2
0
A choke that could prove incredibly costly.
ROC-4
SYR-3 (OT)
Series Tied 2-2
Brandon Halverson allowed four goals on 47 shots for the OT loss. He’s put in a good shift under the circumstances, but with a deciding Game Five looming I can’t help but wonder if Joel Bouchard calls on Matt Tomkins with the season on the line.
First Period
4:00 SYR Koepke (1), (Lilleberg, Fortier)
Second Period
3:53 SYR Merela (2), (Goncalves, Robert)
7:02 SYR Barre-Boulet (2), (Goncalves, Crozier)(PP)
Third Period
0:19 ROC Biro (1), (Cecconi, Rousek)
10:20 ROC Cecconi (1), (Rousek, Biro)
14:48 ROC Biro (2), (Rousek, Davies)
Overtime
11:45 ROC Murray (1), (Jobst, Metsa)
Gage Goncalves was the game’s second star.
No way to sugarcoat this. This is bad. When you have a three goal lead anytime after 40 minutes in a professional hockey game that should be a win. Period. And when you cough a lead like that up, it’s incredibly damaging psychologically for a team. It has to be doubly bad in a playoff series when you hand all the momentum over to your opponent heading into a winner-take-all elimination Game Five on Friday. Syracuse hasn’t won a playoff series in what seems like forever, and the young Crunch flunked their first test in trying to closeout an opponent. They’ll get another, but the odds will be stacked against them in Rochester the way that Game Four played out and momentum wearing an Amerks jersey.
I am honestly sick to my stomach.
Box score from TheAHL.com.
