KEN DO ATTITUDE EARNS ADIRONDACK OVERTIME VICTORY

Glens Falls, NY – The Adirondack Flames earned a 5-4 overtime victory over the Syracuse Crunch on Friday evening at the Onondaga County War Memorial Arena.

The Flames were led offensively by five different goal scorers, including the overtime winner from leading point getter Kenny Agostino. Defenseman John Ramage turned in a +4 effort, while Joni Ortio collected the win in his first game played since February, as he turned aside 35 shots.

Syracuse opened the scoring as Joel Vermin beat Ortio to the glove side to make it 1-0 for the Crunch just 4:39 into the game. The winger streaked through the middle of the ice and took a nice feed from Matthew Peca, before he slotted his wrist shot past Ortio. The goal, which was the 12th of the season for Vermin, was also assisted by defenseman Slater Koekkoek.

The Flames were next on the board as they knotted the score at one with 44 seconds left in the first, as Emile Poirier netted his 40th point of the season with the game tying goal. Poirier collected the puck off of a Max Reinhart faceoff win and fired a shot that was blocked by the Syracuse defense, but the winger got back his own rebound and beat Gudlevskis five hole. The goal, Poirier’s 18th of the season, was assisted only by Reinhart, his 22nd helper of the season.

A tenacious forecheck from the Crunch led to their second goal of the evening, as Brayden Point finished off the play to make it 2-1. The puck was worked out from down low right into the slot, where Point was on hand to bury his second of the season, which was recorded as unassisted.

The Crunch made it 3-1 as Yanni Gourde tapped home a loose puck in the crease to give Syracuse its first two-goal lead of the game. The original shot from Point was stopped by Ortio, but the puck sat in the crease where Gourde was on hand to put it home for his 29th tally of the season. The primary assist gave Point his first career multi-point game in the AHL, while Henri Ikonen collected his 13th assist of the season with the secondary helper.

The Flames moved back to within a goal with 3:36 left in the second as Nolan Yonkman buried a shot from the right point to make it a 3-2 game. The captain fired a shot on net that snuck through traffic in front of Syracuse netminder Kristers Gudlevskis. The assists went to center Mathieu Tousignant and winger Brant Harris, the fourth helper in 14 games for Harris.

After Syracuse regained a two-goal advantage off the stick of Jonathan Marchessault, Adirondack clawed back within one at the 13:43 mark of the third as David Wolf netted his team high 20th goal of the season to make it a 4-3 game. Defenseman Brett Kulak fired a shot from the slot that missed the net past the glove side of Gudlevskis, but the puck bounced directly onto Wolf’s stick and the German winger put it home to pull his team within a goal.

Adirondack knotted the score less than three minutes later, as Turner Elson intercepted a Syracuse clearing attempt in a prime position and beat Gudlevskis to tie the score at four. After a Syracuse faceoff win in their own end, a wayward clearing attempt went right to Elson in front and the winger would not miss as he forced overtime with his 17th goal of the season.

The Flames won the game just 39 seconds into overtime as Kenny Agostino buried a nice feed from Kulak for the 5-4 victory. Agostino and Kulak came down on a 2-on-1 and Agostino buried the return feed off of a give-and-go with Kulak for his 14th goal of the season.

The Flames conclude their season this weekend as they host the Utica Comets on Saturday evening at 7:00 p.m. and the Rochester Americans on Sunday at 5:00 p.m. Visit the Flames box office, call 518-480-3355, or order online at glensfallscc.com.

Adirondack Flames Hockey • Fired Up

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