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Pro wrestler Ric Flair makes a pregame speech at the Syracuse Crunch-Springfield Falcons game Saturday in the War Memorial.

(Scott Thomas | The Syracuse Crunch)

Syracuse, N.Y. — Forward Nicolas Deschamps wore the face of the Syracuse Crunch's offense on Saturday night.

Not pretty.

Not yet productive.

But still plugging away, no matter how much it hurts.

Deschamps and his teammates unearthed enough offense to steal another point on Saturday, falling to Springfield 2-1 in overtime in the War Memorial.

The outcome extended Syracuse's points streak to seven games and, with a loss by Oklahoma City on Saturday, propelled it to the top of the AHL standings even during a time of profound offensive transition.

Deschamps is part of that makeover, coming as a waiver claim on Friday to help compensate for injuries to forwards Mike Blunden, Jonathan Marchessault and Philippe Paradis. It was a rough start for the veteran — he went pointless in the two games and suffered a broken nose and a black eye when he took a shot off his face against Bridgeport on Friday.

But, like his team, Deschamps is moving forward. Syracuse finished a stretch against three straight Northeast Division teams in four nights by earning four of a possible six points despite totaling just five goals in those contests.

"Tonight, I think overall was a good game,'' said Deschamps, whose team produced a harmless 40 shots. "Just right now, we can't find a way to put the puck in the net. Things are going to start to go well again. We have to generate lower (in the zone) more. We've got to find a way to put the puck on net and crash the net and be there for rebounds. I think that was the main thing tonight. Otherwise, I think we were all over them.''

Saturday's point was crafted on the backs of Mike Angelidis and goalie Allen York. Angelidis powered home a man-up score with 7:23 left in the third period, and York, making his Crunch season debut, was brilliant before allowing Marko Dano to whip home the game-winner as the teams played 3-on-3 at the 4:13 mark of overtime.

"It's just a tough way to lose at the end, obviously,'' York said. "That was a heck of a shot but it's something that you don't want to let in because he was not on the greatest shooting angle on that one. I honestly thought he was going to go back door. Maybe that's why I let it in. I probably cheated a little bit to the left. But it was a good shot. I tip my cap.''

The heroics of York and Angelidis masked the stench of a Crunch offense that's clearly still taking time to develop familiarity and the ability to set the pace of a game. In each of its last three games, Syracuse was scoreless in the first two periods. Normally, you don't grab two-thirds of the points on the table with those types of starts.

"I think we just have to keep bearing down. Hopefully we'll get some more chemistry as we go along here,'' Angelidis said. "I think we've just got to get together, have a couple practices. There's been all game days, we have guys who have showed up on game days. They haven't really had a time to kind of be together, joke around, have some fun in practice together. I think it takes time. I think it will eventually happen. It's a process.''

New Syracuse forward Carter Ashton played in his first game with the team Saturday after a trade from the Toronto organization the day before. And Danick Gauthier, point-less after two games after his recall from the ECHL, was scratched.

Ashton got into Syracuse at about 4:30 a.m. Saturday after a long car ride from Cleveland, where his former team the Marlies had been playing.

"I think it's pretty quick (to click),'' he said. "I'm lucky. I know some familiar faces in here. It might take a practice or two just to get familiar with the guys, get the names down, and stuff like that. But definitely no longer than maybe a a practice and a game. It tends to click pretty quick with a good team.''

Ashton, a former first-round pick by the Lightning, said he was surprised by the trade.

"Any time you get traded, you never expect it at that exact time,'' he said. "I was surprised but extremely excited to be back with the Tampa organization.''

While the scorers find their new rhythms, Saturday's game continued one positive trend for the Crunch. That's the goaltending effort after last week's recall of Andrei Vasilevskiy to Tampa Bay.

Kristers Gudlevskis allowed a combined four goals in his two starts Wednesday and Friday and York, recalled from Florida of the ECHL last week, was a wall after permitting a goal to Springfield's Ryan Craig on the fourth shot of the game. York finished with 34 saves overall.

"I just want to have quality starts whenever I play and give the guys a chance to win,'' York said. "I thought I played a good game overall. Could it have been better? Yeah, it could always be better. It could always be a shutout. But I thought it was a good effort and we had a chance to win.''

Angelidis tied by finally cracking Falcons goalie Oscar Dansk, who was sensational with 39 saves. Angelidis, camped in the lower left circle, took a feed from Tanner Richard and ripped a shot that hit off the goalie and crawled over the line.

Syracuse out-shot Springfield 18-8 in the first but the Falcons' Craig unleashed the only bid that mattered. That came at the 7:11 mark when he slid a puck from a sharp angle along the right goal line extended past York for the only goal of the stanza.

The Crunch then faltered on three straight power plays that could have knotted the game, including 1:10 of 5 on 3 action.

Forward Carter Ashton, acquired in a trade from the Toronto organization on Friday, made his debut wearing No. 9. David Broll, the other forward picked up in that trade, did not play.

The Crunch is off until visiting Adirondack on Tuesday.

— Boxscore



— AHL standings

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