The atmosphere was electric in Syracuse on Saturday when the Crunch played host to the Toronto Marlies in game five of the North Division Final. The Syracuse Crunch proved to be the winners, 5-1, and took a 3-to-2 series lead with the chance to end it all on Monday in Toronto.
The start of the first period was a frustrating one for the home-town team. The visitors came out firing on all cylinders and forced Crunch starting goalie Mike McKenna to be on his game early. Syracuse wouldn’t muster their first shot on goal until after the seven minute mark of the frame and Toronto wouldn’t waste a whole lot of time before taking full advantage of the lopsided time of possession.
Former Hershey Bears defenseman Steve Oleksy set up shop just below the blue line and fired a slap-shot through traffic and past McKenna to give the Marlies a 1-0 lead. Brett Findlay and Richard Clune picked up the helpers on the tally.
Much to the approval of the nearly 6,000 fans in the arena, the Crunch were able to pick up the pace and respond quickly.
With a little over eight minutes to play in the period, Erik Condra corralled a puck behind the Marlies net, fended off a defender, and delivered a spot-on pass to Matt Peca right on the door-step. Peca roofed the puck over the left shoulder of Marlies goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo to knot the score at one apiece. Jonathan Racine earned the secondary assist on the play, his first of the playoffs.
“I thought we did a great job responding,” Crunch goalie Mike McKenna said of Peca’s goal. “There’s ebbs and flows to everything so if they start off hot or we start off hot, somebody is going to be better to start the thing.”
In the middle frame, the Crunch really found their groove and began to look like the team that took to the ice in games one and two.
Early in the period, Syracuse capitalized on a net-mouth scramble to take a 2-1 lead. Yanni Gourde raced down the right wing boards, made an inside move to get a shot on net, and after multiple whacks at the puck, Joel Vermin cleaned up the mess.
“Slater made a very good play at the blue-line to create a turnover,” Gourde said. “I got on my horse and tried to gain some speed. I beat the guy and I tried to score obviously and it didn’t work out for me. Conacher came in and tried to bury the rebound and it doesn’t work and then Joel just tapped the puck into the empty net. It was a very important goal at that point of the game.”
Just over six minutes later, Syracuse continued pouring on the offense with a goal from checking line center Kevin Lynch. Daniel Walcott collected the puck deep in the left-wing corner and threaded the needle with a pass to Lynch who went post-and-in to extend the crunch lead to 3-to-1. For Lynch, it was his first goal of the post-season and just his second point in eight contests.
“It’s nice to help out the team offensively,” Lynch said of his second period marker. “Me and Walcott and players like that are just trying to go out there and be physical and be role players and try to change the momentum of the game. It’s nice to see one go in.”
The depth scoring just kept coming for the Crunch early into the third period when Jonathan Racine, inserted into the lineup in game 4 after Jake Dotchin’s three game suspension, netted his first career playoff goal and third pro goal ever.
“You need that contribution from your role players,” Crunch head coach Ben Groulx said of the goals scored by Racine and Lynch. “I thought Lynch played well, I thought Walcott played well again tonight, Dumont had an empty netter, Racine (scored) shorthanded, so it was a good night.”
The Crunch went on to win game 5 by a final of 5-1. Mike McKenna turned aside 26 out of 27 shots and earned first star of the game honors.
Syracuse will have a shot at ending the series on Monday night at the Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto. Neither team has won a game in the series on visiting ice.
