Crunch Topped by Monsters, 6-5, in Season Opener Shootout
October 14, 2022 – American Hockey League (AHL) – Syracuse Crunch News Release
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse Crunch rallied back to force overtime, but were eventually topped by the Cleveland Monsters, 6-5, in a shootout tonight at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Simon Ryfors led the Crunch with two goals and an assist, while Felix Robert and Gemel Smith both recorded a goal and an assist. Alex Barre-Boulet, Darren Raddysh and Gage Goncalves each earned multi-point games with two helpers.
Crunch goaltender Max Lagace turned aside 33-of-38 shots and went 1-for-4 in the shootout. Jet Greaves earned the win in net for the Monsters stopping 28-of-33 shots and going 2-for-4 in the shootout.
Syracuse special teams successfully converted on 3-of-4 power play opportunities and went 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.
The Monsters opened scoring just 26 seconds into the game when Kirill Marchenko potted a wrister from the left circle.
The Crunch quickly responded and evened the score at the 3:27 mark. After his tip was blocked, Barre-Boulet chased the puck along the end boards and sent it to Robert at the goal line. He redirected a feed into the slot for Gabriel Dumont to send home.
Cleveland regained their lead with two goals to close out the first period. Halfway through the frame, Carson Meyer scored with a one-timer from the left circle. Eight minutes later, Trey Fix-Wolansky sent in a rebound.
Syracuse pulled back within one at the 1:24 mark of the middle frame when Goncalves sent a cross-zone feed for Ryfors to one-time from the right circle. Cleveland took back their two-goal lead three minutes later during an odd-man rush with a goal from Marcus Bjork.
Ryfors tallied his second of the game while on the power play with 20 seconds remaining in the second period. Barre-Boulet sent a perfect feed down low to set up a back door redirection.
The Crunch tied the game with another power-play goal at the 5:04 mark of the final frame. After Greaves made the initial save, a battle ensued before Robert was able to poke the loose puck into the net.
Cleveland went back up by one off a goal from Dillon Simpson at the 8:28 mark, but the Crunch kept rallying and knotted the game to eventually force overtime. With just 3:33 remaining, Smith chipped in a second chance opportunity over Greaves while on the man-advantage to send the game into an extra frame.
The game remained tied through overtime and went to a shootout. Smith was the first shooter and beat Greaves to put the Crunch up, but Marchenko tied it in the second round. Both Goncalves and Fix-Wolansky scored in the third round to keep the shootout going. Cole Fonstad netted the game-winner in the fourth round.
The Crunch and Monsters faceoff again tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m.
Single game tickets and ticket packages for the 2022-23 season are on sale now and can be purchased in person at the Crunch office located inside the Upstate Medical University Arena at Onondaga County War Memorial at 800 S. State St. in Syracuse, by calling the office at 315-473-4444 or online through Ticketmaster. For the latest Crunch news, visit www.syracusecrunch.com or follow the club on Facebook (www.facebook.com/syracusecrunch), Twitter (@SyracuseCrunch) and Instagram (@syracusecrunch).
Crunchables: With an assist, Alex Barre-Boulet became the sixth player in franchise history to record 200 career AHL points…Ilya Usau made his AHL debut tonight…Simon Ryfors earned his second career two-goal game.
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