Crunch 5 Penguins 1

Three second period goals were enough to power the Syracuse Crunch to a 5-1 win against the Penguins on Saturday night at the Onondaga County War Memorial. The loss dropped the Pens record against Syracuse to 4-2-0-0 this season, with two more contests to go (this coming Tuesday and April 15, both in Wilkes-Barre).

The loss also saw the Penguins lose some ground in the battle for the East Division, as both the Hershey Bears and Norfolk Admirals posted wins earlier in the evening.

After a hard hitting but scoreless first frame, tempers finally spilt over in the second. Matt Carkner and Jeff Szwez duked it out at center ice, with both heavyweights getting some good shots in during a fairly even throwdown.

Ryan Caldwell opened the scoreing at 6:31 of the second, before Philippe Dupuis stretched the lead to two goals, finding a few inches between Deslauriers' right skate and the goal post and whacking at the puck until it squeaked just over the goal line 50 seconds after Caldwell's score

Curtis Glencross made the score 3-0 at 15:18, straeking across the crease during a delayed penalty and firing into the upper regions of the net. Then, after the ensuing faceoff, he found himself dropping the gloves with Kurtis McLean.

Ryan Stone got the Penguins on the board with 1:34 to play in the second, shoveling a loose puck into the net just out of the reach of Tomas Popperle's left skate.

Jaokim Lindstrom got that goal back three mintues into the third with an unassisted marker of his own, and Glencross put an exclamation point on the night by picking up his second goal of the game, this one shorthanded at 12:58.