The Syracuse Crunch begin a 12-game season series with the Utica Comets on Friday before returning home to face the Hartford Wolf Pack on Saturday, carrying a strong finish to October into their next weekend of play.
Friday’s game starts at 7 p.m. at NBT Bank Arena in Utica. Saturday’s home game against Hartford begins at 5 p.m., according to the Crunch’s weekly report. Syracuse went 4-1-1-0 over its final six October games and finished the month 5-4-1-0.
Utica starts a busy season series
The Comets enter the week at 6-2-0-0, their best start since the 2021-22 season. They won twice last weekend, including a comeback victory over Hamilton on Sunday, putting another early test in front of a Syracuse team coming off a 7-0 win over the Hammers.
Utica’s leading scorer is Lenni Hämeenaho, who has seven points on four goals and three assists through eight games. Friday is the first of two November meetings in Utica, with the teams set to meet there again Nov. 14. The Comets do not visit Syracuse until Dec. 11.
Hartford’s visit Saturday is its only trip to Syracuse this season. The Crunch won both meetings between the teams last season, including a 7-2 victory in Syracuse on Dec. 13. This time, the Wolf Pack arrive during an extended stretch away from home.
Hartford is 6-6-1-0 overall and has already played a league-high nine road games, going 5-3-1-0 in those contests. The Wolf Pack are in the middle of an eight-game road trip, and Saturday will be their third game in four nights.
Pelletier’s scoring run leads Syracuse
Jakob Pelletier enters the week after scoring hat tricks in consecutive games, first at Lehigh Valley on Oct. 24 and then against Hamilton on Friday. He became the first Crunch player to score at least three goals in back-to-back games since Alexandre Picard in 2009 and the first AHL player to do it since Justin Bailey in 2020.
Pelletier, the reigning AHL scoring champion, added an assist against Hamilton for his second career four-point game. He has 11 points on seven goals and four assists in 10 games. His three career hat tricks include two this season, making him the first Syracuse player with multiple hat tricks in one season since Tyler Johnson in 2012-13.
Defenseman Dyllan Gill also produced a career night against Hamilton, collecting two first-period assists and scoring his first goal of the season in the second. The three-point performance pushed him to five points on one goal and four assists in four appearances, a new AHL career high. He has points in three straight games and leads Syracuse with a plus-8 rating.
Nick Abruzzese recorded three assists in a second consecutive game against Hamilton. All three were primary assists, and seven of the eight assists cited in the weekly report came as the primary helper. Mads Sogaard recorded his second shutout in six starts, matching his career high for shutouts in a season, while Jansen Harkins scored in a second straight game.
Penalties remain another part of Syracuse’s early-season picture. The Crunch and Hamilton combined for 119 penalty minutes Friday, with 60 assessed to Syracuse and 59 to the Hammers. That followed a 149-minute game at Lehigh Valley, giving the Crunch a role in the AHL’s two highest combined penalty-minute games of the season.
Syracuse is averaging 28.1 penalty minutes per game through 10 games, while its opponents average 30.3. The Crunch’s current rate would be their highest since the inaugural 1994-95 season, when they averaged 29 per game, as they prepare for a weekend featuring a fast-starting division rival and a road-tested Hartford club.
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