There was a moment, late in the third period, when it looked like the Syracuse Crunch were going to pull off another improbable win. Alex Barré-Boulet tipped a point shot past Malcolm Subban to tie the game at four with just 3:38 left to go and sent the home crowd into a mild hysteria. Sadly, the tie would last just over a minute as Cleveland’s Luca Del Bel Belluz scored his first career playoff goal, beating Matt Tomkins off of a rebound shot. Roman Ahcan added an empty-net goal for the 6-4 final.
The loss ended the Crunch’s season as Cleveland swept them in the AHL North Division Finals. All three games in the best-of-five series were close contests with the Crunch having opportunities to pull the games out, but not quite being able to find the back of the net consistently enough to take down the division winners.
With Jet Greaves, who had stopped 45 of 46 shots through the first two games, out, and playing in front of their home crowd for the first time in this round, the Crunch had feel good about Game 3. Unfortunately, they found themselves down early in the must win game when Jake Gaudet opened the scoring against Tomkins, who was making his first start with Syracuse since March 30th.
Barré-Boulet quickly answered, striking on the power play from the right circle to tie the game. Rookie Niko Huuhtanen picked up his first career points in the AHL with an assist.
Alex Barré-Boulet (3) [Max Crozier, Niko Huuhtanen] Power Play
Midway through the second period, Cleveland used a power play of their own to retake the lead as veteran Stefan Matteau scored his first of the playoffs. The Crunch were undaunted and responded with two of their own. First up, five minutes after Matteau’s goal, Coke Koepke scored his team-leading fourth post-season goal. He gathered in a puck in the neutral zone, shielded off the defender and roofed it past Subban’s glove for the equalizer.
Cole Koepke (4) [Sean Day, Devante Stephens]
Just over a minute later, Huuhtanen created a turnover in the offensive zone and fed the puck down low to Jordy Bellerive. The trade-deadline acquisition beat Subban to give the Crunch the lead for the first time all night.
Jordy Bellerive (3) [Niko Huuhtanen, Daniel Walcott]
That’s how the second period would end and the third period started with the Crunch throwing a couple of chances, including a three-on-one, against Subban, but weren’t able to add an insurance goal. That would proved to be their downfall as Alex Whelan tied the game just a minute into the period (with Josh Dunne occupying two Crunch players at the side of the net).
Dunne would score the go-ahead goal at the 9:29 mark after slipping behind the defense and roofing a nice back-hand shot past Tomkins, who finished with 21 saves on 26 shots. Barré-Boulet would net his game-tying goal on a deflection off of Declan Carlile’s point shot seven minutes later.
Alex Barré-Boulet (4) [Declan Carlile, Gabriel Fortier]
Following an icing by the Crunch, Cleveland won an important offensive zone face-off which led to Trey-Fix Wolansky putting the puck on Tomkins. The rebound came right to Del Bel Belluz and he wasted no time putting it past the sliding goaltender for the lead.
With Tomkins on the bench, Ahcan was able to find the empty net and send the Monsters onto the Eastern Conference Final where they will face the defending champions, the Hershey Bears. Hershey also advanced via a sweep as they took out the Hartford Wolfpack in three games.
For the Crunch, the loss ended a season which, to many, was a bit of a surprise. With a new coaching staff behind the bench, and an ever-evolving roster that included five different goalies getting a start, they still managed to lead the AHL North up until the very last day of the season. That was despite losing their captain, Gabriel Dumont, to a season-ending injury just before the trade deadline, and with the Tampa Bay Lightning poaching a lot of their talent to fill holes at the NHL level.
With the possibility of the Lightning calling up some more players next season, the Crunch’s 31st year of existence will likely be another one filled with a lot of change. Coach Joel Bouchard will have his hands full again, but he showed that he is quite capable of navigating the turbulent waters of an AHL season. Fans should be excited to see full seasons from some of the rookies that joined the team at the end of the season such as Dylan Duke, Roman Schmidt, and Huuhtanen.
For once, it seems like goaltending might not be a huge off-season concern. Despite the rumors that Hugo Alnefelt is heading back to Europe next season, Matt Tomkins and Brandon Halverson are both signed through the 2024-25 year. Tomkins is on a NHL deal while Halverson, who played well while Tomkins was in Tampa at the end of the season, is on an AHL deal. With Nick Malik staying in Europe as well, the Lightning don’t really have any prospects to interfere with the veteran duo, so expect them to take up most of the starts next season.
