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The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins’ perfect record in the New Year came to an end on Monday afternoon after a 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Syracuse Crunch at Onondaga County Oncenter War Memorial Arena.
Despite outshooting the opposition 32-19, the Penguins (28-8-3-0) saw their win streak snapped at seven games. It was their second seven-game winning streak of the season.
Yanni Gourde opened the scoring after picking off a breakout attempt by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. It was Syracuse’s first shot of game and made it 1-0 at 10:57 of the first period.
Daniel Walcott squeaked in a power-play goal off a rebound at 14:54 of the first period making it 2-0 Crunch.
At the 6:42 mark of the second period, Syracuse extended its lead to 3-0 thanks to Slater Koekkoek’s first goal of the season.
Carter Rowney collected the puck beside the Crunch’s net and smacked in a rebound at 14:27 of the middle frame, cutting Syracuse’s lead to 3-1 and giving Wilkes-Barre/Scranton life. The score was Rowney’s third in three games since returning from injury on Friday night.
The Penguins proceeded to outshoot the Crunch 10-3 in the third period. However, their fate was sealed when Matthew Peca added an empty-net goal with 2:55 of the final period to make the score 4-1.
Tristan Jarry made 15 saves on 19 shots for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, while Syracuse’s Adam Wilcox made 31 saves on 32 shots faced.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 1, Syracuse Crunch 4
Penguins`0`1`0` —`1
Syracuse`2`1`1` —`4
First Period
Scoring — 1. SYR, Gourde 12 (Walcott) 10:57; 2. SYR, Walcott 2 (Taormina, Pacan) 14:54. Penalties — WBS, Wilson (high-sticking, high-sticking) 11:04; WBS, Porter (tripping) 19:48.
Second Period
Scoring — 3. SYR, Koekkoek 1 (Pacan) 6:42; 4. WBS, Rowney 8 (Simon, Prow) 14:27. Penalties — WBS, Sundqvist (slashing) 6:44; SYR, Walcott (tripping) 9:02; SYR, Taormina (delay of game) 15:36.
Third Period
Scoring — 5. SYR, Peca 6 (Richard, Brodeur) 17:05. Penalties — SYR, Taormina (interference) 6:39; SYR, Dotchin (tripping) 15:04.
Shots on goal
Penguins — 9-13-10-32
Syracuse — 4-12-3-19
Power-play Opportunities
Penguins — 0 for 4
Syracuse — 1 for 4
Goaltenders
Penguins — Tristan Jarry 16-6-1 (18 shots-15 saves)
Syracuse — Adam Wilcox 14-5-2 (32 shots-31 saves)
Referees — Tyler Puddifant, Stephen Reneau. Linesmen — Francois Dussureault, Jason Brown.
Attendance — 4,885