Marlies top Crunch 4-1, Syracuse slips in North Division race
Syracuse’s 4-1 loss to Toronto left it three points out of first in the North Division, while Jakob Pelletier ran his streak to 20 straight games.
The Crunch did not just lose a game at Upstate Medical University Arena. They gave away ground in the North Division race, falling 4-1 to Toronto and slipping to 40-23-3-4 with two games left, three points behind the division lead.
That is the part that matters in late April: Syracuse has already locked in home-ice for the North Division Semifinals, but the margin for error at the top is gone. With the standings showing Laval at 90 points and Syracuse at 87, Sunday’s regulation loss cost the Crunch a chance to keep pressure on first place and left Toronto, at 78 points, with the kind of road win that can change a playoff mood.
The game turned on finishing, or more accurately Syracuse’s lack of it. Brandon Halverson stopped 17 of 20 shots, but Dennis Hildeby was sharper and more efficient, turning aside 27 of 28. The Crunch got only one answer all night, Dylan Duke’s power-play goal, and that was the one bright spot from a unit that already knows how much it leans on special teams in tight games. Duke’s goal also kept him atop the AHL with 18 power-play goals, a reminder of how much Syracuse needs him when the first goal is not enough.
Toronto’s most dangerous night came from the player who has been doing this for weeks. Jakob Pelletier picked up an assist to stretch his points streak to 20 consecutive games, the first such run in the AHL since the 2006-07 season. Pelletier entered the game with 75 points in 61 regular-season games, including 28 goals and 47 assists, and Syracuse never found a way to take him out of the picture. Nick Abruzzese also came in riding a six-game points streak, another sign that the Marlies arrived with more than one threat.
The result closed the four-game regular-season series with Toronto at 1-2-1-0 for Syracuse, a split that showed how close the matchup was even as the Marlies claimed the result that mattered most. For the Crunch, the loss was a sharp warning: when the postseason games tighten, one missed chance and one hot goalie can tilt the race fast.
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