North Division Finals begin in Toronto
The Crunch and Toronto Marlies open their best-of-seven North Division Finals with Game 1 tonight at Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto. It's a rematch of last season's North Division Finals that the Crunch won in seven games. Last year's series was the fifth in AHL history that saw the home team win all seven games; Syracuse won the series 4-3.
 
The teams also met in the 2008 North Division Finals, which the Marlies won in seven games.   
 
Last time out
The Crunch closed out their North Division Semifinals sweep of the Rochester Americans with a 6-3 win in Game 3 April 25 at Blue Cross Arena.
 
Rochester took its first lead of the series on Zach Redmond's power-play goal 3:25 into the game. Matthew Peca tied the game in the final minute of the period on a deflection goal off a Dominik Masin shot. 
 
Justin Bailey scored immediately after a faceoff 7:48 into the second period to give the Amerks a 2-1 lead, but the Crunch went on to score three goals in 2:32 to take control for good. Cal Foote started the run with his first career Calder Cup Playoffs goal on a slap shot from the right circle. Olivier Archambault completed a perfect pass play 19 seconds later with a tap in near the crease at 8:36 for a 3-2 Crunch lead. The run ended with Mitchell Stephens' first playoff goal at 10:49 and the Crunch took a 4-2 lead into the third period.
 
The Crunch built on their lead with a power-play goal by Mathieu Joseph at 6:05 of the third. Goaltender Connor Ingram made a right pad save on a shorthanded breakaway to begin the play and then Joseph buried a blast from the right circle in transition. After Danny O'Regan scored for the Amerks, Alex Volkov added an empty-net goal for a 6-3 lead and the eventual sweep behind Ingram's 33 saves.
 
Scouting the Crunch
The Crunch steamrolled past the Rochester Americans in the North Division Semifinals, sweeping the Amerks with a combined score of 18-10 over three games. The 18 goals are the second-most in Calder Cup Playoffs history in 77 all-time three-game series; the most was 22 by the Pittsburgh Hornets in 1951. Syracuse also became the first team since 1988 (Hershey) to score at least six goals in three consecutive playoff games.
 
The Crunch played 18 skaters in the North Division Semifinals against the Amerks. Of those 18, 17 players recorded at least one point and 11 different players scored a goal.
 
Matthew Peca led the Crunch and tied for the Calder Cup Playoffs scoring lead in the first round with eight points (2g, 6a) in three games. Dating back to the regular season, the 25-year-old is riding an eight-game point streak (4g, 9a), which is a new career high. In last year's North Division Finals against the Marlies, Peca scored what turned out to be the game-winning and series-clinching goal eight seconds in the third period of Game 7, breaking a 3-3 tie as the Crunch won, 6-3.
 
Three wins, two goalies, no problems
In their three-game sweep in the North Division Semifinals over Rochester, the Crunch used two goaltenders—Eddie Pasquale and Connor Ingram. It's the second time in Crunch history that two different goalies have earned at least one win in the same postseason. The only other time was in 2004 when current Goaltending and Video Coach Karl Goehring and Pascal Leclaire both picked up wins.
 
Ingram and Pasquale split time in the crease after the Crunch acquired Pasquale in a trade Jan. 31. Since that point, Ingram was 8-4-0 with a 1.87 goals-against average and .932 save percentage. He had two shutouts, including a career-high 38-save performance in his regular season finale, a 1-0 win in Rochester April 11. Over that same time in the regular season, Pasquale was 10-1-3 with a 1.72 goals-against average and a .938 save percentage.
 
During the regular season, the Crunch set a new franchise record by having seven different goaltenders appear in a game.
 
How they got here
The Crunch earned their spot in the North Division Finals by sweeping the Rochester Americans in three games in the North Division Semifinals. Syracuse took care of business on home ice, winning Game 1, 6-2, and Game 2, 6-5, before closing the series with a 6-3 win in Rochester in Game 3. The Crunch haven't played in over a week since winning the series last Wednesday in Rochester.
 
Toronto was pushed to five games in their first-round series against the fourth-seeded Utica Comets. The Marlies won all three of their home games, but lost Game 3 and Game 4 in Utica. In the winner-take-all Game 5 in Toronto on Sunday, Garret Sparks pitched a shutout in a 4-0 win to advance the Marlies to the second round.
 
Scouting the Marlies
The Marlies avoided the first-round upset by surviving the Utica Comets in five games. Toronto, the best defensive team in the league during the regular season, held the Comets to four goals in three games at Ricoh Coliseum, but allowed 10 in two games in Utica. 
 
Dmytro Timashov led the Marlies offensively in round one, scoring five points (3g, 2a) in five games. He tied with rookie Carl Grundstrom for the team lead with three goals. 
 
The Marlies were bolstered by the return of Andreas Johnsson and Travis Dermott from the Maple Leafs before their Game 5 against Utica. The two players finished the season with the Leafs, but their season ended against Boston in Game 7. Johnsson, who had 54 points (26g, 28a) in 54 regular-season games for the Marlies had three points (1g, 2a) in his return in Game 5. Johnsson led the season series against the Crunch with 11 points (7g, 4a) in eight games.   
 
In net, Garret Sparks became the 13th goaltender in AHL history to record a shutout in a winner-take-all playoff game with his 37-save performance Sunday. Sparks, the 2017-18 Aldege "Baz" Bastien Memorial Award winner for AHL top goaltender went 3-2-0 in the North Division Semifinals with a 2.66 goals-against average and a .902 save percentage. He led goalies in the regular season with a 1.79 goals-against average and a .936 save percentage. 
 
So we meet again
This is the second straight season the Crunch and Marlies meet in the North Division Finals. Syracuse won last year's seven-game series with a 6-3 win in Game 7 at the War Memorial Arena in Syracuse. 
 
The home team won all seven games of last year's series. In their four home games, the Crunch outscored the Marlies 22-10, but in three games at Ricoh Coliseum they were outscored by the Marlies 10-6.
 
There are eight current Crunch players who appeared in last year's series and Erik Condra's seven points (2g, 5a) are the most among returners. There are 10 Marlies back from last year's team and Andreas Johnsson leads that group with five goals.
 
This is the second time in Crunch history that they've played the same team in back-to-back years in the Calder Cup Playoffs. They faced Rochester in 1996 and 1997, dropping both series to the Amerks.