WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON 3, SYRACUSE 0
Adam Berkhoel made 33 saves for his fourth shutout in nine appearances this season – and his third in a row – as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton blanked Syracuse by a 3-0 final at the Wachovia Arena.
Berkhoel (6-2-0) blanked Lowell on Nov. 7 and Binghamton on Nov. 15, and he has now stopped all 86 shots sent his way over his last three appearances.
Connor James tallied a goal and an assist in the victory, while Ryan Stone and Dave Gove also scored for the Penguins.
The Crunch suffered their first shutout of the season and saw their six-game points streak (5-0-0-1) come to an end.
TORONTO 5, ROCHESTER 2
Five different players registered multiple points as Toronto cruised to a 5-2 road win over Rochester on Wednesday night at the Blue Cross Arena.
Kris Newbury posted a game-high three points (1-2-3) for the Marlies, while Jeremy Williams tallied a pair of goals. With the victory, Toronto snapped its five-game losing skid (0-4-0-1) and improved to 5-7-0-2 overall.
Boyd Devereaux and Tim Stapleton each posted a goal and an assist in the winning effort, and defenseman Staffan Kronwall chipped in a pair of assists.
Marlies goaltender Justin Pogge earned the win with 26 saves on 28 shots, snapping a personal four-game losing skid.
Stefan Meyer and Rory Fitzpatrick netted goals for the Americans, who fell to 0-4-0-1 in their last five outings.
PORTLAND 4, HARTFORD 2
A trio of power play goals in the second period lifted Portland to a 4-2 road win over Hartford at the XL Center.
Chris Butler, Tim Kennedy, Mathieu Darche all posted a goal and an assist for the Pirates, and Matt Ellis added an empty net marker in the closing minute of the game.
Pirates goaltender Adam Dennis made 34 saves in the win, which was Portland’s eighth in a row.
Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau and Tommy Pyatt scored for the Wolf Pack in a losing effort.
CHICAGO 5, LAKE ERIE 4
Chicago took a 5-1 lead and had to hold off a furious late rally to emerge with a 5-4 road win over Lake Erie at Quicken Loans Arena.
The Monsters originally took a 1-0 lead when Brian Willsie scored his eighth goal of the season at 4:33 of the first period. The goal came on the power play.
The Wolves then scored five straight goals, receiving tallies from Jordan LaVallee, Joey Crabb, Joe Motzko, Matt Anderson, and Riley Holzapfel to take a 5-1 lead by the 1:10 mark of the third period.
Lake Erie’s Marty Sertich then scored at 4:38, Chris Stewart at 15:47, and Sertich again on the power play at 19:35, but the Monsters could not find the equalizer late.
Chicago goaltender Dan Turple held on for the victory, finishing with 22 saves. The Wolves have now allowed four goals in consecutive games after not surrendering more than three in any of their first 14 contests.
WORCESTER 4, NORFOLK 3
Worcester scored a pair of third period goals to take a 4-3 win over visiting Norfolk at the DCU Center.
With the game tied 2-2, the Sharks received third-period markers from Cory Larose at 4:10 and Andrew Desjardins at 9:55. The Admirals drew closer on a Jamie Heward goal at 19:13, but they could not tie it.
Tom Cavanagh and Mike Moore also scored for the Sharks, and goaltender Taylor Dakers earned his second win in as many starts with 24 saves.
Paul Szczechura and Wyatt Smith scored in the first period to originally give Norfolk a 2-0 advantage.
MANCHESTER 4, HAMILTON 2
Teddy Purcell and Matt Moulson each posted a goal and an assist as Manchester doubled up Hamilton, 4-2, at Copps Coliseum in the opener of a five-game road trip.
Viatcheslav Voynov and Scott Parse also scored for the Monarchs, and defenseman Justin Azevedo chipped in a trio of assists.
Manchester goaltender Jonathan Bernier earned the victory with 26 saves.
Rookie Ben Maxwell and Brock Trotter lit the lamp for the Bulldogs, who finished 2-1-0-0 on a three-game homestand.
