Montreal, QC - The Syracuse Crunch defeated the Hamilton Bulldogs 4-1 in front of a crowd of 18,582 tonight at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
The Crunch held the Bulldogs to a season-low 14 shots on goal en route to improving their overall record to 7-1-1-1.
Quebec native Philip-Michael Devos gave the Crunch a 1-0 lead with 3:53 to play in the opening frame. Devos tipped a Dmitry Korobov point shot past Bulldogs netminder Robert Mayer for his first goal of the season. Radko Gudas was credited with the secondary assist.
The Bulldogs evened the score 2:07 into the second period with a goal from Steve Quailer. Quailer's shot beat Crunch goaltender Dustin Tokarski high on the glove-side and was assisted by Joonas Nattinen and Gabriel Dumont. Tokarski would go on to finish the game with 13 saves.
The Crunch were able to take a 2-1 lead into the second intermission thanks to a Mike Angelidis' goal at the 19:08 mark of the period. Angelidis slid a loose puck under the pad of Mayer, for his fourth goal of the season; assists went to JT Wyman and JT Brown.
Tyler Johnson extended the Crunch lead at the 7:58 mark of the third period. Quick passes around the crease between Ondrej Palat and Richard Panik moved Mayer out of position and Johnson was able to score on the open net. The Palat, Panik and Johnson line struck again less than three minutes later when Johnson scored his second goal of the game deflecting a Panik shot past Mayer for a 4-1 Crunch lead.
The Crunch return to the War Memorial on Saturday to host the Rochester Americans at 7:30 p.m. Saturday is Military Appreciation Night and all veterans and active members of the military can receive a complimentary ticket. All fans are invited to bring their skates for a post-game skate on the War Memorial ice at the conclusion of the game.
Crunchables: Pierre-Cedric Labrie played in his first game since 10/28/12…The Crunch have not scored a power-play goal since 10/28/12 vs. Adirondack…Tonight was Tyler Johnson's fourth multi-point game of the season…Johnson now leads the team in goals scored with eight.
