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Over the final 45 minutes of game time on Wednesday, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton didn’t allow a goal and only surrendered a dozen shots. The Penguins even scored three themselves during that stretch.
It wasn’t nearly enough to offset a downright miserable start against Syracuse.
The Crunch scored on their first three shots of the night at Mohegan Sun Arena en route to a 6-3 victory, their fourth straight in the season series against the Penguins, who have now lost five in a row overall.
The pain didn’t end there in the first period. It was 3-0 by the time Wilkes-Barre/Scranton starting goalie Emil Larmi made his first save of the night, and the Crunch made it 4-0 on their fifth shot.
That forced a change to backup Alex D’Orio, appearing in his first game of the season with the Penguins. After he stopped the first two shots he faced, Syracuse poured it on by scoring two more goals on their next three shots.
In all, it took the Crunch just 10 shots and 14 minutes to make it a 6-0 game. The Penguins hadn’t allowed six goals in a full game this season, let alone in one period.
Gemel Smith figured in on all four goals against Larmi, scoring three himself and setting up another by Boris Katchouk. Devante Stephens and Jummy Huntington got the goals against D’Orio. Smith led all skaters with five points.
But Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (5-5-3-1) managed to salvage some pride on the night, starting with Tim Schaller’s fifth goal of the season with 2:32 left in the first period.
Schaller and captain Josh Currie both finished with three points on the night, each getting a goal and two assists. Currie scored early in the second period and Nick Schilkey added a goal with 5:14 left in the third.
D’Orio closed out the game with 15 saves on 17 shots. Jordy Bellerive picked up a game misconduct for two fights in the same game after dropping the gloves with Sean Day and Smith.
The Penguins will be back on the ice in Wilkes-Barre Township on Friday when they host Hershey at 7 p.m.