Scouting report
Syracuse scored five goals Friday, after posting four goals in each of their first three playoff games. They scored five or more goals 16 times during the regular season and averaged a league-best 3.25 goals per game. In the postseason, Syracuse's 4.25 goals per game is topped only by Providence's 4.50 per contest.

The Crunch had 20 shots Friday, their smallest total since Feb. 17 at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton when they had a season low, 15. Despite being outshot by the Penguins in that game, 23-15, Syracuse still won, 3-0. In fact, the Crunch are 9-3-1-1 in the 14 games they've been outshot. No team outshot its opponent as often as Syracuse, 58 times. 

Ondrej Palat and Tyler Johnson lead Syracuse with nine points (3g, 6a) each. The two are tied for second in scoring during the Calder Cup Playoffs, and no players have more points per game (2.25). Palat has multiple points in each of the first four playoff games, while Johnson is the league's postseason leader in power-play points, four (1g, 3a).

Ondrej Palat (3g-6a), Tyler Johnson (3g-6a) and Dan Sexton (1g-3a) have each registered points in all four Crunch playoff games.

Sexton has seven points in eight career postseason games for the Crunch, registering a goal and two assists in four games last postseason vs. St. John's. Including five points in six games for the Manitoba Moose in 2010, Sexton has 12 points (4g, 8a) in his 14-game AHL postseason career.

Cedrick Desjardins made 22 saves in Friday's 5-2 vicory, allowing only two power-play goals, including one with 1.3 seconds remaining in the contest. Desjardins has upped his career Calder Cup Playoff save percentage to 0.900, squeezed his goals-against average to 2.50 and improved his record to 10-4 in 14 career Calder Cup games. He was 6-4 for Hamilton with a 2.62 GAA in 2010. Desjardins's most stellar professional postseason was for the 2008 Kelly Cup Champion Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL, as the then-23 year old was named MVP of the Kelly Cup Playoffs with an 11-4 record, 1.84 goals-against average and 0.939 save percentage in 16 games. In juniors, he was 12-1 for Rimouski of the QMJHL, losing in the Memorial Cup Final. 

Falcons goalie Curtis McElhinney was pulled in the second period Friday after allowing five goals on nine shots. It was only the second time this season the league's shutout leader was pulled from a game. McElhinney allowed five goals on 23 shots in 33 minutes of action against Portland Nov. 23, a 6-5 overtime loss for Springfield. Prior to Friday's debacle, the Denver native started all four Quarterfinal games and was 3-1 while allowing eight goals, a 1.74 goals-against average. He had a 29-16-3 record in the regular season and an AHL best nine shutouts. His 2.32 goals-against average was 10th in the league, while ranking fifth in minutes and saves.

All three of the Falcons opening-round wins came in overtime, the second time in AHL history that's happened in a best-of-five series (1956 Cleveland Barons). Cody Bass scored back-to-back OT game-winners, the third such occasion in Calder Cup Playoff history. Bass leads the Falcons with four points in the first four playoff games. Six other players registered multiple points in the series vs. Manchester, while Springfield's leading scorer during the regular seasons, Jonathan Audy-Marchessault, managed just one assist.

Audy-Marchessault posted 67 points in 74 games this year, tied for fifth in the AHL, while leading the Falcons in goals (21) and assists (46). Ryan Craig was second in goals (20) and Nick Drazenovic was second in assists (36). Craig has three points (2g, 1a) vs. Syracuse and Drazenovic had three assists in the Feb. 23 win over the Crunch. Dalton Smith, who's not played in a postseason game, was the only Falcon with over 100 penalty minutes in the regular seasons, 128 in 67 games.

Historical notes
A victory for the Crunch Saturday would equal the longest postseason winning streak in franchise history. Syracuse won five straight playoff games in the 2002 Calder Cup Playoffs. As the top seed in the Western Conference, the Crunch swept the Philadelphia Phantoms in three games in the Quarterfinals and won the first two games of the Semifinals against the Chicago Wolves. However, the seven seed came back to win the series in seven games, going on to beat Houston in the Conference Finals, 4-1, and Bridgeport in the Calder Cup Final, 4-1.

The Tampa Bay Lightning AHL affiliate has won 14 consecutive Calder Cup Playoff games, including the final 10 games of last year's run to the title for Norfolk and the first four of the 2013 postseason for Syracuse. The AHL's all-time record for consecutive postseason wins belongs to the Cleveland Barons who won 15 in a row over two playoff runs. They had nine wins to close out the 1964 Calder Cup Playoffs, missed the postseason in 1965, but won six straight to begin the 1966 postseason, ultimately losing in the Calder Cup Final.