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Game Notes: 12/04/07 v. Chicago Wolves
Crunch Come Back in Chicago
Rosemont, IL (December 4, 2007) – The Syracuse Crunch defeated the Chicago Wolves tonight, 3-2 at Allstate Arena in front of 4,508 fans.
Both teams played cautiously and seemed to be feeling each other out in the first nineteen minutes of the opening frame. Chicago got on the score sheet first when, with Brett Motherwell in the box for hooking at 17:08, Jason Krog skated into the offensive zone, drew two Crunch defenseman to him and found an open Brett Sterling who wristed one past Adam Munro to put Chicago out in front, 1-0.
It was another uneventful first 15 minutes of the period to start the second, with the exception of two Crunch power plays that could not be converted and one Chicago man-advantage that the Crunch were able to kill off. The Crunch would tie the game 1-1 on the power play at the 15:17 mark when Derek MacKenzie stung his former team. Aaron Rome got the puck to him at the point where he sent a wrist shot through a screen that beat Wolves starter Ondrej Pavelec. Chicago had an answer for the Crunch on a power play of their own just over three minutes later. Wolves’ defenseman Brian Fahey kept the puck in on a clearing attempt and moved the puck to Jason Krog. Krog fed Sterling in the middle who buried it for his second of the game to give Chicago a 2-1 lead.
The Crunch would battle back to tie the game again when Zenon Konopka broke in on a 2-on-1 with Jeffrey Szwez. Konopka made a perfect cross-ice feed right on to the tape of Szwez who buried it past Pavelec to tie the game, 2-2. Syracuse was not done. The Crunch kept working and got the go-ahead marker at 13:18. Philippe Dupuis stole the puck when Krog had trouble with it in his own zone, came in alone, deked to his forehand and beat Pavelec to give the Crunch a 3-2 lead. Syracuse held off Chicaco in the final few minutes and pulled out their third straight win.
CRUNCHABLES: With a goal tonight, Derek MacKenzie now has 4 points (2g, 2a) in his last two games…The Crunch extended their winning streak tonight to a season-high three games. Coming into tonight, Chicago had the second best record in the AHL (17-3-1-0, 35 points).