The Bulldogs are set to take on the Syracuse Crunch tonight at Copps Coliseum, the first of two meetings between the two clubs this week, with the second game taking place Friday night at the Bell Centre. The Crunch (5-1-1-1), AHL affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning, come into tonight's game after defeating the Adirondack Phantoms on Friday night. In the offseason, the Tampa Bay Lightning switched affiliations, moving their Calder Cup winning farm team, the Norfolk Admirals, to Syracuse. There are still 14 members of that championship team still with the Crunch today. Cory Conacher (6G, 6A) is tied for 3rd in league scoring with 12 points, 3 points behind Oilers defenseman Justin Schultz, despite having 2 games in hand on Schultz. Conacher is the reigning league MVP and Rookie of the Year.

The Bulldogs are looking to hold on to their undefeated regulation record on home ice, while the Crunch look to hold on to their undefeated in regulation on the road record. Blake Geoffrion (4 goals, 2 assists) and Brendan Gallagher (3 goals, 3 assists) currently lead the ‘Dogs with six points. Robert Mayer has two wins in his past three starts, posting a 1.94 goals against average and a .934 save percentage. The ‘Dogs rank sixth in the AHL in penalty killing with a 87.8% success rate.

The Bulldogs lines for tonight's game:

Forwards

37 Patrick Holland - 18 Michael Bournival - 17 Brendan Gallagher

13 Steven Quailer - 40 Gabriel Dumont - 28 Aaron Palushaj

14 Michael Blunden (A) - 57 Blake Geoffrion - 23 Joonas Nattinen

11 Alain Berger - 47 Darryl Boyce (A) - 12 Zack Stortini

Defensemen

8 Nathan Beaulieu - 32 Frederic St-Denis (A)

5 Jarred Tinordi - 20 Antoine Corbin

4 Brendon Nash - 44 Morgan Ellis

Goaltenders

29 Robert Mayer

39 Peter Delmas

Notes:

• Brendon Nash is on a three-game point streak with three assists during that span
• Mike Blunden is on a four-game point streak with 4 points (2 goals, 2 assists) during that span

The Crunch lines for tonight's game:

Lineups are unavailable until game time.

Notes:

• As previously mentioned, Corey Conacher is always a threat when on the ice.
• Syracuse has the 11th-best power play in the AHL, converting on 10 of its 50 chances, a 20% success rate. The ratio is better on the road (7-for-29, 24.1%) than at home (3-for-21, 14.3%).

You can watch tonight's game live on AHLLive ($), or listen to it here. Puck drop is 7:30 est.