Calder Cup Finals (Grand Rapids leads, 1-0)
Game 2: (E3) Syracuse Crunch vs. (W3) Grand Rapids Griffins
6 p.m. at War Memorial Arena, Syracuse, N.Y.
The Syracuse Crunch dropped Game 1 of the Calder Cup Finals at home Saturday, 3-1, to the Grand Rapids Griffins. Syracuse looks to bounce back in Game 2, again at the War Memorial, after its smallest offensive output of the playoffs in Game 1, (one goal). The loss was Syracuse's second of the playoffs; both were at home during the first game of a series. Syracuse lost Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, 4-2, seven days after sweeping Springfield in the Semifinals. The Crunch (11-2) came back with four straight wins over the Penguins to clinch their first conference championship, but had a six-day layoff before the start of the Calder Cup Finals. The Griffins (12-7) won a seven-game series over Oklahoma City to caputre the Western Conference crown, and had two days before starting the Calder Cup Finals.
For aditional coverage of the Calder Cup Finals, visit The AHL's
preview.
Coverage
Tickets are available for Saturday and Sunday by calling the Crunch office at 315-473-4444 or online at
Ticketmaster. Time Warner Cable Sports Channel broadcasts tonight's game live at 7 p.m. with
Dan D'Uva calling the play-by-play (Ch. 19, HD 813). Online video is available for free on
AHL Live for every game of the Calder Cup Finals. Register for free access by using the promo code CALDER2013.
Listen to live play-by-play on
The Score 1260 and
iHeartRadio with pregame coverage starting at 6:45 p.m. The radio broadcast will also be carried by SiriusXM NHL Network (XM 92 & Sirius 207). After the game, join
Dan D'Uva and a guest in the War Memorial basement for “The Shootout Show” airing on The Score 1260. For in-game updates on Twitter, follow
@SyracuseCrunch and broadcaster
@Dan_Duva. For post-game recap, visit
SyracuseCrunch.com and join the conversation on
Facebook.
Griffins Scouting Report
The Griffins are led by left wing Tomas Tatar (11g-5a-16pts), right wing Jan Mursak (8g-5a-13pts), right wing Tomas Jurco (7g-6a-13pts), and center Luke Glendening (5g-8a-13pts). Jurco had his three game goal-scoring streak snapped in Game 1. Gustav Nyquist rejoined the team after a playoff stint with the Detroit Red Wings of the NHL. He has three points in five playoff games with the Griffins, including one in the Calder Cup Finals, and he now has goals in back-to-back games.
Grand Rapids also got Joakim Andersson and Danny DeKeyser from the Red Wings. DeKeyser made his AHL debut last night, after playing in 11 regular season and two playoff games with the Red Wings. Andersson has 43 regular season games of NHL experience under his belt over two seasons. He had eight points (3g, 5a) in 38 games with Detroit this season, along with five points in 14 playoff games. He has points in two straight games.
In goal, Petr Mrazek has played in all 19 games for the Griffins, posting an 12-7 record with a 2.12 goals against average and a .924 save percentage. The rookie has four shutouts, including a pair in the Western Conference Final against the Barons. No other goaltender in Griffins history has more than one shutout in the playoffs. In allowing a third-period goal to
J.P. Cote Saturday, Mrazek had his playoff road shutout streak at 216 minutes, dating back to the first period of Game 3 of the Western Conference Final against Oklahoma City.
Crunch Scouting Report
Saturday night's game marked the first postseason contest where Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Richard Panik all failed to register a point. The line-mates had combined for 45 points through the first 12 playoff games. Palat's four-game point streak was snapped. He remains tied for the playoff lead in scoring with 20 points (5g, 15a) despite playing in four less games than Oklahoma City's Mark Arcobello (12g, 8a). Johnson still sits third in points with 17 (9g, 8a) and in goals, behind Arcobello (12) and Grand Rapids' Tomas Tatar (11).
Richard Panik returned to the line-up Saturday night after missing games 4 and 5 against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Defenseman Radko Gudas missed his second game of the postseason with an undisclosed injury. He left game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final after the second period and did not return.
J.P. Cote became the 16th different Crunch player to score a goal this postseason. His goal with 6:41 left in the contest was his second career post-season goal, and first since May 17, 2012 in a 6-1 win for Norfolk over St. John's. Cote is now plus-13 in the Calder Cup Playoffs, bested only by Matt Taormina's AHL-leading plus-16. Cote is now plus-26 in 53 career AHL playoff games.
By the Numbers
The Crunch went 0-for-5 on the power play in Game 1 last night. They are now tenth in the league on the power play in the AHL playoffs at 15.9%.
The Crunch penalty kill was 3-for-4 against the Griffins, with the only goal allowed coming with an empty net. The Crunch are sixth in the playoffs on the penalty kill during the playoffs at 85.5%. Grand Rapids now has scored power-play goals in five straight games, after going 1-for-4 in Game 1 last night. The Griffins have moved to fourth in the playoffs on the man advantage at 21.4%. After going 28-for-30 on the penalty kill in the Western Conference Finals, the Griffins were a perfect 5-for-5 in Game 1. They are now at 87.3% on the PK in the playoffs.
Game 1 in review
Grand Rapids held off Syracuse, 3-1, Saturday at the War Memorial Arena in Game 1 of the best-of-seven Calder Cup Finals in front of 6,333 fans, the largest crowd in Crunch postseason history. The previous high for a Crunch playoff game was 6,321, set May 24, 1996 when Syracuse lost to Rochester in the Southern Conference Final. Riley Sheahan scored with 8:00 left in the third period on a slap shot from blue line, to give the Griffins a 2-0 lead, which stood up as the game-winning goal. The Crunch answered right back, as
J.P. Cote's seeing-eye shot from the high slot just 1:19 later pulled the Crunch within 2-1 with 6:41 remaining in the third. The Crunch generated a few more chances, but ran out of time after
Richard Panik took a penalty with 2:01 remaining, and the Griffins closed out the Crunch with a power-play, empty-net goal by Gustav Nyquist with 15 seconds left in the game. The Griffins took the early advantage, 1-0, just 6:45 into the opening period as Mitch Callahan finished off a scramble in front of goalie
Cedrick Desjardins, who made two inital saves. The Crunch went 0-for-5 on the power play while the Griffins went 1-for-4 on the man advantage, with the lone power-play goal being the empty-net goal. Petr Mrazek made 28 saves while Desjardins stopped 18 Griffins shots.
