by
Jeff Parzych
Karl Goehring turned aside 33 shots in regulation and four more in the shootout to lead the Syracuse Crunch to a 2-1 over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in American Hockey League action Saturday night.
Syracuse opened the scoring just past the midway point of the first period courtesy of some inspired play with the man advantage. On numerous occasions the Crunch denied Penguin bids to clear the puck out of their zone and their sustained pressure ultimately led to Brad Moran notching his 13th goal of the season to give Syracuse the early lead.
Moran's finish on the play was of the highlight reel variety, but equally impressive were the contributions made by Aaron Johnson and Joe Motzko. Johnson deftly kept the puck in at the blueline and Motzko's hustle resulted in a chip pass that found Moran all alone behind the Wilkes-Barre defense.
After a scoreless middle twenty Wilkes-Barre put the equalizer on the board at the 3:46 mark of period number three. With Francois Beauchemin off for tripping, Shane Endicott's shot from the right face-off circle found its way past Goehring for his 16th of the season and a 1-1 game.
Wilkes-Barre continued to carry the play throughout most of the third period and the ensuing overtime, but they could not solve Goehring for a second time and the two teams headed for a shootout.
After Michel Ouellet failed in Wilkes-Barre's initial bid, Mark Hartigan picked a corner and beat Dany Sabourin top shelf to give Syracuse the early advantage. Goehring also denied Maxime Talbot on the Pens second attempt before Matthias Trattnig was able to beat Sabourin to extend Syracuse's advantage.
Consecutive misses by Erik Christensen and Brad Moran set the stage for Karl Goehring to close things out and he did exactly that by denying Kris Beech on the Penguins fourth attempt.
Goehring was not only superb in the shootout, but his play carried the Crunch all evening long. He finished the night with 33 saves in picking up his 12th win of the season. Goehring's counterpart, Dany Sabourin , was equally impressive turning aside 24 Syracuse shots.
Crunch Ice Pack:
Date:January 29, 2005
Where:War Memorial at Oncenter
Opponent:Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
Attendance:5,764
Boxscore:
First Period-Scoring-1. Syracuse, Moran 13 (Motzko, Johnson), 10:10, (pp). Penalties-Endicott, WBS (roughing), 3:17; Abid, WBS (fighting, deliberate injury match penalty), 6:50; Reich, Syr (instigator, fighting, misconduct), 6:50; Nasreddine, WBS (holding), 12:50; Endicott, WBS (tripping), 14:45; Moran, Syr (hooking), 18:53.
Second Period-Scoring-No Scoring. Penalties-Hartigan, Syr (hooking), 3:10; Endicott, WBS (fighting), 8:46; Svitov, Syr (fighting), 8:46; Murley, WBS (tripping), 10:08; Mauldin, Syr (hooking), 12:47; Ouellet, WBS (cross-check), 15:11.
Third Period-Scoring-2. Wilkes-Barre, Endicott 16 (Kelleher, Whitney), 3:46, (pp). Penalties-Beauchemin, Syr (tripping), 3:23; Surovy, WBS (fighting), 6:43; Goertzen, Syr (fighting), 6:43; Talbot, WBS (slashing), 9:57; Sloan, Syr (slashing), 9:57; Beech, WBS (slashing), 12:34.
Overtime-Scoring-No Scoring. Peanlties-None.
Shootout-Wilkes-Barre; Ouellet (N), Talbot (N), Christensen (N), Beech (N). Syracuse; Hartigan (Y), Trattnig (Y), Moran (N).
Shots on Goal:Wilkes-Barre, 3-15-14-2-0--34; Syracuse, 14-7-4-0-1--26.
Power Play Opportunities:Wilkes-Barre, 1-4; Syracuse, 1-6.
Goalies-Wilkes-Barre, Sabourin (2-2-2), 25 shots-24 saves; Syracuse, Goehring (12-14-0), 34 shots-33 saves.
Referee-Dave Hansen (47); Linesman-John Murphy (71) Andy Petrus (26).
Three Stars:
1. Karl Goehring: Butchie was huge all night long, especially in third period when Pens carried the play.
2. Mark Hartigan: Kicked things off in shootout for Crunch by burying initial attempt.
3. Dany Sabourin: Was solid all evening long for baby Pens.
Lineups:
Wilkes-Barre:Goal:Marc-Andre Fleury, Dany Sabourin, Andy Chiodo. Defense:
Rob Scuderi, David Koci, Chris Kelleher, Darcy Robinson, Ryan Whitney, Ross Lupaschuk, Alain Nasreddine. Forwards:
Michel Ouellet, Colby Armstrong, Kris Beech, Ben Eaves, Shane Endicott, Erik Christensen, Guilluame Lefebvre, Ramzi Abid, Mike Sgroi, Maxime Talbot, Matt Murley, Kenny Corupe, Tomas Surovy, Matt Hussey.
Syracuse:Goal:Karl Goehring, Pascal Leclaire, Andrew Penner.Defense:
Zenith Komarniski, Andre Lakos, Jamie Pushor, Aaron Johnson, Prestin Ryan, Francois Beauchemin, Ole-Kristian Tollefson, Tyler Sloan. 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 Prestin Ryan (shoulder) and Andre Lakos (back), right wings Tim Jackman (knee) and Brandon Sugden (thumb) and center Chris Ferraro (veteran rule). The Pens sat goaltender Andy Chiodo, left wings Guillame Lefebvre and Mike Sgroi and center Kenny Corupe.
Short Shifts:
Prior to Saturday's game the Crunch announced that they returned Janne Jokila to Dayton and recalled defenseman Tyler Sloan from the Bombers. Sloan has appeared in 26 games with Dayton this season, recording 3 goals, 6 assists and 49 penalty minutes. ………….Center Alexander Svitov returned to the Crunch lineup on Saturday after missing the last five games due to suspension…………Dayton's Tyler Kolarik celebrated his birthday in fine fashion this past Wednesday by recording a goal and an assist to help pace the National team to a 6-2 win in this year's ECHL All-Star game……..Brandon "Sugar" Sugden, out after having surgery on his thumb, did some color work along side Bobby McElligott in the second period of last night's radio broadcast.
On Deck:
The Crunch hit the road again on Sunday to pay a visit to Broome County Arena for a late afternoon tilt with the Binghamton Senators. On Saturday the B-Sens were shut out by the Albany River Rats 4-0 on home ice. The puck drops at 5:00 P.M.