Syracuse Crunch
Crunch on verge of Calder Cup Final berth after Game 4 rout
By Steven DiOssi | 
@StevenDiOssi | 
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May 26, 2017
The Syracuse Crunch remain perfect at home in the Calder Cup playoffs, as they defeated the Providence Bruins 7-2 on Friday at War Memorial Arena.
With the victory, the Crunch take a 3-1 series lead into Game 5 with a chance to earn their ninth straight home playoff victory on Saturday and advance to the Calder Cup Finals.
Syracuse head coach Ben Groulx acknowledged how the energy from the home crowd energizes his team at War Memorial.
“Here, in this building, it seems that our fans are so energetic,” Groulx said after the game. “They bring so much emotion from our team. As soon as we score one goal, things are crazy and our players feed off that. It’s nice to see that. I like the fact it’s so loud in this building. It’s intimidating for the other team, but it gives us a lot of energy.”
Cory Conacher and Yanni Gourde paced the Crunch with a goal and three assists each, while 11 Syracuse players figured into the scoring. Michael Bournival tallied a pair of goals while Gabriel Dumont, Matt Taormina and Ben Thomas each added a goal.
“We have so much depth in this locker room and that’s probably one of our strengths. It’ fun to see everyone contributing offensively,” Gourde said in a post-game interview. “Everybody is chipping in and it’s great to see that.”
It was the biggest offensive effort this postseason for Syracuse since an 8-5 victory over the Toronto Marlies in Game 2 of their second-round matchup.
Mike McKenna stopped 33 shots and earned his 10th win for the Crunch this postseason. Syracuse also scored twice in five chances with the man advantage.
“I thought tonight we played a good game and when we needed our goalie, he was very solid again. It was a team effort, our power play was good,” Groulx said. “It was a hard-fought battle again.”
Thomas opened the scoring 3:57 into the first period and the Bruins tied it up at the 7:07 mark. But with 11 seconds left in the opening frame, Taormina scored a power-play goal that gave the Crunch a 2-1 lead and one they wouldn’t relinquish.
It was the sort of goal that shifted the game in favor of the Crunch to open the second period.
“It was important,” Groulx said of Taormina’s fourth goal of the postseason. “If you score, it gives your team momentum. If you don’t, it gives the other team momentum. I thought it gave us momentum, it gave us confidence to play the right way.”
Syracuse seized that momentum, scoring early and often in the second period and finding the back of the net four times on 20 shots.
Bournival scored his first goal of the evening just 33 seconds in before Providence made it a one-goal game at 1:55.
From that point on though, the period belonged to the Crunch.
Gourde tallied his fifth goal of the postseason at 4:31, with Bournival and Dumont scoring goals to give the Crunch a 6-2 lead at the end of the second period.
Bruins goaltender Zane McIntyre was relieved by backup goaltender Malcom Subban for the second straight game, after yielding six goals on 30 shots.
Early in the third period, Jake Dotchin took a high hit from Bruins forward Colby Cave and fell to the ice. He was helped off the ice by teammates but did not return. After the game, Groulx said that he was not sure about Dotchin’s status for Game 5 and that he’d see how he was feeling tomorrow.
Later in the period, Gourde got to a loose puck at the bottom of the left circle and skated in towards Subban. He fed a pass to Conacher who fired a one-timer past Subban to give the Crunch a 7-2 lead at 4:31.
The goal capped four-point efforts for both Conacher and Gourde, while also moving Conacher into a tie with Bruins forward Danton Heinen for the league lead in postseason scoring with 18 points.
The Crunch will look to capture the second conference championship in franchise history and punch their ticket to the Calder Cup Finals with a victory in Game 5 on Saturday.
But if the first two series’ the Bruins played are any indication, it won’t be easy for Syracuse to close things out. The Bruins overcame deficits in both rounds before advancing to play the Crunch.
“It’s one game at a time,” Groulx said of how the Crunch will prepare for Game 5. “We’re up 3-1, we have an opportunity but the way to prepare is one game at a time. We have a hockey game to play tomorrow and we know it’s going to be a hard-fought battle.”
Audio provided by Syracuse
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 — Syracuse 5, Providence 4 (Syracuse leads series 2-1)
Game 4 — Syracuse 7, Providence 2 (Syracuse leads series 3-1)
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