Game Night Results

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version
  • AHL Playoff Game Night: 5-2-13 Crunch at Pirates
    3 weeks 1 day ago

    Palat on the spot.

    SYR-4
    POR-3 (OT)

    Syracuse Wins the Best-of-Five Series 3-0

    Cedrick Desjardins allowed 3 goals on just 18 shots for the victory. Once again, he allowed another wraparound goal that was on the soft side and once again the team bailed him out. Mind you, he made some incredible saves in Overtime to make up for it, but as the competition level rises in the next round Desjardins has got to get better.

    First Period
    POR Miele, (1) (Bolduc, Brown), 15:57 (PP)

    Second Period
    SYR Gudas, (1) (Taormina, Sexton), 6:57 (PP)

    Third Period
    POR Bolduc, (1) (Miele, Lessio), 0:19
    POR Johnson, (2) (Stone, Conner), 10:47 (PP)
    SYR Angelidis, (1) (Wyman, Barberio), 13:59
    SYR Palat, (2) (Connolly, Sustr), 18:48

    Overtime
    SYR Palat, (3) (Taormina, Johnson), 19:43

    Ondrej Palat was the game's first star. Oddly enough, I thought his first two games of the series were better than tonight, but he was in the right places at the right times for the two biggest goals of the series.

    Let me tell you a little something about Brett Connolly, who turned 21 today and celebrated by knifing Portland in the heart late in regulation. Hopping on the ice as the sixth attacker to try to tie the game late in the Third Period, the puck came to Connolly who circled through the neutral zone and cut down the left wing boards into the offensive zone. For the life of me, I thought Portland's defenseman had the angle on Connolly at the blueline and would squeeze him off, or at least get enough of him to separate the puck. Nope. Connolly has deceptive speed a la Alex Killorn and he squirted by without being touched, went to circle behind the net, and just before he went behind dished a beautiful little backhand pass to Palat for the stuff. Tie game. What an individual play by Connolly. Truly cold blooded.

    Let me also tell you a little something about faceoffs. Gudas' power play goal came directly from a bang-bang play off a faceoff win by Dan Sexton. And then, with just 17 seconds left in Overtime, Palat's second goal came off a faceoff win by Tyler Johnson that led to a Taormina shot that gave Palat the rebound he needed to send the Crunch to the first round pay window. Those quick plays off clean faceoff wins in the offensive zone are instant scoring chances, and almost as valuable as forcing turnovers out of your opponent.

    It's not all good news, though. Although Syracuse outshot Portland 45-18, I suspect the scoring chances don't reflect the disparity. There was a distinct lack of GMT in this game for the Crunch. GMT = goal mouth thrills. Syracuse got a lot of traffic and a lot of greasy chances in the first two games of the series and they were absent tonight, with the exception of a few shifts by the Angelidis line. As the level of competition goes up in the next round, more GMT is required. If you don't muck it up in the high traffic areas, you invite a night like tonight where Portland's goaltender gobbled up a lot of clean, unscreened, undeflected shots.

    Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference tonight, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton finished off their own sweep of Binghamton and Manchester won their first game of their series. Springfield still holds a 2-1 edge, but the series continues on. Top seed Providence is down 2-0 to Hershey. If either Providence or Springfield get upset (and Providence going down looks distinctly possible right now) Syracuse will get home ice for a second round series against the Penguins. Tough opponent. It'll be a great series.

    Box score from TheAHL.com.

  • ECHL Playoff Game Night: 5-1-13
    3 weeks 2 days ago

    (4)Florida Everblades 1 @ (1)Reading Royals 4
    Quarterfinals: Reading wins the best-of-seven series 4-3

    D Charles Landry, FLA: 0-0-0, E, 1 SOG, 0 PIM
    Playoff totals: 13 GP, 0-1-1, -2, 11 PIM
    Season totals: 51 GP, 4-12-16, +7, 33 PIM

    There will be no repeat Kelly Cup championship. Down 2-0 just past the midpoint of the second period, Florida saw its playoff hopes slowly fading away before Reading dashed them entirely by tacking on a couple goals in the waning minutes of regulation play. Brandon MacLean managed to strike for the Everblades in order to prevent the goose-egg. Shots ended up looking balanced at 26-25 in favor of Reading for the match but Reading carried the balance of play in what proved to be a critical second period. Jesse Deckert, the late-season free agent pickup who was impressive in Florida's final stretch of regular season games, stopped 22 of 26 shots in the contest. Deckert finished the playoffs 7-4-1 having played in all but one of the Everblades postseason matches, posting a 3.17 GAA and .896 SV% in that span. Charles Landry, the Lightning's sole prospect to see action in the playoffs so far, went pointless through the Florida's last nine playoff games.

