SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse Crunch’s season came to an end with a 2-1 loss to the Toronto Marlies in Game 4 of the North Division Finals tonight at the War Memorial Arena.
After going down 2-0 in the first, Reid McNeill put the Crunch on the board halfway through the third, but the team was unable to build the momentum for a comeback and were eliminated from the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Goaltender Connor Ingram stopped 21-of-23 shots in net for the Crunch, while Garret Sparks turned aside 21-of-22 between the pipes for the Marlies. Syracuse was unable to convert on either of its two man-advantages and went 2-for-4 on the penalty kill.
The Marlies opened scoring on the power play five minutes into the first frame. Chris Mueller sent the puck towards the goal from the left circle. Ben Smith was down low to redirect it across the crease for Dymtro Timashov to score on the backdoor.
Toronto doubled their lead with another power-play tally with 5:04 remaining in the first. Andreas Johnsson received a pass from Timothy Lilijegren and scored from the top of the circle through traffic. Pierre Engvall earned a point for the secondary assist.
The Crunch came back within one at the 10:29 mark of the final stanza. McNeill fired a shot from the point that hit the post, bounced off of Sparks and crossed the goal line. Kevin Lynch and Carter Verhaeghe tallied the assists.
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