by
Jeff Parzych
Jeremy Reich scored twice and Andre Lakos added a goal and two assists to lead the Syracuse Crunch to a 6-2 thrashing of the St. John's Maple Leafs Saturday night in Syracuse.
Over the course of winning four of their last five contests the Crunch have been able to cross off more than a few tasks from their to-do list for turning the season around. After twenty minutes of play on Saturday they were able to check off one more; scoring from the blueline.
Syracuse tallied twice in the game's first 6:29, both off the sticks of blueliners, to take command early in this one. Zenith Komarniski got things rolling just two minutes and change into period number one. His shot from the point found its way past Mikael Tellqvist thanks to some hard work in front by Raffaele Sannitz. The rookie tied up Leafs defender Ian White, setting a perfect screen on Tellqvist.
Just over four minutes later the Crunch struck again in much the same fashion. Once again Ian White found himself in front battling for position, this time with Joe Motzko, and that enabled Andre Lakos' shot from the blueline to find its way past Tellqvist for the power play goal and a 2-0 Crunch advantage.
Early in the second the Crunch were able to expand on their lead courtesy of some excellent work with the man advantage. After numerous opportunities, that unit's relentless pressure paid off with a goal from the rejuvenated Tim Jackman. The promising power forward prospect now has goals in two of his last three and points in four of his last seven.
Back-to-back goals by the Leafs cut Syracuse's lead to one heading into period number three. Nathan Perrott's 7th of the season at the 4:47 mark made it 3-1 and Harold Druken's highlight reel tally late in the period brought the Leafs to within one with a little under four minutes to play in the second. After taking a pass from David Ling, Druken stick handled past a host of Crunch defenders before slipping a backhand short side past Karl Goehring for the score.
Just 1:09 into period number three Syracuse struck again on a goal from Jeremy Reich. Mark Hartigan ignited the play with nice move to the outside just prior to unleashing a shot on the Leafs net. Mikael Tellqvist made the initial save but Reich pounced on the loose puck in the crease and pounded it home for his 3rd of the year and a 4-2 Crunch lead.
Two more goals in the period, one from Alexander Svitov, the other Reich's second of the game, made it 6-2 Syracuse. The six goals scored by the Crunch was their highest output of the season, eclipsing the old mark of four, set on two previous occasions. Syracuse also scored a season high three goals with the man advantage on Saturday.
Karl Goehring went the distance for the Crunch, recording 23 saves for his fifth consecutive win. Mikael Tellqvist recorded 35 saves in a losing effort for St. John's.
Crunch Ice Pack:
Date:December 4, 2004
Where:War Memorial at Oncenter
Opponent:St. John's Maple Leafs
Attendance:5,513
Boxscore:
First Period-Scoring-1. Syracuse, Komarniski 1 (Sannitz, Goertzen), 2:03. 2. Syracuse, Lakos 1 Hartigan, Johnson), 6:29, (pp). Penalties-Newbury, SJM (slashing), 2:51; Colaiacovo, SJM (interference), 7:00; Reich, Syr (high-stick), 9:56; Bench Minor, Syr (too many men, served by Jackman), 11:27; Williams, SJM (high-stick), 12:22; Mauldin, Syr (cross-check), 17:35.
Second Period-Scoring-3. Syracuse, Jackman 4 (Pandolfo, Lakos), 2:47, (pp). 4. St. John's, Perrott 7 (Stajan, White), 4:47. 5. St. John's, Druken 9 (Ling, Wellwood), 16:17. Penalties-Kelly, SJM (tripping), 1:52; MacDonald, SJM (fighting), 7:52; Sugden, Syr (fighting), 7:52; Williams, SJM (slashing), 13:44; Reich, Syr (roughing), 18:31.
Third Period-Scoring-6. Syracuse, Reich 3 (Hartigan), 1:09. 7. Syracuse, Svitov 8 (Johnson, Lakos), 12:14. 8. Syracuse, Reich 4 (Motzko, Hartigan), 15:27, (pp). Penalties-Johnson, Syr (cross-check), 7:41; Newbury, SJM (roughing), 10:35; Reich, Syr (roughing), 10:35; MacDonald, SJM (attempt to injure, match), 12:43; Ling, SJM (minor, major)(cross-check, fighting), 19:51; Beauchemin, Syr (fighting), 19:51.
Shots on Goal:St. John's, 4-11-10--25; Syracuse, 6-18-17--41.
Power Play Opportunities: St. John's, 0-5; Syracuse, 3-7.
Goalies-St. John's Tellqvist (9-5-1-0), 41 shots- 35 saves; Syracuse, Goehring (5-4-0), 25 shots-23 saves.
Referee-Gordon Dwyer (39); Linesman- Dan Murphy (21), Brian Lemon (25).
Three Stars:
1. Andre Lakos: Easily the most improved player on the Crunch over the last few weeks. Breaks out with a one goal, two assist night.
2. Mark Hartigan: Where would the Crunch offense be without Hartigan? Another multiple point evening with 3 assists.
3. Jeremy Reich: Tallies twice in the third to put Leafs away. Another member of Crunch who is starting to see the light.
I Hear Voices:
"It's huge. You get momentum on our side and it really helps the flow of the game. We let up there for a little bit in the second, but we came out in the third and finished it off." --Mark Hartigan on the importance of quick starts for the Crunch.
