Brad Moran had his second straight three-point night and the Crunch scored four goals via their special teams units to down the Mighty Ducks 6-1 at the War Memorial Friday night.
Cincinnati opened the scoring just over a minute into period number one on a strange goal from defenseman Tomas Malec. The one-time Lowell Lock Monster made an excellent move at the blueline before unleashing a slapper on Crunch netminder Karl Goehring.
Goehring made the initial save, but appeared to lose the puck in his equipment and it ended up sitting in the Crunch crease. Malec followed his shot to the net and poked home the loose rubber to give the Ducks an early one goal advantage.
Syracuse evened things up just past the midway point of the first on another power play goal from red hot Brad Moran. Fresh off a two goal game on Wednesday, Moran worked his magic once again finding a seam in the Cincinnati crease to put home the rebound of a Joe Motzko offering to tie things at one.
Syracuse took their first lead of the night early in the second on the first goal of the year from defenseman Francois Beauchemin. His shot from just inside the blueline found its way past a screened Frederic Cassivi for the second power play goal of the night for the Crunch.
Not to be out done by their counterparts, Syracuse's penalty kill stepped up to extend the Crunch's lead to 3-1. Once again it was the dynamic duo of Mark Hartigan and Brad Moran teaming up for Moran's second of the night and his 18th of the season.
Alexander Svitov's 14th of the season at the 18:57 mark of the period closed out the scoring in the second and the Crunch would add two more in the third for the 6-1 final.
Karl Goehring registered 29 saves in picking up his 15th win of the season and his 55th as a member of the Crunch, which sets a new franchise record. Former Crunch netminder Frederic Cassivi, sixth on Syracuse's all-time wins list with 23, picked up the loss for Cincinnati.
Crunch Ice Pack:
Date:February 11, 2005
Where:War Memorial at Oncenter
Opponent:Cincinnati Mighty Ducks
Attendance:5, 220
Boxscore:
First Period-Scoring-1. Cincinnati, Malec 3 (Kunitz, Canzanello), 1:05, (pp). 2. Syracuse, Moran 17 (Motzko, Hartigan), 10:51, (pp).Penalties- P. Ferraro, Syr (slashing), :23; P. Ferraro, Syr (high stick), 6:09; Malec, Cin (tripping), 10:41; Glencross, Cin (slashing), 11:42; Brent, Cin (interference), 13:55; Pecker, Cin (cross checking), 15:18; Johnson, Syr (tripping), 16:42; C. Ferraro, Syr (holding), 17:13.
Second Period-Scoring-3. Syracuse, Beauchemin 1 (Moran, Mauldin), 4:52, (pp). 4. Syracuse, Moran 18 (Hartigan), 10:09, (sh). 5. Syracuse, Svitov 14 (P. Ferraro), 18:57, (pp). Penalties-Chistov, Cin (hooking), :50; Glencross, Cin (unsportsmanlike), 4:14; Johnson, Syr (interference), 9:27; Ryan, Syr (slashing), 12:27; Stepp, Cin (holding), 17:21.
Third Period-Scoring-6. Syracuse, Pandolfo 7 (Goertzen, Panzer), 5:29. 7. Syracuse, Ryan 1 (Beauchemin), 9:06. Penalties-O' Brien, Cin (fighting, misconduct), :49; Reich, Syr (fighting, misconduct), :49; Bench Minor, Syr (too many men, served by Mauldin), 2:15; Chistov, Cin (cross-checking), 2:43; Pecker, Cin (hooking), 7:37; Tollefsen, Syr (unsportsmanlike), 7:37; Beauchemin, Syr (cross-checking), 11:32.
Shots on Goal:Cincinnati, 17-2-11--30; Syracuse, 9-9-10--28.
Power Play Opportunities:Cincinnati, 1-8; Syracuse, 3-8.
Goalies-Cincinnati, Cassivi (11-14-1), 18 shots-14 saves, Bryzgalov, (in to start third period), (12-9-10), 10 shots-8 saves; Syracuse, Goehring (14-15-0), 30 shots-29 saves.
