Josh Prudden scored once and added an assist and Dimitri Patzold recorded 38 saves to lead the Cleveland Barons to a 4-2 victory over the Syracuse Crunch Saturday night in AHL action.
Just 20 seconds in to Saturday's tilt it was obvious this wasn't going to be the Crunch's night. That is when defenseman Josh Georges lit the lamp for the Barons when his shot from just inside the blueline found its way past Karl Goehring to give Cleveland the early edge.
It remained 1-0 until just prior to the midway point of the second period. With Doug Murray off for tripping the Crunch experienced a power play that epitomizes their season as a whole.
Syracuse had numerous chances with the man advantage and they even had the puck behind Patzold on one occasion, but they could not find the back of the net. Then with the time winding down on the power play Joe Motzko's ill-advise pass at the blueline was intercepted and sent Friday's hero for the Barons, Josh Prudden, off to the races once again.
Prudden converted and to add insult to injury Baron forward Scott Dobben converted on another breakaway less than one minute later to put Cleveland up three with just under half a game left.
The Barons added one more before the Crunch woke up and tallied twice in the third period to make things interesting, but it was too little, too late for Syracuse. With the loss the Crunch cemented their position in the North Division basement, a full three points back of Cleveland.
Crunch Ice Pack:
Date:January 15, 2005
Where:War Memorial at Oncenter
Opponent:Cleveland Barons
Attendance:5,642
Boxscore:
First Period-Scoring-1. Cleveland, Gorges 1 (Prudden), :20. Penalties-Mauldin, Syr (hooking), 9:04; Moran, Syr (slashing), 9:04; Pushor, Syr (high sticking), 14:13; C. Ferraro, Syr (interference), 14:51.
Second Period-Scoring-2. Cleveland, Prudden 8 (unassisted), 9:56, (sh). 3. Cleveland, Dobben 4 (unassisted), 10:50. 4. Cleveland, Murray 2 (Bootland, Valette), 14:28. Penalties-Murray, Cle (tripping), 8:16; Dobben, Cle (interference), 17:08; Labenski, Cle (hooking), 18:59.
Third Period-Scoring-5. Syracuse, Motzko 12 (Johnson, Hartigan), 6:01, (pp). 6. Syracuse, Pandolfo 6 (Ryan, Panzer), 9:50, (sh). Penalties-Stafford, Cle (tripping), 5:19; Johnson, Syr (slashing), 8:44; Stevenson, Cle (double minor; high stick, unsportsmanlike), 18:12.
Shots on Goal:Cleveland, 12-6-10--28; Syracuse, 9-17-14--40.
Power Play Opportunities:Cleveland, 0-5; Syracuse, 1-6.
Goalies-Cleveland, Patzold (10-9-2), 40 shots-38 saves; Syracuse, Goehring (9-13-0), 17 shots-14 saves; Penner (1-2-0), 11 shots-10 saves.
Referee-Dan O'Rourke (42); Linesman-Mike Emanatian (69), B.J. Ringrose (10).
Three Stars:
1. Josh Prudden: Victimizes the Crunch for the second straight night with a key breakaway goal.
2. Dimitri Patzold: Turned aside 38 Crunch shots in picking up the win.
3. Mike Pandolfo: Tallied shorthanded for the Crunch in the third period.
Lineups:
Cleveland:Goal:Dimitri Patzold, Nolan Schaeffer. Defense: Matt Carkner, Jim Fahey, Garrett Stafford, Doug Murray, Josh Georges, Christian Ehrhoff, Greg Labenski, Tim Conboy. Forwards: Riley Armstrong, Craig Valette, Jason Jaffray, Shane Joseph, Josh Prudden, Nick Bootland, Patrick Rissmiller, Grant Stevenson, Tomas Plihal, Ryane Clowe, Aaron Gill, Scott Dobben, Mike Hoffman, Glenn Olsen, Marcel Goc, Joe Talleri.
Syracuse:Goal:Karl Goehring, Pascal Leclaire, Andrew Penner.Defense: Zenith Komarniski, Andre Lakos, Jamie Pushor, Aaron Johnson, Prestin Ryan, Francois Beauchemin, Ole-Kristian Tollefson Forwards: Joe Motzko, Jeremy Reich, Tim Jackman, Mark Hartigan, Matthias Trattnig, Raffaele Sannitz, Alexander Svitov, Brandon Sugden, Greg Mauldin, Mike Pandolfo, Jeff Panzer, Brad Moran, Chris Ferraro, Peter Ferraro.
Pre-game Skate:
Scratched for the Crunch were Pascal Leclaire (groin), Zenith Komarniski (healthy-veteran rule), Alexander Svitov (pending suspension) and Brandon Sugden (thumb). The Barons didn't dress defensemen Jim Fahey and Christian Ehrhoff, right wings Riley Armstrong and Shane Joseph, left wing Glenn Olsen and center Patrick Rissmiller.
Short Shifts:
Alexander Svitov sat out Saturday's game waiting for the league to rule on his pending suspension. This is not the first time Svitov has been given an abuse of an official misconduct. He was assessed one earlier this season in Binghamton, but that penalty was rescinded after the league reviewed the game tape…………With an assist on Mike Pandolfo's third period goal, Jeff Panzer extended his point streak to five games………Even though they were separated at times on Saturday, the Crunch's "Kiddie Ride Line" of the Ferraro's and Jeff Panzer were a combined -11 for the weekend……....Baron center Patrick Rissmiller missed Saturday's game with a broken orbital bone suffered Friday in his fight with Alexander Svitov.
On Deck:
The Crunch is off until Friday when they host the St. John's Maple Leafs at the War Memorial. Game time is set for 7:30 P.M.