Team: Syracuse Crunch (17-6-1-3), AHL affiliate for the Tampa Bay Lightning
Opponent: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (13-11-1-1), AHL affiliate for the Pittsburgh Penguins
Where: Oncenter War Memorial Arena, Syracuse, New York
When: 7:30 pm ET
Media: Live stream via AHL Live; Radio: The Score 1260 AM
Last night, the Syracuse Crunch lost to the Adirondack Phantoms in a shootout that went seven rounds 4-3. Frankly, they were lucky to make it into overtime. The first period was not one of their best showings, and they were down 3-0 by the first period intermission.
They did manage to keep the shots down for the Phantoms to 5 in the second and 4 in the third. So they had tightened up a bit on the defensive end of things. And they cranked up the offense in the second as well, taking 21 shots on goal, and then they had another 11 in the third. They scored three unanswered goals – Richard Panik, Alex Killorn, and Tyler Johnson were the goal scorers – to force overtime. They ended overtime on the penalty kill, which then led to a shootout.
During the first period, the majority of the team looked distracted and disinterested in playing. That changed in the second, but even then, only about half the team showed up. The second and third were inconsistent at best.
Despite the loss, and despite the fact that this is the second of back-to-back games, Dustin Tokarski will likely get the start tonight. The backup, Pat Nagle, isn’t having the best season in the ECHL – he’s got a GAA of 3.47 and a SV% of 0.887 on the season so far – so it’s unlikely he’ll see any playing time, unless it’s absolutely necessary. It’s possible, of course, but it probably won’t happen.