    Official Recap | Box Score

  • ECHL Playoff Game Night: 4-30-13
    3 weeks 3 days ago

    (4)Florida Everblades 2 @ (1)Reading Royals 1
    Quarterfinals: The best-of-seven series is tied 3-3

    D Charles Landry, FLA: 0-0-0, E, 1 SOG, 0 PIM
    Playoff totals: 12 GP, 0-1-1, -2, 11 PIM
    Season totals: 51 GP, 4-12-16, +7, 33 PIM

    Facing the increasingly likely prospect of elimination while trailing by a goal midway through the third period, Florida scored two even-strength goals a minute and half apart to pull ahead for good and force a Game 7. Both teams finished the match 0-for-1 on the power play. Jesse Deckert, back in net for the Everblades after backing up Brady Hjelle for a game, stopped 26 of 27 shots to earn his seventh win of the postseason. Charles Landry, the Lightning's sole prospect to see action in the playoffs so far, has gone pointless over the last eight games. Both clubs will get their shot to close the other out Wednesday night.

    Official Recap | Box Score

  • NA Juniors Playoff Game Night: 4-29-13
    3 weeks 4 days ago

    Ontario Hockey League

    (E2)Barrie Colts 3 @ (E1)Belleville Bulls 1
    Barrie wins Best-of-7 Eastern Conference Finals, 4-3

    D Jake Dotchin, BAR: Did not play
    Playoff totals: 14 GP, 1-4-5, +6, 25 PIM
    Season totals: 66 GP, 4-18-22, E, 81 PIM
    With Barrie: 28 GP, 2-6-8, -1, 42 PIM
    With Owen Sound: 38 GP, 2-12-14, +1, 39 PIM

    After losing Games 6 and 7, Barrie netted a 3-1 win in Game 7 to advance to the OHL Finals. Lightning prospect Jake Dotchin was suspended for the game for a checking-from-behind call in Game 6. Barrie will face London for the right to claim the OHL championship and advance to the Memorial Cup.

  • Crunch Win 4-2, Push Pirates to Brink
    3 weeks 5 days ago


    By Jeremy Houghtaling

    It all started with the physical play.

    Coming off a come-from-behind overtime win one night earlier, the Syracuse Crunch made a point to continue pounding the Portland Pirates.

    It didn't take long -- less than 10 minutes -- for the results to show up on the scoreboard. Ondrej Palat's wrister beat Pirates goalie Chad Johnson, giving the Crunch an early lead.

    "He's finishing checks and hammering guys, then he goes and scores the first goal for us," said Syracuse coach Rob Zettler of Palat.

    Palat and Tyler Johnson each provided a goal and an assist, leading the Crunch to a 4-2 win over the Pirates in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals at the Onondaga County War Memorial Sunday. Syracuse leads the best-of-five series 2-0, with the teams meeting again in Portland Thursday.

  • AHL Playoff Game Night: 4-28-13 Pirates at Crunch
    3 weeks 5 days ago

    Game Two goes according to plan.

    POR-2
    SYR-4

    Syracuse Leads the Best-of-Five Series 2-0

    Cedrick Desjardins allowed 2 goals on 20 shots for the victory. He looked much more solid tonight in net. The team needs him to play like that moving forward if they want to reach their ultimate goal.

    First Period
    SYR Palat, (1) (Johnson, Taormina), 9:33
    SYR Brown, (1) (Angelidis, Wyman), 10:41

    Second Period
    SYR Johnson, (2) (Palat), 0:49 (SH)
    SYR Connolly, (1) (Sexton, Devos), 14:36
    POR Gormley, (1) (Shinnimin, Johnson), 16:50

    Third Period
    POR Johnson, (1) (Lessio, Gormley), 9:40

    Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, and Matt Taormina were the game's three stars.

    I continue to be extremely impressed by Palat. He's been the complete package through 2 games in this series. Just like last season, good things happen when the man has the puck. I was also impressed with Vladislav Namestnikov, who got a lot more ice time with Richard Panik getting kicked out after a secondary altercation. Portland tried targeting Namestnikov, and Vladdy rose to the challenge. He was feisty and he landed some good hits in the Third Period, to go along with his usual puckhandling and playmaking.

