SYRACUSE, N.Y. (SYRACUSE CRUNCH) — Hugo Alnefelt and the Syracuse Crunch blanked the Cleveland Monsters, 5-0, tonight, Oct. 20, at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Alnefelt stopped all 35 shots he faced to record his fourth career shutout. Jet Greaves turned aside 13-of-17 shots in net for the Monsters before being relieved by Pavel Cajan in the second period. Cajan went on to stop 15-of-16.
Crunch special teams once again had an excellent night. The power play went 2-for-5, while the penalty was a perfect 7-for-7.
The Crunch opened scoring with a power-play goal just 1:36 into the game. Gabriel Dumont sped down the right wing and tucked the puck behind Greaves. When the goaltender stuck his glove out to make the save, the puck banked off it and across the goal line. Three minutes later, Felix Robert doubled the lead with a wrister from the top of the right circle.
Syracuse continued the one-sided scoring with two more in the middle frame. At 8:21, Daniel Walcott grabbed a loose puck in the neutral zone and lit the lamp on a shorthanded breakaway. Then halfway through the frame, Cole Koepke came in on a 2-on-1 with Dumont and chased Greaves from the game with a shot from the left face off dot.
Max Groshev scored his first AHL goal on the man-advantage to build up a 5-0 lead for the Crunch early in the third period. The rookie forward skated the puck down the left side and beat Cajan from a sharp angle along the goal line.
The Crunch and Monsters play the second game of their weekend series tomorrow night, Oct. 21.