Referee-Dave Hansen (47); Linesman-John Everett (82) Jim Harper (59).
Three Stars:
1. Brad Moran: Just on fire of late; two goals and an assist for the second straight game.
2. Francois Beauchemin: Notched his first of the season in the second, was strong all around on Friday.
3. Karl Goehring: Records his 55th win as a member of the Crunch, a new franchise high.
I Hear Voices:
"I was real happy. Actually at first I thought that Harty deflected it, but he came to see me and said no, that's in so I was real happy with it." --Francois Beauchemin on scoring his first of the year on Friday.
"He owes us a dinner now and the new guys don't count because they weren't there when they made the deal." --Beauchemin on the fact that he went to the penalty box to remind Ole-Kristian Tollefson, who was serving a penalty at the time, that he now owes for dinner after Prestin Ryan notched his first.
"The defense is playing great and it is a big team effort. We are making sure we are playing good in our own zone and we are not getting caught with three forwards down low in the offensive zone." --Beauchemin on the strong play of the defense.
"When you know you are not getting many points you start squeezing the stick a little tighter and that was the case and hopefully they can roll from here." --Mike Pandolfo on snapping his nine game pointless streak with his third period marker.
"We are taking care of the defensive end first, making sure we are solid down there and when you do that it leads to good offense." --Pandolfo on the team's strong play overall.
"He was like suffer, suffer." --Ole-Kristian Tollefsen on what Beauchemin had to say when he paid him a visit in the penalty box.
"I am trying to get Libby and Sloaner in on it too, but they don't agree with me. It will be expensive." --Tollefsen on his futile attempts to have Sloan and Libby included in defensive scoring pool.
Lineups:
Cincinnati:Goal:Ilya Bryzgalov, Frederic Cassivi. Defense: Aaron Rome, Kurtis Foster, Shane O'Brien, Mark Popovic, Sheldon Brookbank, Andrew Canzanello, Tomas Malec. Forwards: Tim Brent, Joel Perrault, Zenon Konopka, Igor Pohanka, Chris Kunitz, Joffrey Lupul, Joel Stepp, Michael Holmqvist, Curtis Glenncross, Lee Jacobson, Alexei Smirnov, Stanislav Chistov, Dustin Penner, Pierre Parenteau, Jason Ralph, Casey Hankinson, Cory Pecker.
Syracuse:Goal:Karl Goehring, Pascal Leclaire, Andrew Penner.Defense: Zenith Komarniski, Andre Lakos, Jamie Pushor, Aaron Johnson, Prestin Ryan, Francois Beauchemin, Ole-Kristian Tollefsen, Tyler Sloan, Matt Libby. 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, Steve Goertzen.
Pre-game Skate:
Scratched for the Crunch were goaltender Pascal Leclaire (groin), defensemen Jamie Pushor (sick), Andre Lakos (back) and Zenith Komarniski (back), right wings Brandon Sugden (thumb) and Matthias Trattnig (Austrian National Team) along with center Raffaele Sannitz. The Ducks didn't dress centers Joel Perrault and Zenon Konopka, right wings Joffrey Lupul, Lee Jacobson and Jason Ralph along with defenseman Sheldon Brookbank.
Short Shifts:
Brad Moran's first period power play goal tied him for first all-time in Crunch history with Reggie Savage at 36. Moran's second period shorthanded tally was his 9th all-time, which is also a franchise high for the Crunch .……..The two shots surrendered by the Crunch in the second period ties a season low. Syracuse also only allowed two shots in the second period against the Rochester Americans back on December 23rd………..Prestin Ryan's goal in the third period was his first of the season and also his first as a professional ……. Matthais Trattnig and his Austrian National team have gone 1-0-1 in their first two games of the Olympic qualifying tournament. Trattnig, skating on a line with Rochester rookie Thomas Vanek, has been held scoreless in his first two games, but he did fire a game-high 5 shots on net in their opening contest.
On Deck:
These same two teams hook up again Saturday night in the last game for both clubs before the All-Star break. Game time is set for 7:30 P.M. at the War Memorial.