SYRACUSE -- Josh Green and Kyle Palmieri both scored in regulation and the shootout and Ray Emery stopped 34 of 37 shots in regulation and overtime and denied three of four shooters he faced in the tiebreaker to lift the Syracuse Crunch to a come-from-behind 4-3 shootout win over the Charlotte Checkers Tuesday night at The Oncenter War Memorial Arena. The shootout win was the Crunch's first in five tries this season.
The Crunch looked to carry over the momentum from a dominating 7-1 win over Rochester at home on Saturday night and were able to get on the board first when Green found the rebound of a Nicolas Deschamps point shot all alone in front and buried the puck past Mike Murphy to make it a 1-0 game just 2:28 into the first. The marker was Green's second in three games after going 19 straight without a goal.
Charlotte didn't waste any time and tied it up just under three minutes later when Chris Terry's slapper from the left point eluded Emery to knot it at 1-1.
The score stayed that way until Matthew Pistilli gave Charlotte a 2-1 advantage with just 16 seconds remaining on a Brian Lebler high-sticking penalty at the 4:47 mark of the second. Zach Boychuk sailed a shot from the point that was blocked by Mark Mitera but came right to stick of Pistilli, who deposited the disk past Emery off the carom.
The Crunch answered with a power play goal of their own 7:32 into the third period when Green saucered a pass from the right goal line extended to the waiting stick of Patrick Maroon, who slammed the puck past Murphy from the top of the crease to tie the game at 2-2.
Charlotte again answered quickly and grabbed a 3-2 lead 2:32 later when Drayson Bowman's point shot changed direction and got past a screened Emery to give the Checkers their second lead of the game.
The Crunch persevered and rallied to tie the game again just over four minutes later when Kyle Palmieri's point shot was re-directed past Murphy and into the back of the net to make it 3-3 with just under six minutes remaining in regulation.
Charlotte came out strong in the overtime session, but Emery stood his ground to make a tough shoulder save from a streaking Checker barreling in down the left side off the extra session's opening draw.
Nick Bonino put the Crunch up early in the shootout, sneaking a shot by Murphy low to the stick side in the first round. After Emery denied Jacob Micflikier in the first and Murphy denied Maroon and Nicolas Deschamps back-to-back, Palmieri beat Murphy with a perfect backhand move, roofing the puck top shelf to put the Crunch up 2-0 after three and a half rounds.
After Charlotte's Zac Dalpe scored on Emery in the fourth round, Josh Green iced the game for his team after beating Murphy with a backhand move to seal a 4-3 win for the Crunch.
CRUNCHABLES: The Crunch have 119 shots on goal over the last three games, an average of 39.7 shots per game…The Crunch became the last AHL team to earn a shootout win this season with tonight's victory…Josh Green has five points (2g, 3a) over his last three games…Kyle Palmieri has four points (2g, 2a) over his last two games.
Courtesy: Syracuse Crunch
