If they could remove the first 15 minutes of the game, the Syracuse Crunch would have had a pretty nice night against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Unfortunately, that’s not the way hockey works, and because they surrendered three goals during those first 15 minutes, the Crunch spent the night chasing a lead they would never catch as they lost 6-4.
Cole Koekpe scored twice to bring his season total to 19 goals while Gabriel Fortier and Lucas Edmonds also tallied. Hugo Alnefelt had a quick night as he was replaced by Matt Tomkins after allowing 3 goals on 5 shots in 10:15 of ice time. Tomkins kept the Crunch in the game by stopping 17 of 19 shots the rest of the way. Alex Barre-Boulet had two assists to bring his point total to 12 in 15 games played.
Despite the loss, the Crunch did move two points closer to clinching a playoff spot as Belleville lost as well. Cleveland had the night off, so Syracuse holds onto their two-point lead in the North Division. They will face another out-of-division opponent tonight as Providence comes to town. After tonight’s game, the Crunch’s seven remaining games will all be against divisional foes.
Other Hockey News
How Brayden Point is leading Lightning attack in critical late-season run [Tampa Bay Times]
Goals. He’s doing it by scoring goals. Hey, remember when Point didn’t score a goal for the first six games of the season and some people were wondering what was wrong? That was fun.
The Bruins’ Florida Man: Pat Maroon’s Cup legacy, from chirps to a lost hat [The Athletic]
Huh.President Biden took “The Hat”. Didn’t know that. You know which one I’m talking about – that dirty, white fedora that The Big Rig wore out while celebrating two Lightning Stanley Cups.
The Lightning are almost ready for their real season to begin [Defector]
While it’s a bridge too far to say the regular season is meaningless, we all know that the Lightning’s focus always sharpens in the postseason. They seem to be rounding into form as we hurtle our way to the second season.
Notes on Bally’s planned coverage with the Rays and Lightning both playing later today:
Leafs extend Simon Benoit [Pension Play Puppets]
The 25-year-old signed a three-year deal with an AAV of $1.35 million. Good for them.
Kucherov from his knees makes the plays of the week list.
Boston College advances to round of 8 [BC Interruption]
The first two periods were unexpectedly close as BC had just a 2-1 lead over Michigan Tech. One of their best players, Gabe Perrault, had been booted from the game for an illegal hit to the head as well. They found their stride just in time, scoring four times in the third period to win 6-1. Lightning prospect Eamon Powell had three assists in the victory. They’ll face Quinnipiac on Sunday.
Michigan State defeats Western Michigan in overtime [Spartans Wire]
It’s been 15 years since the Michigan State Spartans have won a NCAA Championship Tournament game, and they did it in dramatic fashion as they needed a goal from Karsen Dorwart with less than a minute to go in the third period to tie the game. Then Jeremy Davidson won it in overtime. Isaac Howard had two assists in the victory. They will face the winner of the Michigan/North Dakota game.
Today’s games will feature BU vs. Minnesota and Denver vs. Cornell.
