Syracuse, NY – The Syracuse Crunch scored four unanswered goals to defeat the Connecticut Whale 4-3 in overtime tonight at the XL Center in Hartford, CT.
Tyler Johnson and Richard Panik combined for three goals in the final frame to force the extra session, where Mark Barberio netted the game winner with 47 seconds to play. The win lifts the Crunch’s overall record to 13-4-1-1 and road record to 10-1-0-1.
The Whale jumped out to a 3-0 lead with goals in each period. Right wing Christian Thomas opened the scoring 18:49 into the first period, sneaking the puck past Crunch netminder Riku Helenius from the right side. The Whale doubled their lead with a goal from Blake Parlett at the 13:53 mark of the second before going up 3-0 with a power-play tally from Marek Hrivik 3:03 into the third period.
The Crunch finally broke through Whale goaltender Cameron Talbot 6:37 into the final frame with Johnson’s league-leading 14th goal of the season.
Panik added a pair of goals just 35 seconds apart to tie the game and force overtime. Panik one-timed a feed from Philip-Michael Devos for his first score and beat Talbot on a breakaway for the second tally.
Syracuse dominated the extra session, outshooting the Whale 6-1 before Barberio potted the game winner with 47 seconds to play. Overall the Crunch outshot the Whale 46 to 27. Helenius turned aside 24 of 27 shots for his fifth win of the season.
The Crunch will wrap up the weekend, and conclude five consecutive road games, against the Binghamton Senators at 5:05 p.m. on Sunday.
Crunchables: With two points tonight Richard Panik extended his league-leading point streak to 12 games…Tyler Johnson leads the league with 14 goals in 19 games…The Crunch put a season-high 46 shots on goal tonight…Defenseman Charles Landry made his Syracuse Crunch debut tonight
Courtesy: Syracuse Crunch
