Syracuse's Connor Ingram was named the CCM/AHL Player of the Week on Monday.

North Division Notebook - A Tale of Two [New York] Teams

Tracey Lake

Nov 27, 2018 — 3 min read

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Let’s review how the month of November fared for two North Division squads.

A November to Remember in Syracuse

If not for an overtime loss to Rochester during the second weekend of November, the Syracuse Crunch would be perfect for the month. Not a bad turnaround for a team who finished October with a 2-5 mark.

Thanks to a 9-0-1-0 stretch heading into a two-game series with Cleveland this weekend, the Crunch have jumped from the bottom of the pack in the North Division to sitting three points out of first.

So, how did Syracuse get here?

Offense

During the streak, the Crunch have outscored opponents by a 47-20 margin. Leading the way is current AHL scoring leader Cory Conacher, who was reassigned by Tampa Bay on October 18th. In 13 games since coming down, the veteran forward has nine goals and 16 assists. Andy Andreoff, a free agent signing by the Lightning, has not missed a game and has nine goals and seven assists. Carter Verhaeghe and rookie Alex Barre-Boulet have also contributed to the offense, who currently rank fourth in the AHL with 3.82 goals per game.

Special Teams

Syracuse’s power play has been deadly, as they rank first in the AHL at 30.8 percent. Verhaeghe leads all AHL skaters with 13 power play points (five goals, eight assists), while Conacher’s 10 assists also lead the league. Barre-Boulet leads all AHL rookies with 11 power play points, and he'd tied for first among rookies with five power play goals. The Crunch penalty kill ranks 15th in the league, but the team is tied for the league lead in shorthanded goals scored with five.

Goaltending

Syracuse ranks fourth in the AHL with a goals against average of 2.71, and most of that can be attributed to second year pro Connor Ingram. When Eddie Pasquale was recalled to the Lightning on November 15th, Ingram stepped into the number one role and has shined. After a 3-0 win in Springfield on Saturday, he is 7-3 with a 2.52 GAA (12 th in the AHL) and a .918 save percentage. He is also tied with Iowa’s Kaapo Kahkonen for the AHL lead in shutouts with 3.

On Monday, Ingram was named the CCM/AHL Player of the Week for the period ending November 25th after he won all three of his starts in the Syracuse net last week, allowing a total of four goals on 90 shots (3-0-0, 1.33 GAA, .956 SV%, 1 SO).

Devilish Struggle

Meanwhile, down south on Interstate 81 it has been a different tune for the Binghamton Devils. They have gone winless in their last four games, and with just three wins in their last 10 outings, and find themselves tied for fifth place in the North with Belleville after lurking near the top of the division standings for several weeks in the beginning of the season.

One factor has been special teams. The Devils rank 29th in the AHL in power play at 11.6 percent, and 29th on the penalty kill at 75.2 percent.

Another factor? Not playing a full 60 minutes.

In several of the Devils’ losses they have held a lead only to have their opponent storm back. For example, in a 5-2 loss in Syracuse on November 14th Binghamton lead 2-1 after the first period. The Crunch went on to score four unanswered goals over the final 40 minutes and out shot the Devils 26-15. In another example, a special school day game in Bridgeport on November 7th saw Binghamton jump out to an early 2-0 lead only to give up seven unanswered goals to the Sound Tigers in a brutal 7-3 loss.

Despite the woes, there have been some bright spots in the Southern Tier.

In his third professional season, Mackenzie Blackwood is finally showing why New Jersey made him a second-round draft pick in 2015. In nine appearances, he is 3-4-1 with a 2.45 GAA (9 th in the AHL) and .923 save percentage.

Rookie Marian Studenic is tied for second among AHL rookies with eight goals. He is in a 3-way tie for the team scoring lead with Nick Lappin and Blake Pietila with 13 points.

For the first time since the team moved to Binghamton, the Devils have a captain, as forward Kevin Rooney was awarded the C on Tuesday.