Syracuse Crunch 5/25/2013 11:58:00 AM

Game 1: Eastern Conference Final begins in Syracuse vs. Pens

Preview

Eastern Conference Final (best-of-seven series)
Game 1: (3) Syracuse Crunch vs. (5) Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
7 p.m. at War Memorial Arena, Syracuse, N.Y.

The Syracuse Crunch begin the Eastern Conference Final against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Saturday at the War Memorial. Syracuse has swept its first two Calder Cup Playoff series, 3-0 over 6-Portland and 4-0 over 2-Springfield. The 7-0 start to the playoffs is the longest postseason winning streak in Crunch history; only ten teams in AHL history have started the Calder Cup playoffs with seven consecutive victories. The Penguins became the third team AHL history to overcome a 3-0 series deficit to win a seven-game series, defeating the top seeded Providence Bruins in the Conference Semifinals. WBS knocked off the four-seed Binghamton Senators in the opening round in three games. Syracuse is making its second Conference Finals appearance, the first since 1996, while the Pens have reached the Conference Finals three times in 13 previous seasons, advancing to the Calder Cup Final each time, 2001, 2004 and 2008.

For series-by-series coverage of the Calder Cup playoffs visit The AHL's Expanded Brackets page.

Coverage
Listen to live play-by-play on The Score 1260 and iHeartRadio with pregame coverage starting at 6:45 p.m. Pay-to-watch video is available on AHL Live. For in-game updates on Twitter, follow @SyracuseCrunch and broadcaster @Dan_Duva. After the game, join Dan D'Uva and a player guest in the War Memorial basement for “The Shootout Show” airing on The Score 1260. For post-game recap, visit SyracuseCrunch.com and join the conversation on Facebook.

Matchup
The Crunch and Penguins met eight times this season, with the Crunch holding a 5-3 advantage in the series. Syracuse won the final three, with the last two being shutouts. Those two shutout wins for the Crunch (Feb. 17 and Mar. 20) were the only matches since the turn of the calendar. Former Crunch players Riley Holzapfel and Trevor Smith both had five points in the season series against the Crunch while Brett Connolly and Tyler Johnson countered with seven points apiece. Cedrick Desjardins recorded a shutout in his only start against the Penguins.

Meanwhile, Chad Kolarik, one of the Penguins' leading scorers, only played in one game against the Crunch this season as a member of the Penguins. He was traded from the Connecticut Whale during the season. Syracuse has faced W-B/Scranton once before in the Calder Cup Playoffs, losing to the Penguins, 3-2, in a 2001 first-round series; the Pens went on to the Calder Cup Final that season, losing to Saint John in six games.

Scouting report
Smith and Kolarik are the leading postseason scorers for the Pens, with 11 and 9 points respectively. Goalie Brad Thiessen has five of the Pens seven postseason wins, taking over for Jeff Zatkoff in Game 2 of the Conference Semifinals. Thiessen has a 0.89 goals-against average and 0.970 save percentage in the playoffs, shutting out the P-Bruins twice.

Cedrick Desjardins's shutout Wednesday in Game 3 was the eighth in Crunch postseason history and the first since Pascal Leclaire blanked Manitoba Apr. 21, 2006 in Game 1 of the opening round at the War Memorial. Desjardins now has two shutouts in 17 career Calder Cup Playoff games, last notching one for Hamilton in 2010 when he held Manitoba scoreless on 21 shots in his AHL postseason debut. One other professional postseason shutout for Desjardins came in 2008 with the ECHL's Cincinatti Cyclones when he posted an 11-4 record and 1.84 goals-against average, and won the Kelly Cup and tournament MVP. During the 2012-13 regular season, Desjardins had five shutouts (three with Syracuse, two with Hamilton) in 36 games.

Ondrej Palat is tied for the AHL postseason lead with 15 points (4g, 11a) and is now seventh on the Crunch's all-time playoff scoring list. He was held without a point in Game 4 Friday for the first time in the playoffs. Palat had multi-point efforts in each of the first six postseason games after 14 such efforts during the regular season. Similarly, Tyler Johnson did not register a point in Game 4, but his 14 points (7g, 7a) are second most in the AHL and his seven goals are third. He's also the top power play (3g-4a-7pts) and shorthanded (3g-0a-3pts) scorer.

Vlad Namestnikov registered the first two points of his professional postseason career Friday in Game 4 with assists on goals from Mark Barberio and Dan Sexton. The former first-round pick had 21 points (7g, 14a) in 44 regular season games as a rookie in 2012-13. He amassed 139 points (52g, 87a) in two years with London (OHL). J.T. Wyman (2g-3a-5pts) scored his first two goals of the 2013 Calder Cup Playoffs in Game 4 Friday. He produced four goals in 51 previous Calder Cup Playoff games and never had a multi-goal effort.

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