Panik, Richard

The Sharks get bit by one of Syracuse's star rookies.

SYR-6
WOR-1

Dustin Tokarski allowed one goal on 26 shots for the victory.

First Period
SYR Brown, (2) (Connolly, Cote), 2:14
SYR Brown, (3) (Nightingale, Devos), 5:55
SYR Johnson, (12) (Panik), 6:16
WOR Kearns, (7) (Pelech, Kennedy), 16:37

Second Period
SYR Johnson, (13) (Killorn, Taormina), 13:33 (PP)

Third Period
SYR Korobov, (2) (Connolly, Brown), 14:05 (PP)
SYR Brown, (4) (Connolly, Devos), 17:31

J.T. Brown (pictured), Tyler Johnson, and Brett Connolly were the game's three stars. This was inevitable. J.T. Brown has too many gifts to not have an outburst like this from time to time, especially when he's playing with guys like Connolly who are just as talented and creative.

Lost in the jet fuel fumes of Brown's game is the fact Tyler Johnson just pulled into the league lead in goals with 13 in 17 games. TJ could hit 60 goals this year. He's got one of the best shots in the league, amazing wheels, and a talented supporting cast around him. Conacher got all the awards last year, but we may well see Johnson carrying the bulk of the hardware in 2012-2013.

The Panik attack hit 10 games today with an assist on one of Johnson's goals. There's one more game left on the schedule for Syracuse in November, and here's an interesting philosophical question for the league to ponder. If a player gets a point in every single game in a month, should not said player be the Player of the Month? Am I wrong? Right now, Richard Panik has 7 goals and 13 points in 10 November contests.

Dmitry Korobov scoring his second goal of the season gives me an opportunity to dote on the young KHL transplant. At +12 he's tied for third in the AHL in +/-, and 2 goals and 5 points in his first 14 games in North America is nothing to sneeze at. The big Belarussian is going to get better as he continues to settle in, and he's already pretty darned good.

Syracuse sits in first in the Eastern Conference, and has another 3 games in 3 nights weekend starting on Friday against the Penguins.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

And the Panik attack continues...

SYR-4
ALB-1

Riku Helenius stopped 18 of 19 shots he faced for the victory.

First Period
SYR Conacher, (9) (Taormina, Connolly), 14:52

Second Period
ALB Whitney, (1) (Henrique), 5:00
SYR Johnson, (11) (Panik, Palat), 10:26
SYR Killorn, (3) (Johnson, Palat), 13:04

Third Period
SYR Panik, (8) , 8:17

Tyler Johnson and Richard Panik were the game's first and second stars. Panik extended his scoring streak to nine games, matching the other two longest streaks in the AHL this season. More importantly, Panik is now creeping into the league leaders in goals and points alongside fellow Crunch forwards Johnson and Cory Conacher. This is big news for the Lightning organization. If he translates his stellar play in November consistently over the rest of the year, he will be in Tampa Bay next season. There's never been any doubt Panik has the highest upside of any forward in the Lightning organization. If he puts it all together, he's Marian Hossa reincarnate, and the rest of the NHL should be wary of him joining a team that already has the likes of Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman.

Alex Killorn got the third goal of his rookie campaign tonight and it's hard not to be pleased with the 11 points he has in his first 16 games, but there's something instructive buried deeper in the stats. Killorn actually leads Syracuse in shots on goal with 49, ahead of Johnson's 47. The difference is that Johnson has an NHL shot and Killorn doesn't, yet. Developing an NHL shot can be done with hard work. Ask Vincent Lecavalier. And, if Killorn puts that work in, it can be the difference between a 5-10 year NHL career as a lower-liner and a 10-15 year career as a top two-liner. With the style of game he plays, which is a north-south, shoot first kind of game, if he fine tunes his shot he's going to score a lot of goals. He's an Ivy League guy, so I suspect he's capable of calculating the difference in career earning power in both scenarios. And, when he does, I'm fairly confident he'll find the cost-benefit of putting that extra time in will be well justified.

Syracuse ends their weekend set tomorrow afternoon in Worcester.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

Bingo has goaltending.

BNG 2
SYR 1

Dustin Tokarski allowed two goals on 24 shots for the loss. He got in a duel with Robin Lehner and came up one goal short.

First Period
BNG Eckford, (4) (Grant, Claesson), 1:13

Second Period
NONE

Third Period
BNG Grant, (6) , 1:11
SYR Panik, (7) (Johnson, Barberio), 6:12 (PP)

Richard Panik was the game's second star. Although Syracuse took the loss, the Panik attack is now a full eight games long. He'll try to extend his streak tomorrow in Albany.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

By Jeremy Houghtaling

It was one smooth motion that brought the crowd to its feet.

On the doorstep of the Adirondack Phantoms crease, Richard Panik snatched the puck out of the air, set it down, and tapped the puck into the net, providing the Syracuse Crunch with a 5-0 second period lead at the Onondaga County War Memorial Saturday.

The effortless looking play was all instinct for Panik.

"The game is going so quick and fast, so you don't have time to think about anything," he said.

3 games in 3 nights. 3 wins. 16 total goals.

SYR-5
HER-3

Dustin Tokarski allowed 3 goals on just 19 shots, but got the win to run his season record to 7-1-0-1.

First Period
SYR Gudas, (1) (Panik), 12:04
HER Taffe, (5) (Kundratek, Stafford), 15:33 (PP)
SYR Taormina, (2) (Connolly, Brown), 17:46

Second Period
HER Syner, (1) (Beaudoin, Schilling), 10:33
SYR Panik, (6) (Korobov, Gudas), 12:21

Third Period
SYR Connolly, (6) (Palat), 8:08
SYR Johnson, (10) (Gudas, Labrie), 8:54
HER Hamill, (4) (Berry, Kane), 15:21

Radko Gudas (pictured), Brett Connolly, and Richard Panik were the game's three stars. Gudas' night was an uncharacteristic offensive outburst of 1 goal and 2 assists to double his overall point total for the season.

The Panik attack has now lasted 7 games, and he now has 5 goals and 9 points in those 7 games. After a slow October where he had 3 points in 7 games, Panik's now run his overall statistics to 6 goals and 12 points in 14 games, as he stalks a point a game.

Syracuse is now 10-2-1-1 through their first 14 games. Their 22 points gives them a 6 point cushion right now in the East Division. They've also managed to tied Springfield for the best record in the Eastern Conference, and their 54 goals are 5 clear of the next best team in the conference, as well.

Syracuse draws Binghamton at home next on Friday night to start another 3 games in 3 nights weekend.

Box score from TheAHL.com.