By Michael Wax
The Crunch had yet another three-game week this past week, with an early 5-4 win against Bridgeport on Nov. 14, a 5-3 win against the Hartford Wolf Pack on Nov. 17, and a 5-2 loss to the same Hartford team on Saturday. The Crunch are 8-4-0-2, tied for the North division lead with the Toronto Marlies and the Rochester Americans.
Before we get into what we saw this weekend, here is some admin:
The Crunch released G Vinnie Purpura from his PTO. Purpura did not play a game for the Crunch but was needed as a backup with both Hugo Alnefelt and Evan Fitzpatrick hurt. Alnefelt returned on Saturday.
F Cole Koepke was recalled from the Crunch to the Lightning. Koepke picked up his first career NHL assist in Saturday's 6-4 win over Edmonton.
F Waltteri Merelä was re-assigned to the Crunch
D Philippe Myers was re-assigned to the Crunch.
D Haydn Fleury was recalled from the Crunch to the Lightning.
Here are three things we noticed over this week's games from the Crunch:
White Hot
I will only stop writing about Maxim Groshev when he stops making big plays and scoring big goals. Once again, Groshev had a week where he was over a goal per game, aided by his first AHL hat trick during Wednesday's win.
Once again, his goals came in different ways from previous games. As someone who has earned the right to be on the penalty kill in the past few weeks, Groshev had a two-on-one with Gabriel Fortier about a minute into the Islander power-play and was the recipient of a beautiful play from Fortier to get the shorthanded goal. Groshev's ability to crash the net added another wrinkle to his goals scoring prowess, as it shows that he doesn't only have a legal shot but is willing to get in those areas, even if just off the rush.
The second goal was a mirror of the first goal. Groshev was again in a two-on-one shorthanded, this time with Mitchell Chaffee. This goal wasn't shorthanded because the penalty expired before the goal went in. It's essential to see that this young player is a very aggressive penalty killer with his offensive skills. Groshev would finish the hat-trick with an empty net goal, winning the footrace and one-handing the puck into the net.
In Friday's game against Hartford, Groshev and captain Gabriel Dumont formed a formidable duo. As Dumont circled from behind the net to the left wing boards, Groshev made himself open in the slot, and a perfect tape pass gave the puck to Groshev in the left circle. He showed off that blistering shot again, his fourth goal of the week, and gave the Crunch the early tally.
The rookie has six goals in his past four games and is one of the front runners for AHL Rookie of the Year despite the Crunch having yet to play 15 games.
Leadership
Week after week, the focus in this piece has always been on the young guys. This blurb is for the often under-appreciated veterans of the Syracuse Crunch, who some fans might not realize have been around for a long time and who helped the Crunch to victories on both Wednesday and Friday.
Captain Gabriel Dumont put together his best game of the season, and long-time forward Daniel Walcott had a weekend that saw him grab the first star on Friday.
After a great keep-in from Phil Myers, he fired a puck into a group of bodies. Walcott did what he does best, creating havoc up front before ultimately getting the puck past Wolf Pack goaltender Dylan Garand. Later in the game, Dumont and Walcott combined for their first big moment of the night, as Dumont found a streaking Walcott towards the net and connected on a tape, tape pass, with Walcott burying it to tie the game.
Dumont would pick up the go-ahead marker on the power play, picking up the loose puck in the left circle and spinning around before waiting a beat and firing it over Garland's glove.
Walcott and Dumont would have another connection to give the crunch the insurance marker. With 1:30 to go, a hounding Walcott stole the puck from behind the net and waited and waited before finding a wide-open Dumont in the slot for a perfect one-timer to give the Crunch a two-goal lead. Overall, Dumont had three goals and six points in the three games for the Crunch this past week, providing an excellent scoring boost to go along with his leadership. Walcott put up the three-point night against Hartford but was impactful in every game.
No Such Thing As Shorthanded
This Crunch team has done an unbelievable job on the penalty kill this season. With a penalty kill rate of 83.8%, they rank middle of the pack in the AHL. Not only that, but they also have five shorthanded goals this season and would've had a sixth had the penalty not expired before Groshev's second goal on Wednesday. The record for shorthanded goals in a season for the Crunch is nine, so this could be a record that the Lightning's farm team set in the first year of coach Joel Bouchard's tenure.
Hopefully, they can continue this success without taking too many minor penalties this year, a slight concern on what otherwise has been a phenomenal penalty kill.
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