Connecticut Whale—Syracuse Crunch: Regular season game 47 preview notes
Looking to increase their win-streak to three games, the Connecticut Whale hosts the Syracus
e Crunch on Tuesday at 7pm (ET) at the XL Center in Hartford. This will be the first game played between Connecticut and Syracuse this season, and the two clubs will meet once more in April.
Pregame notes
.both teams are carrying streaks into Tuesday’s tilt, the Whale, as stated, a two-game win-streak; the Crunch a three-game losing-streak. Connecticut played twice this weekend, earning victories against the Albany Devils (3-2) and Hershey Bears (4-1). The Crunch is coming off a five-game homestand in which they lost four of five games. Losses to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (5-4 in a shootout), Toronto Marlies (5-2) and most recently the Rochester Americans (5-4 in overtime) have given Syracuse its current skid.
.the Whale enters the contest seated in eighth-place within the Eastern Conference standings, and tied for first in the Northeast Division—technically second-place due to tiebreaking rules—with 51 points, and a record of 21-16-4-5. Syracuse is looking up at Connecticut in the Eastern Conference standings, placed in 14th with 45 points. The Crunch owns a record of 19-18-4-3, and they sit in fourth-place in the East Division.
.Whale forwards Mats Zuccarello (three-games), Kris Newbury (three-games), Andre Deveaux (two-games), and Jonathan Audy-Marchessault (four-games) enter the game on point-streaks.
.Connecticut added a few names to their line-up over the course of last week, with forwards Wojtek Wolski (two-week conditioning assignment) and Casey Wellman (through NHL trade between the New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild), along with defenseman Jeff Woywitka (two-week conditioning assignment) all joining the roster. Wolski and Woywitka appeared in both games this weekend, and Wellman entered the line-up against the Bears. Each player has registered a point with the Whale: Wolski a goal; Woywitka and Wellman, assists.
.injured defenseman Pavel Valentenko may be close to returning to the Whale line-up, after missing three-straight games with an undisclosed injury. Wade Redden continues to progress, but it is unlikely that he will return on Tuesday.
.Syracuse is likely going to add a forward to its line-up, with winger Devante Smith-Pelly joining the club on a two-w
eek conditioning assignment. Smith-Pelly was injured during the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championships with Team Canada, and was granted the assignment by the Anaheim Ducks—who he has appeared in 26 games for this season, posting a 3-2-5 with 10 penalty-minutes and a minus-10 rating.
.the Whale will attempt to keep its special teams on a hot-streak, after successfully killing-off nine penalties taken over the weekend. Their power-play went 3-for-7 as well, and is ranked the 10th best in the AHL with a 19.7-percent conversion rate. Connecticut’s penalty-killing is 12th in the AHL at 83.2-percent. Syracuse’s power-play is fifth in the league (20.8-percent), and penalty-killing is 24th (79.3-percent).
.Chad Johnson has started in goal for the past two-games, and could get the call for a third-straight game having only allowed three goals on 62 shots-faced over the weekend. Cam Talbot is Connecticut’s second option. Syracuse recently added netminder Jeff Deslauriers to its roster on loan from the Ducks, and he has a 6-7 record in the AHL this season. He could receive the start on Tuesday.
.Syracuse has the fifth-most goals-scored as a team this season, and their top-3 scores consist of Patrick Maroon (22-26-48 in 43 games), Kyle Palmieri (25-13-38 in 27 games), and Peter Holland (16-18-34 in 40 games).
.entering the contest, the top-3 scorers on the Whale are: Newbury (17-24-41 in 35 games), Audy-Marchessault (16-24-40 in 46 games), and Deveaux (13-16-29 in 32 games).
Follow me on twitter for Whale updates @NickPerri_SNYRB
Email me at nickpnyrwriter@gmail.com.
