Goals from Tyler Boucher and Matthew Highmore, as well as a season-high 43 shots on goal, weren’t enough for the Belleville Senators on Friday night, as the host Syracuse Crunch skated away with a narrow 3-2 win at Upstate Medical University Arena.
The loss drops the Sens’ record to 13-10-1-4, six points back of Syracuse for the fifth and final playoff spot in the AHL’s North division but with three games in hand on them.
A scoreless first period saw the Senators more than double Syracuse in shots with a 12-5 margin, despite the Sens serving the only penalty kill of the frame. The best chances of the period came on a Matthew Highmore point-blank one-timer that was stopped by Crunch goaltender Matt Tomkins, and a net drive by rookie Jorian Donovan on a 3-on-2 rush that led to a partial breakaway but another close-range Tomkins save.
Syracuse opened the scoring 4:27 into the second after a Daniel Walcott takeaway in the Sens’ zone. His initial shot was a pad stop for Mads Sogaard, but the rebound was tapped home by Jesse Ylonen to give the home side a 1-0 lead. The Crunch doubled the lead just over a minute later on their second power play of the game when a Max Crozier one-timer from the left circle found paydirt. A Steven Santini shot at 8:56 ricocheted off of Sogaard and in to then make it a 3-0 lead for Syracuse. An alert play by Filip Roos later in the period saw the veteran defenceman sweep a puck off the Belleville goal line after a shorthanded shot from the Crunch had nearly slid home.
While shorthanded, Tyler Boucher then broke the goose egg for the Senators with just over a minute left in the middle frame, driving in to the right circle and wiring a low wrist shot past Tomkins to cut the deficit to two.
The shot lead continued for Belleville into the third, but it wasn’t until their 41st shot on Tomkins that they drew back to within one, when a Jeremy Davies point shot was tipped by Matthew Highmore into the Crunch goaltender’s pad; Highmore then swatted home his own rebound to make it 3-2 with 1:21 left in regulation.
It would be as close as the Senators would get, however, as Syracuse held on for the narrow win despite a 43-21 shot lead for the visitors, including a 17-7 tally in the third.
You can see the complete box score by clicking here.
Fast Facts
- With 43 shots, the Senators broke their previous season high for shots in a game (42), and were just six shots away from the franchise record
- #16 Tyler Boucher extended his…
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