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Game Notes: 1/04/08 v. Albany River Rats
Crunch Roll Over Rats
Albany, NY (January 4, 2008) – The Syracuse Crunch defeated the Albany River Rats tonight, 6-1 at the Times Union Center in front of 3,348 fans on the strength of a hat trick from right wing Gilbert Brule.
The Crunch did not wait long to tally the game’s first goal as newcomer Gilbert Brule gave the Crunch a 1-0 lead just three and a half minutes into the game. Brule took a nifty drop pass from Tom Sestito in the slot and snapped a quick shot low to the stick side that beat Albany starter Kevin Nastiuk.
Crunch starter Karl Goehring made a tremendous diving save on a 3-on-1 about eight and a half minutes into the game. J.D. Forrest took a pass coming out of the penalty box in front of Goehring, deked to his back hand, but was denied by the Crunch netminder’s outstretched left pad. Goehring wound up with 12 stops in the first.
Syracuse would go up 2-0 at the 18:44 mark of the period. Derick Brassard fed Adam Pineault as he was skating in on the right side and Pineault knifed it through the five-hole of Nastiuk as he slid across the crease.
Pineault gave Syracuse a 3-0 advantage when he notched his second of the game at the 7:19 mark of the second. Pineault picked the pocket of Rats right wing Joel Rechlicz in the left circle, turned around and fired a wrister over the shoulder of Nastiuk.
The River Rats finally broke through on the power play with just 17 seconds remaining in the period. Former Crunch d-man Mark Flood took a pass from Jakub Petruzalek at the point and rifled a slapshot over the right shoulder of a screened Goehring to cut the Crunch’s lead to 3-1.
Brule notched his second goal of the contest three and a half minutes into the third period. Brule went hard to the net and redirected a Sestito pass from the corner past Nastiuk to give the Crunch a 4-1 lead.
Things escalated after that as Rechlicz took a charging penalty at 4:37 which resulted in a scrap between him and Steven Goertzen. Syracuse gained the man-advantage from the play.
On the ensuing power play, Brule took a pass from Clay Wilson and scorched a one-timer from the left point past Nastiuk to extend the Crunch’s lead to 5-1. The goal was Brule’s third of the night to give him the hat trick.
Aaron Rome would add one more on the power play with 16 seconds left to give the Crunch a 6-1 lead.
Goehring made 33 saves and the Crunch skated away with the 6-1 win.
CRUNCHABLES: Crunch right wing Gilbert Brule tallied his first goal as a member of the Crunch tonight with his first period score…Brule’s goal proved to be the game-winner…Brule’s hat trick tonight was the first by a Crunch player all year…With two assists tonight, Derick Brassard has five points (0g, 5), in four games since returning to the lineup from an injury…With two goals tonight, Adam Pineault now has six points (4g, 2a), in his last six games…With two assists tonight, Tom Sestito now has five points (3g, 2a), in his last four games.