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Game Notes: 2/01/08 v. Albany River Rats
Crunch Plowed Under in Albany
Albany, NY (February 1, 2008) – The Syracuse Crunch fell to the Albany River Rats tonight, 5-2 at the Times Union Center in front of 3,851 fans.
Albany, NY (February 1, 2008) – The Syracuse Crunch fell to the Albany River Rats tonight, 5-2 at the Times Union Center in front of 3,851 fans.
The Crunch got off to a fast start when Derek Dorsett notched his fourth goal of the season just over two minutes into the first frame. Dorsett found a bouncing puck in the slot and fired it through a screened Michael Leighton to give the Crunch a 1-0 lead. Alexandre Picard picked up the lone assist on the play.
Albany had an answer for Syracuse at the 7:44 mark of the period. The River Rats broke in 3-on-2 and Jerome Samson took a nice feed streaking down the middle from Brandon Nolan. Samson snapped the puck from the hash marks past Crunch starter Karl Goehring to tie the game 1-1.
The second stanza was all River Rats. Former Crunch defenseman Mark Flood gave Albany a 2-1 lead five and a half minutes into the period when his shot from right point found the back of the net past Goehring.
The River Rats continued to control the action and it paid off for them when Brandon Nolan scored his twentieth goal of the campaign with just 35 seconds remaining in the second period. Nolan corralled the puck on the right side, skated in and roofed a snapshot over the right shoulder of Goehring to give Albany a 3-1 lead.
Albany continued their dominant performance in the third period. The River Rats took a 4-1 lead on a power play seven and a half minutes in. Brian Rodney’s shot from the point was deflected, popped up in the air and eluded Goehring for the goal.
The River Rats made it 5-1 when Jakub Petruzalek scored Albany’s second power play goal of the game with just under six minutes left. Petruzalek was camped out on the left side of the net and dumped the puck into the open side past Goehring on a cross-ice pass from Bryan Rodney.
The Crunch got one back two minutes later when Picard came streaking in down the right wing, made a move around the defender to the front of the net and put it past Leighton to make it 5-2.
On the same play, Petruzalek hit Crunch defenseman Dan Smith, who took exception by following the Albany right wing to the bench to have words with him. Smith received a roughing penalty and a ten-minute misconduct.
The end of the game was chippy. Albany’s Casey Borer took a roughing penalty at the 17:06 mark and Tom Sestito was given a ten-minute misconduct with just 21 seconds remaining.
The Crunch could not find any more offense despite pulling their goaltender and Albany skated away with the 5-2 win.
CRUNCHABLES: The Crunch scored the first goal of the game again tonight and have now scored the first goal in seven consecutive games…Derek Dorsett’s first period marker broke and 18-game point-less streak…His last point came on a goal during a 4-3 loss @ Toronto on December 19…There were no penalties called in the first period tonight…The last time these two teams met back on January 13, there were five fights in the first period and a total of 70 penalty minutes in the game.