Syracuse, NY (February 21, 2012) – Kyle Palmieri scored twice as the Syracuse Crunch defeated the Worcester Sharks, 4-2, tonight at the War Memorial Arena. With 30 goals on the season, Palmieri surpassed his total from the 2010-11 season and once again leads the AHL in goals scored.

The Crunch took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission but waited until the final minutes of the first frame to get on the scoreboard. John Mitchell forced a turnover that left him all alone on Sharks goaltender Tyson Sexsmith. One minute and four seconds later, Palmieri buried the puck on a partial breakaway just 34 seconds later.

The Sharks had a similar outburst to begin the second period. Tim Kennedy scored in the final seconds of carry-over power play time, just 37 seconds into the second period. At 1:24 of the period defenseman Brian O'Hanley evened the game. The remainder of the second period was scoreless for both teams, with Worcester outshooting the Crunch 13-6.

The Crunch had to kill almost two minutes of 5-on-3 time to begin the third period, but took the lead at the 6:36 mark with Andrew Gordon's third goal of the season.  Assists went to Mathieu Carle and Brandon McMillan. 

Palmieri increased Syracuse's lead to 4-2 with his second goal of the game at the 11:07 mark of the third, with the assists going to Patrick Maroon and Mark Fraser.

The Crunch host the Albany Devils Friday, Feb. 24 at the War Memorial Arena.

Crunchables: Riley Holzapfel extended his point streak to four games (2g, 5a)…Holzapfel and Ryan O'Marra made their Crunch home debuts…Kyle Palmieri is the first to hit 30 goals as a member of the Crunch since Geoff Platt (30) and Mark Hartigan (34) did so in 2005-06.