SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse Crunch fell to the Hershey Bears, 5-4, in a shootout tonight at the Upstate Medical University Arena.
The Crunch rallied back in the third period to claim a point as they move to 7-6-1-2 on the season. They drop the first game of a four-game season series against the Bears.
Goaltender Brandon Halverson stopped 31-of-35 shots and 3-of-4 shootout attempts in net for the Crunch. Hunter Shepard turned aside 31-of-35 shots and all four shootout attempts between the pipes for the Bears. The Syracuse power play was held scoreless on two opportunities, while Hershey went 1-for-4.
The Bears jumped out to a 2-0 lead with two goals in the opening frame. Grant Cruikshank scored the first one when got ahead of the defense and beat Halverson with a close range shot from the slot at the 5:06 mark. Hershey doubled their lead with just 1:07 remaining in the period. Ethan Frank capitalized on a turnover when he grabbed the puck in the slot, turned and fired.
The Crunch got on the board late in the middle frame. After Niko Huuhtanen ripped a slap shot from the right circle, he grabbed his own rebound, went around the back of the net and scored from the slot.
Hershey and Syracuse exchanged goals in the third period as the Crunch rallied back to tie the game. Just 2:01 into the period, Nicky Leivermann sent a long lead pass for Henrik Rybinski to score on a partial breakaway. At 11:59, Huuhtanen scored his second of the game. After Shepard went behind the net to play the puck, the Bears turned it over and Huuntanen ripped a shot into an unmanned net. Two minutes later, Pierrick Dubé scored on the power play to put Hershey up, 4-2, but Syracuse rattled off two more goals to eventually force overtime. Tobie Bisson sent in a wrister from the top of the left circle at 14:20 followed by Dylan Duke tipping in Derrick Pouliot’s shot from the high slot at 17:34 to knot the score, 4-4.
The teams remained tied through the overtime period and went to a shootout. Frank scored the only goal in the fourth round to give Hershey the win.
The Crunch are back in action on Wednesday when they host the Belleville Senators.
Single game tickets and ticket packages for the 2024-25 season are on sale now and can be purchased in person at the Crunch office located inside the Upstate Medical University Arena at…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Syracuse Crunch…