Crunch Shutdown Admirals 3-2
By Ted Warren
Kyle Palmieri Photo Credit: (John Wright/Norfolk Admirals)
Despite being 2 for 4 on the power play, the Norfolk Admirals fell victim to a 3-2 shootout loss against the Syracuse Crunch Friday night. Admiral’s right-winger Kyle Palmieri got the better of Crunch goaltender Dustin Tokarski twice Friday night burying both of the Admirals tallies in regulation. In addition, both goals were scored on power play.
Kyle Palmieri scored his 1st goal of the contest just minutes into the middle stanza. Admirals center Peter Holland won a faceoff in the attacking zone and slid a pass to Palmieri who parked himself at the blue line. Palmieri rifled a shot past Tokarski which gave Norfolk a one goal advantage.
Lightning struck twice for the 21-year-old sailing a wrist shot in the slot that eluded Tokarski on the power play doubling the Admirals lead. The Crunch didn’t sit idle for long. Crunch left wing Danick Gauthier cut into the deficit when he beat Admirals netminder Frederik Andersen at the 5:57 mark of the middle frame. Yawney’s troops outshot Cooper’s troops 9 to 8 in the second period.
Things remained quiet on the scoreboard until Syracuse’s Pierre-Cedric Labrie netted a goal that knotted the tilt at 2-2. The Crunch lit up Andersen like a Christmas tree firing off 23 shots. The Crunch‘s stingy defense only allowed 4 Admiral shots during the 3rd frame.
After a scoreless overtime where defensive was everything, a shootout commenced. Peter Holland and Emerson Etem danced pucks around Dustin Tokarski while Wyman, Palat, Nightingale and Panik struck pay dirt in the shootout. Tokarski improved his record to 17-5-3 while Andersen’s record reads 7-9-1.
Norfolk looks to greener pastures in Binghamton, New York where the club dukes it out against the Binghamton Senators Saturday night at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. The contest starts at 7:05.
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