Crunch “Don’t go chasing waterfalls” in Game 5 against Toronto to grab series lead

By Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
May 13, 2017

Syracuse got right back to where it started from on Saturday.

With Mike McKenna back in goal and the Crunch back on home ice, things looked back to normal as Syracuse took one step closer to advancing to the Eastern Conference finals in the American Hockey League playoffs.

McKenna, pulled in a Game 4 loss, stopped 26 shots while the Crunch received multi-point efforts from Yanni Gourde, Erik Condra and Jonathan Racine in a 5-1 victory against Toronto.

Syracuse also received goals from Kevin Lynch, Matthew Peca, Gabriel Dumont and Joel Vermin to grab a 3-2 series lead while remaining perfect at War Memorial this postseason.

Game 6 is back in Toronto on Monday.

The Crunch entered the game reeling from losing both games in Toronto, including a late-game collapse in Game 3 that carried over to the next night. And McKenna, who has been a rock during the playoffs, looked shaky in his last start and was pulled after the first period.

But when Syracuse returned to practice on Friday to prepare for Game 5, head coach Ben Groulx knew right away the team was going to be in good hands in net when the puck dropped for Game 6.

”I wanted to take 24 hours and that’s what I like to do, take 24 hours and decided who is going to be the next goalie,’’ Groulx said after the game. “When I saw (McKenna) at the rink (Friday) it was clear in my mind that it was him. He was cool, he was confident, I liked his composure and poise. That’s what we saw tonight.’’

As he has done throughout the playoffs, McKenna remained in control in the opening period as the Marlies came out pushing and looking to build off the momentum of consecutive victories in Toronto. Though Steve Oleksy gave the Marlies the lead 8:26 in to the game, it was the only puck that slipped by McKenna of the 12 he faced in the opening period. After Peca tied the game at 11:24 of the first, it allowed the Crunch to find that familiar feeling on home ice and second period goals by Vermin and Lynch sent Syracuse on its way.

”We knew (McKenna) was going to come out strong tonight and that’s what he did,’’ Gourde said. “He kept us in the game and that was huge.’’

Racine, in the lineup due to the three-game suspension to Jake Dotchin, would score a shorthanded goal for his first of the playoffs 1:35 in to the third period, part of a penalty kill unit that erased all five Toronto power play chances on Saturday.

”I didn’t have any doubts, I knew our team was coming back to our building with our fans behind us and we’d be on it, and we were,’’ McKenna said. “So you just want to try to keep that confidence up. There are ups and downs and these are long series and seven games against one opponent is a lot. The road to the entire Calder is incredibly long, it’s almost half a season. So there are a lot of ups and downs and you just have to try to play it as down the middle as you can.’’

Now it’s about taking what went well on Saturday, understanding why it played out that way and try not to feel too good heading in to Monday’s potentially clinching game at Toronto.

”All it takes is one play for things to go in the other direction,’’ McKenna said. “So you look at what we did well, the penalty kill was excellent, the amount of pressure we got, how we got through the neutral zone.

“We didn’t go chasing any waterfalls. We didn’t try too much, we stuck to our game plan.’’

Full game highlights from Syracuse Crunch

Series schedule

Game 1 — Syracuse 3, Toronto 1 (Syracuse leads series 1-0)

Game 2 — Syracuse 8, Toronto 5 (Syracuse leads series 2-0)

Game 3 — Toronto 5, Syracuse 3 (Syracuse leads series 2-1)

Game 4 — Toronto 3, Syracuse 2 (Series tied 2-2)

Game 5 — Syracuse 5, Toronto 1 (Syracuse leads series 3-2)

Game 6 — Monday, May 15, 7 p.m. at Toronto

Game 7 — Wednesday, May 17, 7 p.m. at Syracuse (if necessary)