SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse Crunch edged the Toronto Marlies, 4-3, in overtime tonight at Coca-Cola Coliseum.
Joe Carroll potted two goals for the second consecutive night to help advance the Crunch to 18-11-2-2 and 4-0-0-0 in the eight-game season series against the Marlies.
Crunch goaltender Hugo Alnefelt turned aside 24-of-27 shots in victory. Luke Cavallin stopped 17-of-21 between the pipes for the Marlies. The Syracuse power play went 1-for-4, while Toronto was 1-for-5.
Syracuse quickly opened scoring just 3:48 into the game. Gabriel Dumont sent a lead pass for Waltteri Merela who deked around a defender and beat Cavallin. Five minutes later, Max Groshev doubled the lead with a wrister from the right circle.
The Marlies knotted the score, 2-2, with two goals from Kieffer Bellows in the middle frame. He cut the lead in half at 11:01 with a shot from the high slot through traffic. Then at 17:33, he banked the puck off a Crunch defender and in.
The Crunch went back on top with a power-play goal 8:50 into the third period. Gage Goncalves fired a shot from the blue line that was stopped, but Carroll was down low to chip in the rebound. The Marlies responded with a power-play goal of their own at 13:34 when Alex Steeves ripped a one-timer from the right circle.
The teams remained tied through regulation and went into an overtime period. Carroll scored the game-winner with his second of the night right off the face off at 2:49. Jack Finley won the draw in the left circle and poked the puck out for Carroll to stuff it past Cavallin.
The Crunch return home to host the Springfield Thunderbirds on Friday.
Single game tickets and ticket packages for the 2023-24 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.
Crunchables: Zachary Massicotte recorded his first AHL point tonight…Joe Carroll has four goals and two game-winners in his last two games.