The Syracuse Crunch snapped a three game skid with a 4-1 victory over the Springfield Thunderbirds tonight at the War Memorial Arena.
Michael Bournival led the Crunch with two goals, while Tye McGinn and Jason Akeson contributed one each. Adam Erne and Kevin Lynch had multi-point games with two assists as the Crunch move to 2-4-1-0 this season.
Crunch netminder Connor Ingram earned his first professional win, stopping 22-of-23 shots. Samuel Montembeault turned aside 19-of-22 before being relieved Evan Cowley in the third period. Cowley stopped all three shots he faced. Syracuse was unable to convert on three power play opportunities and went 1-for-2 on the penalty kill.
The Crunch opened scoring late in the first period. Cory Conacher wrapped around the back of the net and threw the puck on goal. McGinn was parked in front of the cage to jam in the loose puck from behind Montembeault. Lynch contributed the secondary assist.
Syracuse doubled their lead with 5:16 remaining in the middle stanza. Erne cleared the zone for Akeson and Alexander Volkov to skate in on a 2-on-1. Akeson fired a low shot from the bottom of left of the circle that went five-hole.
Bournival made it 3-0 just 3:19 into the final frame. Erne sent a centering feed from the right wing side for the center to redirect in from the slot. Dominik Masin earned a point with the helper.
The Thunderbirds finally solved Ingram one minute later when Curtis Valk scored on the power play with the help of Jayce Hawryluk and Ed Wittchow.
With three seconds remaining in the game, Bournival added an empty net goal off assists from Lynch and Anthony Cirelli to secure victory.
The Crunch host the Toronto Marlies on Friday at 7 p.m. at the War Memorial Arena.