"Once we start scoring goals on the power play, I think this is the highest scoring game we have had all year, you see how key the power play is to winning." --Hartigan on the importance of the power play.
"It is funny when you beat a big team like Philadelphia and break their winning streak, momentum gets on your side and you have a lot more confidence in everybody and in yourself. We are just playing big games against big teams." --Hartigan on the club's turnaround over the last few weeks.
"We struggled a little bit early in the season on the power play and we just worked on moving the puck really quick and get some shots on net and it just worked out for us tonight." --Andre Lakos on the emergence of the power play
"Actually when I scored the first thing I thought about was that I just saved a lot of cash." -Lakos on being out of the pool among Crunch defenseman that states the last one who scores has to buy the rest of the unit dinner.
"It is the back or your mind, but you don't really think about it out there. It was nice to get that first one out of the way and be out of the pool though." --Zenith Komarniski on being out of the pool after scoring in the first period.
"I think the Philly game was the key one because it gives our players the confidence that they can compete against the top teams in the league and that is something that they needed. --Head Coach Gary Agnew on the team's emergence over the last few weeks.
"It started two or three weeks ago. We made some adjustments and although we didn't score I really liked our movement and I liked that we were creating some things. I could see it was close." --Agnew on the improved play of the power play unit.
Lineups:
St. John's:Goal: Jean-Sebastien Aubin, Mikael Tellqvist. Defense: Regan Kelly, Ian White, Carlo Colaiacovo, Brendan Bell, Marc Moro, Jay Harrison, Andy Wozniewski. Forwards: Scott May, Matt Hubbauer, Matt Stajan, Robb Palahnuk, David Ling, Nathan Barrett, Jeremy Williams, Harold Druken, Clarke Wilm, Jason MacDonald, Ben Ondrus, Nathan Perrott, Kris Newbury, Brad Leeb, Kyle Wellwood.
Syracuse:Goal: Karl Goehring, Pascal Leclaire, Andrew Penner.Defense: Zenith Komarniski, Andre Lakos, Jamie Pushor, Aaron Johnson, Prestin Ryan, Ole-Kristian Tollefson, Francois Beauchemin. Forwards: Joe Motzko, Jeremy Reich, Tim Jackman, Mark Hartigan, Matthias Trattnig, Raffaele Sannitz, Alexander Svitov, Brandon Sugden, Greg Mauldin, Mike Pandolfo, Jeff Panzer, Steve Goertzen, Brad Moran.
Pre-game Skate:
Scratched for the Crunch were goaltender Pascal Leclaire (groin), defenseman Prestin Ryan and center Jeff Panzer (knee). Panzer has now missed 8 games including Saturday night's tilt. He resumed skating late this week and participated in non-contact drills. The Leafs sat center Scott May, left wing Matt Hubbauer, right wing Brad Leeb and defenseman Jay Harrison.
Beauchemin Goes Mr. Hyde on Ling:
Many times this season Francois Beauchemin has displayed a real mean streak. Usually though that side of Beauchemin comes to the surface through physical play on the defensive end, not by chucking the mitts. That is until Saturday night.
Late in Saturday's tilt, with the outcome already decided, Beauchemin snapped, so to speak, coming to the aid of teammate Raffaele Sannitz. Sannitz had been cross-checked by none other than one-time Crunch captain David Ling, who was up to old tricks all night long on Saturday. This time, however, Ling may have gone too far and Beauchemin made him pay.
"Stuff happens at the end of games," stated Beauchemin already icing his sore hand from the bout. "He (Ling) tried to run rookie Sannitz and I jumped up and took care of business."
Talk about your understatements, Beauchemin man-handled Ling so bad it even impressed the Crunch's resident expert on the subject, Brandon Sugden, who took time out in a rowdy Crunch dressing room to pay a visit to Beauchemin's stall to give him his props.
Speaking of Sugden, he may have very well added to his lore with an impressive win over Jason MacDonald in the second period. Not that defeating MacDonald is all that worthy, but Sugden did it with a painful sprain of a ligament in his left hand suffered in a first period bout on Friday night with Albany's Rob Skrlac. The injury was serious enough to keep Sugden out of the rest of Friday's contest against the Rats.
What makes it even more impressive was the fact that the punch that dropped MacDonald was a left that caught the Leaf pugilist off guard.
"It's just the heat of the game, heat of the battle type stuff," stated Sugden when asked what possessed him to throw the left, knowing the pain involved. "I know I am not going to hurt it anymore, I hope. It is just pain and they say it is a long way from the heart so you just play with it."
Short Shifts:
Syracuse's two goals in the first period from Zenith Komarniski and Andre Lakos were the first of the season for both players. They also matched the entire output to date from the blueline. Prior to Saturday Aaron Johnson's two goals were the only two posted by the entire defensive unit……….Raffaele Sannitz's assist in the first period gave him points in back-to-back games for the first time this season…….Rookie Steve Goertzen matched that feat with an assist in the first also.
On Deck:
The Crunch is off until next weekend when they will host back-to-back games against the Binghamton Senators and last years Calder Cup Champions, the Milwaukee Admirals. Friday's game against the B-Sens is scheduled for a 7:30 face-off.