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Game Notes: 2/06/08 v. Rochester Americans
Crunch Defeat Amerks in Rochester
Rochester, NY (February 6, 2008) - The Syracuse Crunch defeated the Rochester Americans tonight, 3-1 at the Blue Cross Arena in front of 4,120 fans.
The weather outside was messy and so was the action in the first period. Neither team could find an offensive rhythm as Rochester outshot the Crunch 6-5 and was 0-for-1 on the power play.
The Crunch’s best scorning chance came when Adam Dennis made a save on a Derek MacKenzie shot and denied Mark Rycroft on the rebound opportunity. Crunch starter Dan LaCosta made a key right pad save on a shot from the left point with less than two minutes remaining to keep the game scoreless.
The Crunch came out with a purpose in the second period and scored the game’s first goal just 27 seconds in. Rycroft slid a backhand pass from the right corner right on to the tape of a streaking MacKenzie who one-timed a shot through the legs of Dennis to give the Crunch a 1-0 lead.
Syracuse went up 2-0 at the 11:09 mark of the second when David Cullen one-timed an Aaron Rome pass from the left point off the glove of Dennis and into the back of the net.
Rochester cut their deficit in half when Drew Larman notched his sixth of the season just a minute and a half later to make it 2-1.
Looking to capitalize on their momentum, Rochester pulled their goalie with 1:45 to go. On that play, Steven Goertzen intercepted a cross-ice pass as Dennis was going to the bench, skated in and slid it into the empty net to give the Crunch a 3-1 lead.
Syracuse held on for the remaining time and skated away with the win.
CRUNCHABLES: Kirill Starkov made his Syracuse Crunch debut tonight after being recalled from Youngstown (CHL)… After tonight’s game, the Crunch have now outscored their opponents on the road in the third period by a 41-32 margin…Mark Rycroft tallied his first point as a member of the Crunch with an assist on MacKenzie’s second period goal…David Cullen made his first return to Blue Cross arena as a member of the opposing team…Cullen played for Rochester from 2003-04 to 2005-06…Cullen notched his first goal as a member of the Crunch with his second period marker.