    Game Three is Thursday in Portland. This is where Zettler's going to earn his big boy coaching pants. Portland's going to throw everything they have left at Syracuse in the First Period, and if Syracuse is complacent, bad things will happen. Playoffs are about attrition as much as anything, and if you have a chance to finish an opponent off, you do it. Anything that extends a series is another set of shifts where one of your key players can get hurt, so you have to finish the drill ASAP, and with Providence falling behind 2-0 in their series and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton up 2-0 in theirs, it's looking like a very good Pens team is lurking on the horizon. Syracuse wants to be healthy and rested for that potential opponent.

    Box score from TheAHL.com.

  • ECHL Playoff Game Night: 4-27-13
    3 weeks 5 days ago

    (4)Florida Everblades 4 vs. (1)Reading Royals 5 (OT)
    Quarterfinals: Reading leads the best-of-seven series 3-2

    D Charles Landry, FLA: 0-0-0, +1, 1 SOG, 2 PIM (hooking)
    Playoff totals: 11 GP, 0-1-1, -2, 11 PIM
    Season totals: 51 GP, 4-12-16, +7, 33 PIM

    Florida stormed back from a two-goal first period deficit to stake a 4-2 past the midpoint of the final frame but Reading scored power play goals just minutes apart with regulation play winding down to force the match into overtime before finishing the Everblades for the second consecutive night. Brady Hjelle made his first start in net for the home squad, stopping 25 of 29 shots in defeat. Charles Landry's hooking minor with under three minutes remaining led to the game-tying Royals goal. With its fate hanging in the balance, Florida now heads back to Reading. The Everblades will get their crack at the Royals on Tuesday night in order to try and force a Game 7 come Wednesday.

    Official Recap | Box Score

  • NA Juniors Playoff Game Night: 4-28-13
    3 weeks 5 days ago

    Quebec Major Junior Hockey League

    (2)Baie-Comeau Drakkar 4 @ (3)Blainville-Boisbriand Armada 0
    Drakkar wins Best-of-7 Semifinals, 4-2

    C Cedric Paquette, BLB: 0-0-0, -2, 2 PIM, 2 SOG, 1 Hit
    Playoff totals: 15 GP, 7-5-12, +3, 31 PIM
    Season totals: 63 GP, 27-56-83, +29, 103 PIM

    The Drakkar eliminated the Armada four games to two with a 4-0 shutout win on Sunday. Cedric Paquette finished his junior career scoreless in seven straight games after starting the playoffs on fire. He could be signed and assigned to AHL Syracuse to practice with the Crunch for the duration of the AHL playoffs, though unlike Nikita Kucherov, Paquette isn’t already signed. He is expected to be signed at some time in the offseason and the agitator should spend some time with AHL Syracuse next year.

    The Drakkar will play powerhouse Halifax in the QMJHL Finals. If Tampa Bay remains in the third draft slot after Monday's lottery, we will follow Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin for the rest of Halifax's playoff and Memorial Cup run. Seth Jones is expected to go first or second, pushing one of the Mooseheads to the Lightning.

    The last North American junior prospect remaining for the Lightning is Jake Dotchin of Barrie, who plays Game 7 against Belleville on Monday night.

  • Panik Scores OT Goal, Crunch Win Game 1
    3 weeks 6 days ago


    By Jeremy Houghtaling

    After two potential game-winning goals were waved off in overtime, Richard Panik provided one that left little doubt.

    The Syracuse Crunch forward accepted the pass from Ondrej Palat, spun to the left across the crease, and put the puck over Portland Pirates goalie Chad Johnson. No stranger to overtime goals, Panik was nonchalant about the play.

    "Just a good move I guess," he said with a smile.

    The goal capped a come-from-behind 4-3 overtime win for the No. 3 Crunch over the No. 6 Portland Pirates in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals at the Onondaga County War Memorial Saturday. Syracuse hosts Game 2 Sunday.

  • NA Juniors Playoff Game Night: 4-27-13
    3 weeks 6 days ago

    Ontario Hockey League

    (E1)Belleville Bulls 3 @ (E2)Barrie Colts 1
    Best-of-7 Eastern Conference Finals tied, 3-3

    D Jake Dotchin, BAR: 0-0-0, +1, 4 PIM
    Playoff totals: 14 GP, 1-4-5, +6, 25 PIM
    Season totals: 66 GP, 4-18-22, E, 81 PIM
    With Barrie: 28 GP, 2-6-8, -1, 42 PIM
    With Owen Sound: 38 GP, 2-12-14, +1, 39 PIM

    The Colts held a 3-1 lead in the series but twice have failed to close out the Bulls, this time falling 3-1 at home. Bruins first rounder Malcolm Subban stopped 32 of 33 shots for second star honors. Canucks first rounder Brendan Gaunce had two goals for Belleville. Game 7 is in Belleville on Monday.

Syndicate content