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Crunch Pound Amerks to Keep Winning Streak Going at Eleven
Syracuse, NY, (Sunday, April 6, 2008)
Rochester, NY (April 6, 2008) – The Syracuse Crunch defeated the Rochester Americans tonight, 10-3 at the Blue Cross Arena.
Even though they are far apart in the standings, the flame of the Rochester-Syracuse rivalry still burns hot as these two teams met for the second time in three days. The Amerks got on the board first just two and a half minutes into the game.
Johann Kroll’s shot from the point went wide of the net, took an odd carom off the boards and came back out in front of the cage. Dylan Hunter found the puck and squeaked it by Crunch starter Adam Munro to put Rochester up 1-0.
The Crunch and Americans mixed in some penalties, including five minutes each for fighting for Derek Dorsett and Patrick Kaleta half way through the period.
A slashing infraction by David Brine at the 15:44 mark of the period gave the Crunch their first power play of the game. Syracuse took advantage of that opportunity and cashed in 44 seconds later. Nate DiCasmirro won a battle along the boards and got the puck to Dorsett behind the Amerks’ net. Dorsett did a spin-o-rama and stuffed it past Tyler Plante on a backhand wraparound.
A bus load of loud and loyal Crunch fans made the trek west on I-90 to cheer on their team and saw the Crunch take a 2-1 lead at the 4:42 mark of the second period on Dorsett’s second tally of the game. Derick Brassard made a great move and got some help when a Rochester defenseman fell down to give him some open ice. Brassard fed Dorsett streaking down the right side who snapped a shot past Plante for a 2-1 Crunch lead.
Syracuse went up 3-1 when Brassard scored a highlight-reel goal. After avoiding a check, Brassard kept his balance, danced around a Rochester defender and ripped a shot to the top corner for his third point of the night.
The Americans answered just under three minutes later when Tanner Glass deflected Martin Lojek’s blast from the point past Munro to make it 3-2.
The Crunch re-gained a two-goal advantage with under four minutes to go in the second when Kirill Starkov found a puck in the slot and slid it between the pads of Plante for a 4-2 Crunch lead.
The Crunch took control and blew the game open with a scoring frenzy in the third period that started with three goals in the first six minutes.
Andrei Plekhanov continued his scoring ways, wristing a Mark Rycroft pass through Plante to put the Crunch up 5-2.
Kevin Jarman notched his first AHL goal by deflecting a point shot from Dan Smith past Plante to make it 6-2.
Brian McGuirk scored his second goal of the season in just his fifth AHL game when he sniped a shot past Plante to give Syracuse a 7-2 advantage.
Jarman and Starkov both notched their second goals of the game at 14:58 and 15:46, respectively, and Mike Radja fed former University of New Hampshire teammate Matt Fornataro in front of the net for a shorthanded goal and his first professional goal with two minutes left to make it 10-2.
David Brine notched his ninth of the year for Rochester with six seconds left to make it 10-3.
CRUNCHABLES: The Crunch extended their franchise-record and AHL season-high winning streak to 11 games…Syracuse scored six third period goals and a season-high 10 goals overall…Defenseman Nick Holden and right wing Matt Fornataro both appeared in their first professional game tonight…Six Crunch players recorded multiple point games tonight (Brassard, DiCasmirro, Dorsett, Jarman, Plekhanov, Starkov)…Derick Brassard’s 5 points (1g, 4a) tied a Crunch individual season-high.