Crunch fall in overtime, head home with a split in Eastern Conference finals

By Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
May 21, 2017

Having already stolen home-ice advantage, the Syracuse Crunch looked to be greedy on Sunday night.

With the middle games of the Eastern Conference finals all taking place at War Memorial in Syracuse, the Crunch set out seeking to increase their chances of not having to return to Providence for the book-end of the series.

But despite grabbing an early lead, Syracuse was unable to build on it and fell in overtime 2-1 to the Providence Bruins in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals.

With the series now tied 1-1, the series will shift to Syracuse for Game 3 on Wednesday.

Syracuse defenseman Ben Thomas scored the lone Crunch goal while Mike McKenna stopped 34 shots in the loss.

The Crunch offense was held to fewer than two goals for just the second time in 13 postseason games while the overtime loss is the first in three postseason games decided beyond regulation.

Syracuse jumped out to an early lead as Thomas cut down the right side board and took a pass from Mathieu Brodeur and was able to settle the puck and beat goaltender Zane McIntyre on the backdoor play just 1:26 in to the game.

But the Crunch were unable to build off the early momentum despite outshooting the Bruins 11-6 in the opening 20 minutes and entered the intermission with just the one goal lead.

Providence started to gain their footing in the second period and take over territorially. But McKenna was on top of his game in keep the Bruins at bay.

Providence continued to keep the pressure up, building momentum off of two penalty kills in the opening 10 minutes of the second period. Then, with Michael Bournival off for tripping at 16:37, the Bruins wasted little time in taking advantage.

Just 10 seconds in to the man advantage, Jordan Szwarz punched in a puck in the crease after a pass from Danton Heinen to tie the game at 16:47.

The game remained in a deadlock through regulation, though the Bruins wound up outshooting the Crunch 23-16 over the final two periods.

In the overtime, Providence kept up the pace and the pressure in the Crunch end, more than doubling up Syracuse in shots and on the seventh shot on goal of overtime, Szwarz was high between the circles to unload a wrist shot that beat McKenna at the 8:28 mark of the overtime to give Providence the victory.

The Crunch appeared to be seeking a goaltender inference call on the play as Heinen was setting the screen in the crease, but the officials did not confer on the play and the game ended.

”I expect it to be a long series, with pretty even games,’’ Bruins head coach Kevin Dean told the Providence Journal. “It’s going to tilt with goaltending and opportunistic scoring.’’

On Sunday, that belonged to Providence.

Series schedule

Game 1 — Syracuse 6, Providence3 (Syracuse leads series 1-0)

Game 2 — Providence 2, Syracuse 1 (OT) (Series tied 1-1

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