MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com -Syracuse, NY (March 3, 2009) – Despite a late third period comeback to gain a point, the Syracuse Crunch fell in overtime to the Hamilton Bulldogs tonight, 3-2 in front of 3,412 fans at the War Memorial at Oncenter.

Looking to keep its modest two-game home winning streak going, the Crunch came out in attack mode in the first few minutes of the game, throwing six shots on goal in the first five minutes.

Crunch starter Dan LaCosta kept the game scoreless about four minutes in when Hamilton’s Yanick Lehoux came in on a partial breakaway and deked to his forehand.

LaCosta sprawled out and denied Lehoux with a left pad save to keep the game scoreless.

The Crunch capitalized two minutes later at the 6:02 mark when Steve Kelly fed Craig MacDonald the puck just below the goal line in the right corner.

MacDonald sent a backhand feed to the front of the net for a bulldozing Mike Blunden, who found the puck and swatted it past Cedrick Desjardins for the 1-0 lead.

The score stayed that way until the 11:25 mark of the second stanza when Hamilton got on the board with a power play marker.

With just six seconds left in the man-advantage, Ben Maxwell fired a shot from the right point that sailed over LaCosta’s right shoulder to tie the game at 1-1.

The third period started with a golden opportunity when Doug Janik’s double minor high-sticking penalty at the 19:54 mark of the second carried over, but the Crunch could not capitalize on the extended power play.

Syracuse finally did cash in to tie the contest at the 16:17 mark of the third.

Dan Spang’s sharp-angle shot from the left circle was denied by Desjardins, but Trevor Frischmon collected a bouncing rebound and shuffled is past the Hamilton netminder to knot the contest at 2-2, eventually forcing overtime.

Both teams traded chances back and forth, but Hamilton’s Ryan Russell netted the game-winner 2:25 into the extra session when Kyle Chipchura’s forecheck forced a turnover down low and he fed the puck to Russell in the slot.

Russell beat LaCosta with a shot low to the glove side to ice a 3-2 win for Hamilton.

LaCosta made 39 saves in the losing effort.

CRUNCHABLES: Dan Spang has four points (0g, 4a) over his first five games as a member of the Crunch...Tom Sestito appeared in his 100^th AHL game and 100^th game as a member of the Crunch tonight.

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