SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse Crunch rallied back in the third period to score two goals in the final four minutes and push the Bridgeport Sound Tigers into overtime. However, the Crunch were unable to overtake the Sound Tigers and fell, 3-2, in a four-round shootout.
Matt Taormina and Jake Dotchin both tallied their first goals of the season to help force the extra frame. Cory Conacher scored the team’s only shootout goal in the first round before the Sound Tigers lit the lamp in rounds three and four to take the win. Despite the loss, the Crunch pick up one point and move to 6-3-0-1 on the season while dropping the first of a two-game season series with Bridgeport.
Kristers Gudlevskis turned aside 23-of-25 shots and 2-of-4 shootout attempts between the pipes for the Crunch. His counterpart, Stephon Williams, stopped 24-of-26 shots before blocking 3-of-4 shootout attempts. Syracuse capitalized on 1-of-5 power plays and went a perfect 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.
After a scoreless first period, the Sound Tigers netted their first of the night with less than one minute remaining in the second frame when Connor Jones redirected Kyle Burroughs’s shot from the blueline.
The Sound Tigers increased their lead with a shorthanded marker early in the final stanza. Kellan sent the puck over Gudlevskis’s glove from the right wing side.
The Crunch kicked off a comeback rally with a power-play goal with 3:51 remaining in regulation. After a quick fake, Taormina found the back of the net with a wrist shot from the slot. Erik Condra and Tanner Richard picked up points for the helper.
Just one minute later, Dotchin evened the score with a shorthanded tally. Yanni Gourde carried the puck into the corner before centering it to Dotchin. The blueliner fired from the left circle to best Williams and force overtime.
The teams remained tied through the extra frame and the game went to a shootout. Conacher netted one for the Crunch in the opening round, but it was not enough as Bracken Kearns and Carter Verhaeghe each snuck one past Gudlevskis in the third and fourth rounds.
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