Toronto falls in North Division Final opener

(TORONTO) – The Toronto Marlies fell 5-1 to the Syracuse Crunch on Friday night in front of 2,931 fans at Ricoh Coliseum in the first game of the North Division Final of the AHL Calder Cup playoffs.  David Ling scored the lone goal for the Marlies, who outshot the Crunch 32-22 in the game.

The Marlies and Crunch were both anxious for the second-round of the AHL Calder Cup playoffs to begin, as were Toronto’s Colin Murphy and Syracuse’s Zenon Konopka, who dropped their gloves just three seconds after the opening face-off.

Syracuse then jumped out to an early 1-0 advantage after Derek MacKenzie fired a shot into the top left corner of the net over the glove of Toronto starting goaltender Scott Clemmensen at 1:40 of the opening frame.  Joakim Lindstrom and Clay Wilson assisted on the play.

The Crunch added another goal at 11:04 when Wilson notched his first marker of the playoffs. Wilson blasted a slapshot from the blue line which Clemmensen could not save with his glove.

Nate DiCasmirro added the Crunch’s third goal of the game at 10:06 of the second period. MacKenzie fired a slapshot on net that DiCasmirro tipped over Clemmensen’s pad to give the Crunch a 3-0 lead.

The Marlies cut into the Crunch’s lead with Ling’s first goal of the playoffs, which he scored at 13:46 against his former team. Bates Battaglia skated into the Syracuse zone with the puck before firing it on net. Several players attempted to gain control of the puck in front of the net, and the puck bounced off a Syracuse defender and onto Ling’s stick. Ling rifled a shot which sailed past Syracuse starting goaltender Karl Goehring. 

Syracuse restored its three goal advantage at 3:30 of the final stanza. Trevor Frischmon and Mark Rycroft skated in on a two-on-one advantage against Jay Harrison. Frischmon sent a pass that slipped by Harrison to Rycroft, who fired the puck into the open net.  Syracuse added another goal at 6:04 when Derick Brassard grabbed an errant shot that bounced off Jaime Sifers and sent the puck past Clemmensen to round out the scoring in the game.

The Marlies and Crunch continue their battle for the North Division Final on Sunday, May 4.  Face-off for Game 2 is 4 p.m. at Ricoh Coliseum.  The teams head to Syracuse for the next two games of the best-of-seven series.  Game 3 is Tuesday, May 6 and Game 4 is Wednesday, May 7.  Face-off for both games at the Onondaga County War Memorial at Oncenter is 7 p.m.

ICE CHIPS:  The Marlies have scored a power-play goal in two consecutive post-season games… Kris Newbury leads the Marlies with five points (two goals, three assists) in the postseason… the 52 penalty minutes accrued in total by both teams sets a postseason high for combined penalty minutes in a game for the Marlies.

SCORING SUMMARY

First Period
 
1. SYR D. MacKenzie (3) (Lindstrom, Wilson) 1:40
2. SYR C. Wilson (1) (Rycroft, Pineault) 11:04

Second Period

3. SYR N. DiCasmirro (2) (MacKenzie, Brassard) 10:06 PP
4. TOR D. Ling (1) (Newbury, Battaglia) 13:46 PP

Third Period

5. SYR M. Raycroft (1) (Frischmon, Pineault) 3:30
6. SYR D. Brassard (3) (MacKenzie, Wilson) 6:04 PP

Shots

TOR 32  SYR 22

THREE STARS
1. C. Wilson #4 -- SYR
2. D. MacKenzie #24 -- SYR
3. K. Goehring #35 -- SYR