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Game Notes: 12/12/07 v. Lake Erie Monsters
Crunch Rock Monsters in Cleveland
Cleveland, OH (December 12, 2007) – The Syracuse Crunch defeated the Lake Erie Monsters tonight, 4-1 at Quicken Loans Arena in front of 2,123 fans. Syracuse is now 4-1-0-1 on the current road trip and 5-1-0-1 in their last 7 games.
The Crunch had some jump in their legs early as they got on the board first at the 6:06 mark of the first period. With Lake Erie’s Wes O’Neill in the box for tripping, Aaron Rome sent a perfect cross-ice pass to the stick blade of Joakim Lindstrom. Lindstrom made no mistake and sniped a shot from the top of the face-off circle past Lake Erie starter, Jason Bacashihua.
Syracuse’s lead did not last very long. Just over two minutes later, Monsters right wing Chris Stewart came off the left half-wall, cut to the middle of the ice, faked a slap shot and sent a wrister past a screened Tomas Popperle to tie the game, 1-1. Both net-minders turned aside 4 out of 5 shots in the frame.
The second period started with three minor penalties in the first five minutes with both teams trading scoring chances.
Syracuse would re-gain the lead at the 5:34 mark on the power play with Lake Erie’s Mark Rycroft in the box for boarding. Brett Motherwell corralled the puck on the side boards outside the left circle and threw a wrist shot on goal. Derek Dorsett, who was planted in front of the net, sniffed out the rebound and poked it through Bacashihua for his second tally of the season to give the Crunch a 2-1 lead.
The Crunch continued their dominance in the second frame and stretched their lead to 3-1 late in the period. Syracuse again capitalized on the power play. Zenon Konopka threw a pass from the corner in front, trying to find an open teammate. The puck was deflected and ended up behind Bacashihua to give the Crunch their first two-goal lead of the game at the 18:33 mark.
A disciplined third period by the Crunch was the difference as they clamped down defensively with the two-goal advantage. Popperle was barreled over as a Lake Erie forward drove hard to the net and collided with him about five minutes into the stanza. Popperle was hurt on the play and had to be helped off the ice. He did not return.
Backup Curtis Darling came in to replace him for the final 15 minutes and stopped all four shots he faced. The Monsters would pull their goaltender with about 1:30 remaining.
Derek MacKenzie notched his 11th of the season as he took a feed from Adam Pineault, crossed over the center red line and found the empty net to seal a 4-1 victory for Syracuse.
CRUNCHABLES: Joakim Lindstrom and Derek MacKenzie were back in the lineup tonight after being returned by Columbus on Tuesday…Coming into tonight, Clay Wilson was tied for ninth in the AHL in scoring among defenseman...With an assist on Dorsett’s second period goal tonight, Motherwell recorded his first professional point and first point as a member of the Crunch...Backup goalie Curtis Darling made his Crunch debut tonight when he replaced an injured Tomas Popperle in the third period…The Crunch tied a season-high with 3 power play goals tonight…Tonight marked the sixth game of a season-long seven game road trip for Syracuse.