Team: Syracuse Crunch (7-1-1-1), AHL affiliate for the Tampa Bay Lightning
Opponent: Rochester Americans (6-4-1-0), AHL affiliate for the Buffalo Sabres
Where: Oncenter War Memorial Arena, Syracuse, New York
When: 7:30 pm ET
Media: Live stream via AHL Live; Radio: The Score 1260 AM
The Crunch played the Hamilton Bulldogs twice in three days, winning both games. The second game was at the home of the Montreal Canadiens, the Bell Centre, as Hamilton is their AHL affiliate. The game in Montreal was a homecoming, of sorts, for the Syracuse players from that city.
The Crunch won handily in their NHL arena debut, 4-1. Goal scorers were Philip-Michael Devos in the first period, Mike Angelidis in the second, and Tyler Johnson with two in the third. The team was 0-for-4 on the power play. Both Alex Killorn and Cory Conacher had five shots each.
An unfortunate incident occurred in the game, where Jean-Philippe Cote of the Crunch threw a hipcheck on Hamilton’s Blake Geoffrion, taking Geoffrion out of the game. He went to the hospital, and ended up having surgery to repair a depressed skull fracture. He is expected to have a full recovery.
As it’s the second game of a back-to-back, Riku Helenius is likely to start tonight as Dustin Tokarski started last night.
