Jean-Sebastien Aubin recorded 39 saves and Bates Battaglia chipped in with two goals to lead the Toronto Marlies to a 4-1 win over the Syracuse Crunch in American Hockey League action Saturday night.
The Marlies stormed out of the gates in this one with two goals before the game was even five minutes old. Bates Battaglia got things rolling with his seventh of the season at the 4:09 mark of the first. The veteran forward deflected a Marc Moro drive from the point past Crunch netminder Andrew Penner to give Toronto the early lead.
Just 50 seconds later the Marlies extended their lead on a goal from winger Kris Newbury. Newbury capitalized on an Andrew Penner miscue to notch his seventh of the year and give Toronto a two-goal advantage.
The Crunch was able to cut the Marlies lead in half with a goal late in the second period. Andy Delmore collected the rebound of an Ole-Kristian Tollefsen offering and flipped a shot past J.S. Aubin for his fourth of the season and a 2-1 game heading into the third period.
Toronto reclaimed their two-goal cushion late in third on a power play goal from defenseman Jay Harrison. He one-timed an Ian White feed past Penner for his third tally of the season.
Bates Battaglia added an empty-netter to close things out for the Marlies and snap the Crunch's seven-game point streak. Andrew Penner recorded 22 saves in a losing effort for Syracuse.
Crunch Ice Pack :
Date:Saturday, December 10, 2005
Where:War Memorial at Oncenter
Opponent:Toronto Marlies
Attendance:5,890
Boxscore:
First Period-Scoring-1. Toronto, Battaglia 7 (Moro, Pohl), 4:09. 2. Toronto, Newbury 7 (unassisted), 4:59. Penalties-Fulghum, Tor (interference), 6:12; Verot, Syr (interference), 8:15. Missed Penalty Shot, Nowak, Syr (2:50).
Second Period-Scoring-3. Syracuse, Delmore 4 (Tollefsen, Goertzen), 19:10. Penalties-Beechey, Tor (hooking), 1:56; Bell, Tor (tripping), 6:18; Tollefsen, Syr (roughing), 9:53; Delmore, Syr (hooking), 16:49.
Third Period-Scoring-4. Toronto, Harrison 3 (White), 16:31, (pp). 5. Toronto, Battaglia 8 (unassisted), 19:57, (sh)(en). Penalties-Brown, Tor (hooking), 4:56; Goertzen, Syr (roughing), 14:31; Johnson, Syr (slashing), 16:16; Ondrus, Tor (holding the stick), 18:08; Harrison, Tor (roughing), 18:51; Hartigan, Syr (roughing), 18:51.
Shots on Goal-Toronto, 10-4-12---26; Syracuse, 13-14-13---40.
Power Play Opportunities-Toronto, 1-5; Syracuse, 0-5.
Goalies-Toronto, Aubin (5-5-0), 40 shots-39 saves; Syracuse, Penner (4-3-1) (out at 18:20, back at 19:57), 25 shots-22 saves.
Referee-Bob Langdon (37); Linesmen-Dan Murphy (21), Tim Kotyra (53).
Three Stars:
1. Jean-Sebastin Aubin: The former Crunch netminder played well, but definitely had some luck on his side in turning aside 39 Syracuse shots.
2. Marc Moro: The veteran blueliner was solid all night long and assisted on Battaglia's goal to open the scoring.
3. Darcy Verot: Verot played well, but failed to convert on numerous chances in tight for the Crunch.
Lineups:
Marlies:Goal:Jean-Sebastien Aubin, Jean-Francois Racine. Defense: Brad Brown, Dominic D'Amour, Ian White, Brendan Bell, Marc Moro, Jay Harrison, Tyson Marsh, Andy Wozniewski. Forwards: Bates Battaglia, Tyler Beechey, Roman Kukumberg, Kris Newbury, Brett Engelhardt, Jeremy Williams, John Pohl, Ian McNeil, Ben Ondrus, Mike Hoffman, Brad Leeb, Colin Murphy, Martin Sagat, John Mitchell, Luke Fulghum.
Crunch:Goal:Mike Ayers, Andrew Penner.Defense: Marc Methot, Jeff MacMillan, Jamie Pushor, Andy Canzanello, Andy Delmore, Aaron Johnson. Forwards:Mark Hartigan, Steve Goertzen, Ben Simon, Tyler Kolarik, Darcy Verot, Andrew Murray, Peter Sarno, Brandon Sugden, Joakim Lindstrom, Greg Mauldin, Brett Nowak, Tim Konsorada.
Pre-Game Skate:
Scratched for the Crunch were center Peter Sarno (wrist) and left wing Joakim Lindstrom (shoulder). The Marlies didn't dress left wings Brett Engelhardt and Colin Murphy, center John Mitchell along with defensemen Tyson Marsh and Andy Wozniewski.
Crunch One-Timers:
Prior to the game the Crunch announced that they have recalled right wing Tim Konsorada from Dayton of the ECHL. Konsorada has appeared in 18 games for the Bombers, recording 6 goals, 14 assists and two penalty minutes. Konsorada was summoned to replace Joakim Lindstrom, who suffered a sprained shoulder in Friday's game versus Hamilton and is expected to be out 2-4 weeks. Center Peter Sarno also aggravated his wrist injury in that game and at this point it appears that he will miss at least a week.….. ……Former Crunch standout Geoff Platt had a rough game in the Jackets 5-2 loss to Atlanta on Friday. Despite assisting on Nikolai Zherdev's goal in the third, his second helper in three games, Platt struggled with penalties and was whistled for five separate minors in the contest. Pascal Leclaire also had a rough outing and was pulled after surrendering 4 goals on 15 shots to take the loss……….The Crunch dressed seven defensemen on Saturday with Andy Canzanello spending time at the forward position………….Current San Antonio Rampage forward Tim Jackman recorded his first goal of the season on Friday in the Rampage's 2-1 win over Iowa.
From the Hangar:
The Bombers were shutout 4-0 on the road at Johnstown Saturday evening. Baldwinsville product Mike Brown took the loss for Dayton, who were blanked for the first time this season. The Bombers are now off until Thursday when they will play the Wheeling Nailers.
On Deck:
The Crunch hit the road early this week to play a pair in Winnipeg against the Manitoba Moose. Game one is set for Tuesday at 8:30 P.M. with the rematch slated for Wednesday at the same time. Both games can be heard locally on 620 WHEN and nationwide via the internet on www.syracusecrunch.com. It also can be streamed live on the internet courtesy of the B2 Network.