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Game Notes: 3/14/08 v. Rochester Americans
Crunch Roll Over Amerks
Syracuse, NY (March 14, 2008) – The Syracuse Crunch defeated the Rochester Americans tonight, 3-0 at the War Memorial at Oncenter in front of 5,018 fans.
It’s a good thing that the Crunch penalty killing has been so good lately, otherwise Syracuse might have been on the other end of a 1-0 lead after the first period of play. The Crunch got themselves into penalty trouble early, as David Cullen was called for hooking just 1:37 into the game. In all, Syracuse killed off all five Rochester power plays in the stanza and were outshot by a 15-8 margin.
Of those eight shots, one of them gave the Crunch a 1-0 lead. Eight minutes and twenty seconds into the period, Clay Wilson let go a soft wrister from the point that found its way through a screen and into the back of the Amerks’ net past a screened Tyler Plante.
In another period full of infractions, the Crunch cashed in on their own power play 13:33 into the frame. Duvie Westcott found an open Wilson in the slot who fired a shot that beat Plante for his second of the game and a 2-0 Crunch advantage.
Syracuse struck again four minutes later when Derick Brassard found a rebound of a Wilson shot and roofed a backhand past Plante to make it 3-0.
The third period saw another three Crunch penalties and another three penalty kills. Dan LaCosta was outstanding, as he stopped all 33 shots he faced en route to his first shutout of the season.
CRUNCHABLES: LaCosta became the fifth Crunch goalie to record a shutout this season (Craig Kowalski, Karl Goehring, Adam Munro, Tomas Popperle the others)…LaCosta’s shutout was the fourth in his AHL career…The Crunch have now won seven straight games against Rochester…Clay Wilson tied a Crunch personal season-high with 3 points (2g, 1a) tonight.