Game Results

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.

(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

(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

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.

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.