AHL Power Rankings: Syracuse Crunch Positioned To Make Run At First Place
AHL Power Rankings: Syracuse Crunch Positioned To Make Run At First Place
Winning 12 of their past 13 games was not enough for the Syracuse Crunch coming into this week.
Patrick Williams delivers the FloHockey AHL Power Rankings each week throughout the regular season.
Winning 12 of their past 13 games was not enough for the Syracuse Crunch coming into this week.
No, the Crunch and their NHL parent team, the Tampa Bay Lightning, want more. The AHL’s trade/loan deadline is this Friday afternoon, and the Crunch got an early start.
So they went out and acquired standout center Matthew Peca from the Springfield Thunderbirds on Tuesday morning. The move only cost them defenseman Wyatt Newpower, and Tampa Bay had already made blueliner Charle-Édouard D’Astous eligible for possible future duty this season with the Crunch.
Peca is a familiar face for Syracuse, where he played his first three pro seasons and went to the 2017 Calder Cup Finals. Primarily a playmaker early in his career, he broke out with 31 goals last season for Springfield and was named to the AHL First All-Star Team. That goal production has dropped this season – just eight goals in 49 games – but he was with a Springfield team that has struggled for offense all season. It’s another boost for a Crunch team that is 10th in the AHL in scoring.
Moreover, even if Peca’s goal-scoring remains modest, the Crunch have themselves an elite two-way center capable of playing a shutdown role and matching opponents’ top lines. Syracuse has held opponents to a league-best 25 shots per game, and Peca should only stifle those opponents further. He’s a leader, too, someone who has always been a highly respected presence wherever he has landed in the AHL. Tampa Bay prioritizes having high-end leadership for prospects in Syracuse, and Peca will bring that much more of it with him, especially as someone who has been to the Calder Cup Finals twice.
Peca’s arrival comes at an opportune time as well. AHL All-Star Conor Geekie remains on recall to Tampa Bay, so Peca offsets some of that loss. And starting Wednesday night against the Toronto Marlies, the Crunch are home for seven of their next eight games this month.
With three games in hand on the North Division-leading Laval Rocket, the Crunch have moved themselves to within three points of that top spot. The AHL schedule has those teams set for a Saturday night showdown in Syracuse to close out the weekend for the Crunch.
The Crunch, who went to the Calder Cup Finals in 2013 and 2017, and this season’s edition has Syracuse again among the AHL’s top contenders. Mix in a sixth-ranked penalty kill and a power play that is 11th overall, and the Crunch have the specialty-teams game covered. Veteran netminder Brandon Halverson has been exceptional, and Ryan Fanti has provided strong complementary goaltending. Now they have a high-end pivot.
Syracuse has suffered early postseason exits in three of the past four seasons. Maybe that changes this spring.
1) Grand Rapids Griffins (--)
With the Griffins already holding a playoff berth and more than a month to go in regular-season play, they need competitive tests. They got two of them in a weekend trip to Cleveland, where they picked up a split with the Monsters. Before that two-game set, they lost defenseman Justin Holl in a trade to the St. Louis Blues, but they have more than enough roster depth to offset that move. Playing.804 hockey, they still can break the 1992-93 Binghamton Rangers’ league-record .775 point percentage.
2) Providence Bruins (--)
Providence became the second AHL team to clinch a playoff berth and won two of three games last week. With Simon Zajicek out, Michael DiPietro continues to get a heavy workload that he has handled well. They got some supplemental scoring punch as the Boston Bruins brought in Alexis Gendron and Lukas Reichel in separate NHL trade deadline deals. With an upcoming schedule of some of the Eastern Conference’s weaker teams, this roll could continue in Providence.
3) Ontario Reign (+1)
Pheonix Copley. Erik Portillo. And repeat. The Reign have themselves a reliable 1A-1B goaltending set-up that has helped them to seven consecutive victories and the Pacific Division lead. They had averaged four-plus goals per game in the opening six games of that streak before also pulling out a tight 2-1 win at the Henderson Silver Knights this past Sunday. They get a good test Wednesday night when the Colorado Eagles come to Toyota Arena.
4) Laval Rocket (+1)
Jacob Fowler returned last Friday and had 35 saves against the visiting Rochester Americans. They took the rematch the following afternoon as well. They go to Utica and Syracuse this Friday and Saturday. That latter stop pits the Rocket against an opponent who has caused problems, including a 2-0 loss at Place Bell last Wednesday.
