Crunch face elimination in Game 4
Syracuse seeks to stave off elimination tonight in Game 4 of the North Division Finals against Toronto. The Marlies took Game 3, 7-1, Sunday at the War Memorial, less than 24 hours after a double-overtime win in Toronto Saturday. 
 
The Crunch trail a best-of-seven series 3-0 for the second time in franchise history; they faced the same deficit in the 2013 Calder Cup Finals. Syracuse is 8-13 all-time when facing elimination. The Crunch are 4-3 facing elimination in six seasons as the Tampa Bay Lightning's AHL affiliate. 
  
Last time out
The Crunch were moved to the brink of elimination with a 7-1 loss to the Toronto Marlies in Game 3 of the North Division Finals Sunday at the War Memorial Arena.  
 
The Marlies seized control of the game, which started less than 24 hours after their double-overtime win in Game 2, just 3:23 into the game. They scored two goals in 72 seconds for a 2-0 lead and opened a 4-0 lead 14 minutes into the second period.
 
The Crunch scored their only goal at 17:14 of the second period on a drive from Erik Cernak inside the slot. They nearly scored a goal in the final seconds of the period, but Calvin Pickard made a save off a Crunch one-timer in the slot.
 
Toronto scored three more goals in the third period to take a 7-1 win. It matched the most one-sided home loss for the Crunch in their Calder Cup Playoffs history; they had an 8-2 loss to the Marlies 10 years ago to the day (May 6, 2008).
 
Scouting the Crunch
Erik Cernak scored the lone goal for the Crunch in Sunday's 7-1 defeat to the Marlies. It was the defenseman's first of the postseason and first professional playoff goal of his career. Cernak collected his first playoff point in Game 1 of the North Division Semifinals, assisting on Gabriel Dumont's empty-net goal. The right-shooting Slovak has played in all six of the Crunch's postseason games, following his 71 regular-season appearances in which he notched 18 points (5g, 13a).
 
Carter Verhaeghe picked up the primary assist on Cernak's blast, his seventh point of the playoffs. The helper puts Verhaeghe in a tie with Matthew Peca for the team and AHL lead in postseason assists with six. The former Marlie had 48 points (17g, 31a) during his 58 regular-season games with Syracuse.
 
Kevin Lynch collected the secondary assist on the Crunch goal Sunday, his fourth point of the playoffs (2g, 2a). The two goals for Lynch both came in Game 1 of the North Division Finals against the Marlies in Toronto; it was his first career multi-goal game in the AHL. In the 2017 Calder Cup Playoffs, Lynch had five points (3g, 2a) in 19 games during Syracuse's run to the finals.
 
Crunch first-year goaltender Connor Ingram played the full three periods, allowing seven goals on 30 Toronto shots. That marks the most goals allowed by the rookie in any game this season. Previously, Ingram's high was six, which he let in during his second career start Oct. 15 against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. During Ingram's three playoff appearances, he holds a 1-2 record with a 3.35 goals-against average and a .902 save percentage.
 
Scouting the Marlies
Since the 2014 Western Conference Finals, Toronto is 4-8 in its last 12 potential close-out games in the Calder Cup Playoffs. The Marlies went 1-1 last year, defeating the Albany Devils in Game 4 of the North Division Semifinals before losing to the Crunch in Game 7 of the North Division Finals. It took three tries to close out the Utica Comets in this year's North Division Semifinals.
 
The Marlies are led by California native Trevor Moore, who buried two goals in Game 3 against the Crunch; he paces all players with five points (2g, 3a) this series. His nine points (3g, 6a) tie him for the AHL lead with Crunch forward Matthew Peca. He had 33 points (12g, 21a) in 68 regular season games.
 
After coming back to the Marlies from the Toronto Maple Leafs, forward Andreas Johnsson has appeared in four games. He has seven points (2g, 5a), including a pair of three-point efforts. His 1.75 points per game in the postseason ranks second in the AHL; only Peca (1.80) is better.
 
Garret Sparks has seen most of the time between the pipes for Toronto, playing seven of eight games. He has five wins with a 2.40 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage. Calvin Pickard made his first pro playoff start in Game 3 against the Crunch. He is 1-0 with a 1.15 goals-against average and a .949 save percentage in two games this postseason.  
 
Special teams
The Crunch (0-for-3) and Marlies (0-for-4) combined to go 0-for-7 on the power play Sunday, the second straight game the two teams failed to score a power-play goal. Syracuse (0-for-3) and Toronto (0-for-5) also did not score on man advantage during Saturday's Game 2. Syracuse's power play is operating at 22.2% (4-for-18) during the Calder Cup Playoffs; only the Rockford IceHogs (35.7%) have a better conversation rate on the man advantage during the playoffs. Toronto's power play is converting at 18.6% (8-for-43) during the postseason.
 
Syracuse's penalty kill has killed off Toronto's last eight power-play opportunities dating back to Game 1 Thursday. The Crunch's kill has fended off 82.1% (23-for-28) of opponent's power plays during the playoffs, 10th in the league. Toronto's penalty kill is 8-for-9 (88.9%) during the North Division Finals and 83.3% (25-for-30) throughout the Calder Cup Playoffs, ninth in the AHL.
 
The Marlies had the best penalty kill in the league during the regular season, fending off opponent's power plays at an 88.9% clip. No AHL team has had a regular season penalty-killing percentage that high since the Manitoba Moose killed off 89.7% of opponent's power plays during the 2006-07 regular season. 
 
Lightning flash
Tampa Bay defeated Boston, 3-1, at Amalie Arena Sunday, clinching its third trip to the Eastern Conference Finals in the past four years. Former Crunch standout Nikita Kucherov notched his team-leading 12th point of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, assisting on J.T. Miller's second period goal that put the Bolts up for good. Another former Crunch standout, Andrei Vasilevskiy, made 27 saves in net for his eighth win of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The 23-year-old Russian is second among remaining playoff goalies with a .927 save percentage and third with a 2.20 goals-against average.
 
The Lightning now await the start of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Washington Capitals later this week. The Capitals defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins, 2-1, in overtime Tuesday to win their second round series. Tampa Bay lost to Pittsburgh in the 2016 Eastern Conference Finals in seven games and defeated the New York Rangers in the 2015 Eastern Conference Finals (seven games) before falling in the Stanley Cup Final to the Chicago Blackhawks.