Crunch open conference finals with a road victory

By Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
May 17, 2017

Less than 48 hours after celebrating an emotional Game 7 victory, the Syracuse Crunch were back on the ice for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.

The Crunch picked right back up where they left off two days earlier.

Syracuse jumped out to an early lead and never looked back to defeat the Providence Bruins 6-3 to grab a 1-0 series lead.

Mike McKenna stopped 33 shots while Yanni Gourde, Gabriel Dumont and Joel Vermin each finished with a goal and an assist.

Game 2 will be on Sunday back at Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence.

Syracuse will have to put together a more complete effort to grab a 2-0 series lead.

The Crunch, which took the five-hour bus ride to Rhode Island on Thursday, showed no signs of fatigue when the puck dropped on Friday. Tye McGinn provided the early lead with his fourth goal of the playoffs coming 3:57 in to the game. Michael Bournival added to the lead at 12:20 with his third postseason goal.

McKenna, meanwhile, kept the two-goal lead intact, stopping all 16 shots he faced in the opening period to give Syracuse the exact kind of start it needed to open the series on the road, where Syracuse went 1-4 in the opening two series.

”This is the conference final, we should all just enjoy it,’’ Vermin told Syracuse radio voice Dan D’uva about the mindset to open the series. “Just go hard and enjoy it, that was kind f our mindset. Against Toronto (in the second round) we had kind of a tough time on the road, so we wanted to get off to a good start here.’’

In the second period, Providence cut the lead in half on an Alex Grant slap shot from the left point that found the back of the net at 4:47. But Syracuse answered right back as Vermin was on the back door as Matthew Peca found him with a cross-seam pass to regain the two goal lead while on the power play at 6:56.

”Me and Pecs both said, if we are on the power play and if we are going to go down (low), let’s both go down together,’’ Vermin said. “It was a beautiful backhand pass and I pretty much had an open net and I just had to put it in, so that was a nice pass.’’

That goal squelched any momentum the Bruins built up with the goal and the Crunch entered the third period with a 3-1 lead. Dumont made it 4-1 during a goal mouth scramble at 4:23 for his fourth goal of the postseason.

Seemingly comfortable with the three-goal lead, the Crunch might have played too comfortable as flashbacks of a late-game meltdown in Toronto were conjured up.

Providence scored two goals in 13 seconds to make it a one-goal game with 6:51 left in the third period. A similar situation happened in Game 3 against Toronto when the Crunch allowed three goals in 33 seconds to see a late lead evaporate.

”We struggled there for the last six to eight minutes and we have to get rid of that,’’ Vermin said. “The same thing happened in Toronto, too, so we just have to figure out how to stay calm and not lose our focus.’’

Syracuse was able to stay focused and did not surrender the lead, adding a pair of empthy net goals, first from Gourde with 1:35 left and then from Byron Froese with 22 seconds on the clock.

Vermin said Syracuse knows it can’t play Game 2 like it did on Friday and expect to head home with a two-game lead.

”They play physical, they play hard,’’ Vermin said. “We saw that, even at 4-1, they just kept and they don’t quit., that’s kind of their M.O. I think it wasn’t quite their best game so for sure they are going to push back on Sunday.’’

Game 1 — Syracuse 6, Providence 3 (Syracuse leads series 1-0)

Game 2 — Sunday, May 21, 7:05 p.m. at Providence

Game 3 — Wednesday, May 24, 7 p.m. at Syracuse

Game 4 — Friday, May 26, 7 p.m. at Syracuse

Game 5* — Saturday, May 27, 7 p.m. at Syracuse

Game 6* — Tuesday, May 30, 7:05 p.m. at Providence

Game 7* — Wednesday, May 31, 7:05 p.m.. at Providence

• – if necessary
• All times Eastern