North Division Finals shifts to Syracuse
The Crunch and Toronto Marlies square off tonight at the War Memorial Arena in Game 3 of the North Division Finals. The Marlies beat the Crunch, 2-1, yesterday in double overtime in Game 2 to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Last night's game was the longest in Crunch history (95:10). 
 
The Crunch have won both of their home games so far during the Calder Cup Playoffs, outscoring opponents 12-7 in the process. During last season's Calder Cup Playoffs, Syracuse went 11-1 at the War Memorial, posting 54 goals while allowing just 27; they went 4-0 against the Marlies in the North Division Finals. 
  
Last time out
The Crunch fell, 2-1, to the Marlies in Game 2 of the North Division Finals yesterday at Ricoh Coliseum.  
 
The first period went scoreless, following a 10-goal barrage in Game 1; it marked the first period without a goal by the Crunch in the playoffs. In the middle stanza, the Crunch opened up the scoring on Matthew Peca's third goal of the postseason. Mitchell Stephens had the lone assist, hitting Peca with a saucer pass from the boards to spring an odd-man rush.
 
Syracuse held a 1-0 lead through the opening minutes of the third period before Toronto tied the game at the 6:52 mark of the third. Trevor Moore's breakaway chance was initially stopped, but he then fed Mason Marchment who fired home the equalizer from the left circle.
 
Both goalies stood tall for the remainder of regulation to force overtime. The Crunch's Connor Ingram made 55 saves on 57 shots in the game, while Toronto's Garret Sparks stopped 46 shots and allowed just one goal.
 
The teams traded chances throughout the first overtime and into the second 20-minute extra period. With just under five minutes to go in the second overtime, Frederik Gauthier scored for the Marlies to give Toronto its second win of the series.
 
Scouting the Crunch
Matthew Peca scored the lone Crunch goal last night, his third goal of the Calder Cup Playoffs (tied for the team lead) and his AHL-leading ninth playoff point. Peca has appeared in four of Syracuse's five playoff games; the forward missed Game 1 of the North Division Finals due to injury. In 22 games during last year's Calder Cup Playoffs, Peca posted 14 points (4g, 10a), seventh among all Crunch players.
 
Mitchell Stephens had the lone assist on Peca's goal, making him the only Syracuse skater to have points in both games during the North Division Finals. Stephens had the only helper on Carter Verhaeghe's tally during Game 1 Thursday. The 21-year-old appeared in three games during last year's Calder Cup Playoffs (all during the Eastern Conference Finals), recording two total shots against the Providence Bruins. Stephens was second on the Crunch with 19 goals and fifth on the team with 41 points during the regular season this year.
 
Connor Ingram made his second start of the Calder Cup Playoffs last night, making a career-high 55 saves. It was also the second-most saves in a playoff game in Crunch franchise history. The 21-year-old rookie started Game 3 of the North Division Semifinals against Rochester, fending off 33 saves in Syracuse's 6-3 series-clinching victory. Eddie Pasquale started Game 1 of the North Division Finals, allowing five Toronto goals on 20 total shots. Pasquale owns a 4.09 goals-against average and a .840 save percentage during the Calder Cup Playoffs, while Ingram has a 1.93 goals-against average and a .946 save percentage.
 
Scouting the Marlies
Mason Marchment (2g, 1a), Frederik Gauthier (1g, 2a) and Trevor Moore (3a) are tied for the Toronto team scoring lead through the first two games of the North Division Finals. Marchment scored the tying goal 6:52 into the third period last night, while Gauthier scored the game-winning goal 15:10 into double overtime. Moore leads the Marlies with seven points (1g, 6a) during their seven Calder Cup Playoffs games so far this season. The 22-year-old had the lone assist on Marchment's goal.
 
Andreas Johnsson led Toronto in goals during the 2017 North Division Finals against Syracuse, scoring five times during the seven-game series. The 23-year-old Swede had four goals in the first three games of last year's series. This year, Johnsson has one assist in the first two games of the series. The forward returned to the Marlies from the Toronto Maple Leafs in time for the decisive Game 5 of the Marlies' first-round series with the Utica Comets, posting a goal and two assists in Toronto's series-clinching victory. He had 54 points (26g, 28a) in 54 regular-season games for the Marlies before his recall to the Maple Leafs in March.
 
Garret Sparks has occupied the Marlies' net throughout the Calder Cup Playoffs, posting a 2.40 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage in seven games. Sparks, the 2017-18 Aldege "Baz" Bastien Memorial Award winner for AHL top goaltender, led the league with a 1.79 goals-against average and a .936 save percentage in 43 games. Sparks did not play against the Crunch during the 2017 North Division Finals (injury).  
 
Special teams
Neither team scored on the power play in Toronto's 2-1 double-overtime win yesterday; the Marlies went 0-for-5, and the Crunch went 0-for-3. All five of Toronto's man-up chances came in regulation, while Syracuse had one apiece in both extra periods. In Game 1, both teams converted on half their chances—2-for-4 for the Marlies, and 1-for-2 for the Crunch.
 
The performance at Ricoh Coliseum leaves the Syracuse power play 4-for-14 (28.6%) during the playoffs, the second-best mark in the league, behind Rockford. In the regular season, the Crunch ranked 24th in the AHL at 15.7%. Syracuse has killed off 20-of-25 (80.0%) penalties, good for 11th in the league during the playoffs. Mathieu Joseph's shorthanded goal in Game 1 makes the Crunch one of five teams with a man-down tally in the postseason; Syracuse has led the Eastern Conference in shorthanded goals the past two regular seasons.
 
Toronto has capitalized on 8-of-40 (20.0%) power-play chances in the playoffs, fourth-best in the AHL. The Marlies have fended off 21-of-26 (80.8%) man-up opportunities—which ranks ninth in the league—after posting the best regular-season penalty-kill percentage (88.9%) the league has seen since 2006-07. 
 
Lightning flash
After beating the Bruins, 4-3, in overtime on Friday in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Lightning are one game away from returning to the Eastern Conference Finals for the third time in the past four seasons. Steven Stamkos scored the game-tying goal in Game 4 with 7:04 to go that ultimately forced overtime. In that extra frame, Dan Girardi netted his second goal of the playoffs to give the Bolts a 3-1 series lead. The Crunch's NHL affiliate will look to close out its series with the Bruins today at 3:00 p.m. at Tampa's Amalie Arena.