5) Syracuse Crunch (+6)
6) San Jose Barracuda (+3)
Along with sweeping a two-game trip to Milwaukee, the Barracuda went through a significant change on their blue line. Jett Woo is that change as he came to the San Jose Sharks from the Vancouver Canucks. Defenseman Jack Thompson, who went the other way in that swap, is certainly a loss, but the Barracuda have more than enough offense. They needed some snarl and stay-at-home presence, and Woo brings that. He also brings the Calder Cup title that he won last season with the Abbotsford Canucks.
7) Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (-4)
The Penguins have had some misadventures on home ice this season, and a 5-4 home loss to a non-playoff team like Springfield is one of them. After a break from in-state play, they get an all-Pennsylvania 3-in-3 weekend against the Hershey Bears and Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
8) Bakersfield Condors (--)
Geographical distance can be nice sometimes. While the Edmonton Oilers went through NHL trade deadline angst last week, the Condors quietly went about their business at home. They beat Colorado and then got three of four points from the visiting Tucson Roadrunners. Matt Tomkins had a 30-save shutout last Saturday. Combine Tomkins and Calvin Pickard, and the Condors are in good hands.
9) Charlotte Checkers (+1)
They did it. The Checkers came through a 10-game road trip and finished it off with three consecutive victories. That effort gave them a stout 6-2-2-0 performance on that winding journey through the Eastern Conference. They’ll be home this Friday for the first time since Feb. 16 as the Bridgeport Islanders visit for a pair of games. That set will start a six-game homestand. Something to watch – the Checkers have shown a habit in past years to look for late-season roster help. Will they be active this week?
10) Colorado Eagles (-4)
A lot like Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the Eagles are having clunkers in March. A 4-0 loss at Abbotsford, a team that is 30th in the AHL, should not be happening this late in the season. Nights like that may cost the Eagles a divisional title – and its accompanying first-round bye – and force them into a best-of-three first-round series.
11) Chicago Wolves (-4)
Amir Miftakhov has allowed four or more goals in seven of his past nine decisions. His latest outing saw the Wolves lose a 7-6 shootout at home to the Texas Stars last Sunday. Cayden Primeau has surrendered four goals in three of his last four decisions as well. Those defensive issues go beyond goaltending, however. The Wolves can run-and-gun their way through some of those games, but that will not be a viable way to win playoff games come late-April.
12) Cleveland Monsters (--)
Splitting decisions against the visiting Griffins is a successful weekend. A two-game trip to Hartford is next for the Monsters. They have put themselves very comfortably into a North Division playoff position. If they can hold third place, they avoid a first-round best-of-three series.
13) Coachella Valley Firebirds (+1)
The Firebirds did what they are supposed to do – win the winnable games. They had the struggling Calgary Wranglers visiting Acrisure Arena for a pair of games, and they dealt the visitors two more defeats. They held Calgary to just 16 shots in a 4-1 win last Saturday. They get a home-and-home series with Ontario this weekend. This is a young team, but one that is capable of causing trouble.
14) Texas Stars (+1)
It will be a Pacific Division-heavy schedule for the Stars until April 3. Starting Friday at home against Bakersfield, eight of the Stars’ next 10 games will be against the Pacific Division opponents. Having won 12 of their past 16 games, the midseason hole that they had themselves in two months ago feels very distant.
15) Henderson Silver Knights (+1)
Facing a home-and-home series with Ontario last weekend, the Silver Knights only came away with one point. Carl Lindbom continues to excel in net, and the Silver Knights got sniper Alexander Holtz on loan from the Vegas Golden Knights amid all of the NHL trade deadline roster-juggling. With a six-game trip that features two-game sets at both Abbotsford and Calgary, the Silver Knights have a chance to go on a real run here.
16) Toronto Marlies (-3)
After back-to-back weekend consecutive losses, the Marlies then lost 27-goal scorer Bo Groulx on recall to the Toronto Maple Leafs. While the Leafs’ season is in tatters, the Marlies have a playoff berth to secure. A punishing March schedule of 13 games in 31 nights continues in Syracuse before a home-and-home series with the Rochester Americans.
The Rest
17) San Diego Gulls (--)
18) Manitoba Moose (+1)
19) Rochester Americans (-1)
20) Tucson Roadrunners (--)
21) Hershey Bears (-1)
22) Lehigh Valley Phantoms (--)
23) Bridgeport Islanders (--)
24) Springfield Thunderbirds (+1)
25) Belleville Senators (-1)
26) Milwaukee Admirals (--)
27) Utica Comets (--)
28) Abbotsford Canucks (+1)
29) Calgary Wranglers (-1)
30) Iowa Wild (+1)
31) Hartford Wolf Pack (+1)
32) Rockford IceHogs (-2)
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