The Syracuse Crunch have a busy three game week upon them. The action started Wednesday evening at the Utica Auditorium against the Comets. It will shift to Syracuse on Friday before finishing at Binghamton Saturday.
Wednesday, Kristers Gudlevskis got the nod in-between the pipes for the boys in blue, opposite of star rookie goaltender Thatcher Demko for the Comets.
The Comets wasted little time getting on the board. Alex Grenier netted his sixth goal of the season on the man-advantage at the 8:45 mark of the opening frame. Both teams put up 8 shots on goal in the first.
The Crunch controlled play for the majority the middle stanza, peppering Demko with 11 shots in comparison to the two shots Utica put on Gudlevskis. Those two shots would be all the Comets would need, though. At the 11:15 mark, Derek Hulak made a move around the Crunch’s netminder and buried the biscuit with ease.
The Crunch were able to cut the lead in half a little under three minutes later when Tanner Richard sniped his sixth goal of the season past Demko. The lone assist on the Crunch goal would go to Joel Vermin.
Gudlevskis made 13 saves on 15 shots in the Crunch loss. On the other end of the ice, Demko stopped 31 of 32 shots for the 2-1 win and the first star of the game honor.
The Crunch are back in action on Black Friday when the North Division leading Toronto Marlies come to town.
Author Notes:
- The Crunch PowerPlay struggle continued tonight. They went 0-3 Wednesday and have cumulatively gone 0-15 in their last three contests.
- Defenseman Dylan Blujus and forwards Cory Conacher and Gabriel Dumont were scratched and are all listed as day-to-day. /
