Goals from Mark Hartigan, Ryan Caldwell and Geoff Platt had the Crunch out to an early 3-0 lead as Syracuse defeated Philadelphia 5-2 in an afternoon match-up at the Wachovia Spectrum.
Platt, who leads the Crunch with eight goals and 12 points, registered his second goal of the afternoon on a short hand tally at 10:51 of the third period, while teammate Jaroslav Balastik added two assists to help Syracuse snap its five-game losing skid.
It was Syracuse’s first road victory in eight tries this season (1-6-0-1), and Ty Conklin got in the win column for the first time after an 0-5-1 start.
Niko Dimitrakos and Eric Meloche scored for the Phantoms.
WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON 3, BRIDGEPORT 2 (SO)
Jeff Deslauriers made 24 saves and stopped four of five shooters in the Penguins’ 3-2 shootout win at Bridgeport.
Erik Christensen got Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on the board, scoring his sixth goal in his last five games, at 6:50 in the third period to tie the game at 1-1. Christensen, who leads the team with 22 points (11g, 11a), has recorded points in six of his last seven games and 13 of 15 overall for the Penguins.
Jeff Tambellini opened the scoring for Bridgeport in the second period, while rookie Johan Halvardsson scored his first AHL goal to put the Sound Tigers ahead at 7:26 in the third period.
Marc-Antoine Pouliot would knot the game at 2-2, scoring a power-play goal at 8:56 in the third frame for the Pens to force overtime.
Christensen and Rob Schremp scored for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the shootout, while Sergei Ogorodnikov scored the lone Bridgeport goal.
BINGHAMTON 4, ALBANY 0
Kelly Guard stopped all 42 shots faced for his first shutout of the season as Binghamton put an end to its five-game losing streak with a 4-0 win at home against Albany.
Jeff Heerema, who leads the team with nine goals, and Josh Hennessy, who is tied for second along with Heerema with 12 points, each had a goal and an assists for the Senators.
Grant Potulny and Chanse Fitzpatrick also scored for the Sens, who quashed the River Rats’ five-game points streak (4-0-1-0).
MANCHESTER 4, TORONTO 2
Dany Roussin scored his first two goals of the season and eight different players registered a point in the Monarchs’ 4-2 win at home against the Marlies.
Jason LaBarbera made 37 saves in the contest and Mike Hoffman and Shay Stephenson each tallied their first goals of the season for the Manchester.
Erik Westrum, who leads the team with six goals and 11 assists and 21 points, scored for Toronto and has now registered a point in 12 of his 14 games on the season. Defenseman Marc Moro had the other goal and was a plus-2 in the contest.
SPRINGFIELD 3, HERSHEY 2 (SO)
David Spina capped a Springfield comeback scoring the game-winning shootout goal in the Falcons’ 3-2 win at home against visiting Hershey.
Justin Keller scored in the opening frame to give Springfield a 1-0 lead and Andy Delmore scored at 16:50 of the third period for Springfield to force overtime.
Karri Ramo stopped 37 of 39 shots in the contest and has now won five of his last six decisions for the Falcons.
Alexandre Giroux and Matt Hendricks tallied for the Bears and center Eric Fehr extended his scoring streak to 11 games recording an assist in the game.
HOUSTON 4, MILWAUKEE 2
Benoit Pouliot and Bryan Lundbohm each had a goal and an assist as the Aeros capped a perfect four-game road trip by defeating Milwaukee, 4-2.
Houston netminder Josh Harding also won his fourth straight decision, and has compiled a .955 save percentage and 1.71 GAA in that span.
Josh Olson and Ben Thomson also tallied for the Aeros, who held a 3-0 lead entering the third period.
Goals by Alexander Radulov and Ramzi Abid got the Admirals to within one goal midway through the final frame until Lundbohm tallied an empty-net goal with just over a minute remaining to seal the win for Houston.
