By Michael Wax
The Crunch put together yet another sweep of a week, winning all three contests this week. Since we already discussed Monday's game in the last issue of this weekly article, we will focus on the other two games in this one. After a 4-2 win on Fri, Jan. 19, against the Providence Bruins, they took down the Utica Comets for the second time this week with a 5-2 win on Sat, Jan. 20.
Syracuse sits at 22-12-2-2, just two points behind the Cleveland Monsters for first in the North Division and six in front of the Rochester Americans for third.
Before we get into what we saw this week, here is some admin:
D Patrick Kudla was signed to a PTO on Wednesday
The Lightning recalled F Waltteri Merelä, D Phil Myers, and D Max Crozier on Monday night. Merelä would record his first NHL goal in the Bolt's Thursday win over the D Wild
D Ryan Orgel was re-signed to a PTO on Thursday
D Cole Moberg was signed to a PTO on Thursday
G Brandon Halverson was recalled from ECHL on Thursday and reassigned on Saturday without seeing game action
F Gabriel Fortier played in his 200th AHL game in Friday's win over Providence
Here are three things we noticed over this week's games from the Crunch:
Comeback Kids
The game against the Bruins saw something the Crunch would do multiple times this week: scoring 3+ goals in a period. While they pulled away with four in the second period against Utica, they needed every one of the goals Friday to capture a significant victory.
Just 31 seconds into the period, Felix Robert sent an outlet pass to a charging Cole Koepke. After Koepke settled it down, he glided into the left circle and sent a slot past the catching glove of Bruins' goalie Michael DiPietro to tie the game.
After the competitive rest of the third period, which saw the Crunch with a 10-8 shot advantage, the Crunch saw themselves in the offensive zone with under two minutes to play. After F Tristan Allard sent a bounce pass off the boards to D Jack Thompson, he alertly saw the imbalance in the Providence defense and sent the puck over to D Declan Carlile. With time and space to walk in, Carlile beat DiPietro to the glove side to give the Crunch a 3-2 lead with 1:30 to go.
Finally, Jack Thompson gave the Crunch an insurance goal with his empty netter, completing the comeback.
Day Time
It's been a rough ride for Sean Day. The former exceptional-status prospect, known for his offense, hasn't put the pieces together at the AHL level over the past two years. Following an eight-goal, 40-point campaign in 69 games in 2021-22 that saw him earn his first NHL call-up, Day only put up 14 assists in 63 games last season and had ten assists in 23 games going into the game against Utica.
His 1st goal in 91 games helped the Crunch in their Saturday win and may have given him a big boost mentally.
With just a few seconds left in the second period, F Joe Caroll went behind the net to retrieve the puck and sent a blind backhand pass to the slot area. It bounced around before Day took it, waited, and fired it past Comets' goalie Akira Schmid to complete the four-goal period and snap the long drought.
The excitement from Day and his defense partner Carlile showed exactly what this moment meant for the 25-year-old.
Jack in the Box
Because Jack Thompson only played one NHL game during his brief call-up and was stapled to the third pair, we didn’t see the full picture of what the 2020 third-round pick had to offer. Since his reassignment to Syracuse, Thompson has been on a seven-game streak, and this weekend, he put up big points to help the Crunch earn their weekend sweep.
The assist to Carlile's GWG and the ENG have already been covered, so let's bring it to Saturday's game. The power play, which had undoubtedly been struggling, got a big boost from the 21-year-old defender in this one. Thompson buried a pass from F Gage Goncalves to kick-start the Crunch's four-goal second period.
Thompson's power-play assist later in the period wasn't anything flashy; it was just a reminder of some key awareness displayed by the young defender.
Thompson still has a ton of work to do defensively, but the offensive skill is readily apparent for a guy that could be super scary if he puts it all together
Want to start your journalism career by writing about the Tampa Bay Lightning? Please send us a message via our contact form located in the upper right-hand corner under the More tab, or send us a message via Twitter to get started.
Comments