SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse Crunch went down by two goals before Tanner Richard kicked off a comeback effort. However, the attempt fell short and the Crunch stumbled to the Utica Comets, 2-1, tonight at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.
The loss moves the Crunch to 8-5-0-1 on the season.
Goaltender Kristers Gudlevskis made 13 saves in net for the Crunch. His counterpart, Thatcher Demko, stopped 31-of-32 for the Comets. Syracuse went 3-for-4 on the penalty kill, while Utica was successful on all three.
The Comets found the back of the net first with a power-play goal at the 8:45 mark of the opening frame. Carter Bancks’s shot from the left wing side was blocked, but the rebound kicked out for Alexandre Grenier to send home from the bottom of the right circle while Gudlevskis was down.
Utica doubled up halfway through the second period. While attempting a cross-crease pass down low, the puck skipped off a defender’s stick and over the goaltender. Derek Hulak recorded the goal and Michael Carcone the assist.
The Crunch got on the board with 6:02 remaining in the second. Joel Vermin broke up a pass from the end boards and chipped the puck to Richard. The forward fired a wrist shot from the slot to cut the lead in half.
Syracuse was unable to build momentum off Richard’s sixth of the season and dropped their second of the year to Utica. The teams will face each other nine more times this season
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