An empty net goal with less than a minute to go gave Gabriel Dumont a hat trick and the Syracuse Crunch a 6-2 victory over the Rochester Americans in Game One of their best of five series. Eddie Pasquale stopped 28 of 30 shots to pick up the win in net.
The Crunch opened the scoring with Gabriel Dumont scoring just three minutes into the game. Carter Verhaeghe and Jamie McBain with the assists. The Amerks tied it up 50 seconds later when Zach Redmond’s shot from the point eluded everyone including Eddie Pasquale.
McBain gave the Crunch the lead back as he wristed a shot past Linus Ulmark at the 11 minute mark with Dumont and Alex Volkov picking up assists. The goal came during a 10 minute stretch where they were absolutely dominating play. Just before the period ended the Crunch had a bit of a defensive hiccup and the Amerks capitalized as Kyle Criscuolo was able to get behind Reid McNeil and put the puck past Eddie Pasquale. C.J. Smith and Seth Griffith were awarded the assists.
Dominik Masin gave the Crunch their third lead of the game when he poked home a rebound 1:44 into the second period. Mitchell Stephens and Matt Peca picked up assists. McBain picked up his third point of the night midway through the third period when his pass sprung Daniel Walcott into the Rochester zone. The converted defenseman slid a pass over to Brendan Bradley (signed to a PTO just before the end of the season) who put it into the net for the goal.
Gabriel Dumont’s second goal of the game came on a five-on-three power play as he deflected an Erik Cernak shot from the point. Mathieu Joseph picked up the other assist. With Ullmark on the bench for an extra skater, the Amerks were able to pressure the Syracuse Crunch defense, but they held fast until Dumont could escape with the puck and seal the victory with an empty net goal.
Game Two will be Saturday in Syracuse.
The Three Stars were:
Gabriel Dumont
Eddie Pasquale
Jamie McBain
Stay tuned tomorrow for a more detailed breakdown of the game.
