Hamilton Bulldogs lose to Syracuse Crunch 5-1

Going into yesterday’s game the Bulldogs had played Syracuse twice, and lost both times by scores of 3-0 and 4-1. But, you know what they say, third times the charm, right? Wrong. The Bulldogs once again fell to the Crunch; in the season series the Bulldogs have been outscored by the Crunch 12-2, after yesterday’s 5-1 loss.

It was another poor performance in the shot department for the Bulldogs; they recorded a total 20 shots in the game while the Crunch more than doubled the Dogs with 42 shots.

During the Bulldogs last contest they finally got the first goal of the game in their 3-0 win against the Abbotsford Heat, the goal snapped a 15 game streak of them allowing the first goal. If you thought the Bulldogs were going to turn it around and try and reverse the streak you were wrong. The Bulldogs not only gave up the first goal, they gave up the first three in the first period.

The first marker was just 26 seconds in when Ondrej Palat tipped in a Mark Barberio point shot. Brett Connolly doubled the Crunch’s lead on a 5 on 3 Power Play after converting an Alex Killorn rebound in front of Cedrick Desjardins. On another first period Power Play Matt Taormina wired a slap shot from the left circle to give the Crunch a 3-0 first period lead.

With only 17 seconds left in the first Aaron Palushaj beat Riku Helenius to put the Bulldogs on the board with his 7^th of the season. Nathan Beaulieu rushed up the ice with the puck before setting up Palushaj in front. Louis Leblanc was awarded the second assist on the play, his first assist of the season.

After a scoreless second period the Crunch added two more goals in the third to seal the deal. Alex Killorn snapped a shot by Desjardins, and Pierre-Cedric Labrie jumped on a Brett Connolly rebound to give the Crunch a 5-1 win.

Despite allowing 5 goals Cedric Desjardins played a decent game stopping 37 shots in a losing effort. Hard to blame the goalie when you give up 42 shots and only score 1 goal.

Michael Bournival was a healthy scratch for the Bulldogs because Sylvain Lefebvre didn’t want to change his lineup after beating the Abbotsford Heat 3-0 on December 1^st. Though it’s not uncommon to keep the roster the same after a big win, it was a strange decision considering the today’s game came after a 6 day break from their win; whatever momentum they had built up didn’t last through the hiatus. It’s almost a certainty that Bournival will be back today to play Hershey.

Scoring Summary:

1st Period:
1. SYR – Ondrej Palat – 3 – (Mark Barberio, Tyler Johnson) – 0:26
2. SYR – Brett Connolly – 8 – (Alex Killorn, Tyler Johnson) – 7:08 (PP)
3. SYR – Matt Taormina – 3 – (Cory Conacher, J.T. Brown) – 13:42 (PP)
4. HAM – Aaron Palushaj – 7 – (Nathan Beaulieu, Louis Leblanc) – 19:42

2nd Period:
No Scoring

3rd period:
5. SYR – Alex Killorn – 4 – (Ondrej Palat, Mark Barberio) – 6:28
6. SYR – Pierre-Cedric Labrie – 4 – (Brett Connolly, Dmitry Korobov) – 11:08

Scoring:
Syracuse: 3-0-2—5
Hamilton: 1-0-0—1

Shots:
Syracuse: 18-14-10—42
Hamilton: 6-6-8—20

Goaltending:
Syracuse: Riku Helenius (W – 20 shots, 19 saves)
Hamilton: Cedrick Desjardins (L– 42 shots, 37 saves)

Power Play:
Syracuse: 2-for-5
Hamilton: 0-for-4

Attendance: 5,028

Three Stars:
1. SYR- Brett Connolly (1 goal, 1 assist, 2 shots, +1)
2. SYR- Ondrej Palat (1 goal, 1 assist, 3 shots, +2)
3. SYR- Alex Killorn (1 goal, 1 assist, 6 shots, +1)