By Jen Sharpe
www.moosehockey.com
For the third consecutive game, the Manitoba Moose and Syracuse Crunch required extra time to decide a winner in Tuesday night's North Division Semi-final Game 3. 11 minutes into sudden death, Crunch winger Tom Sestito beat goalie Cory Schneider from near the blue-line to secure a 2-1 OT win and a 2-1 series lead for Syracuse.
>> Click to view photos of tonight's game.
>> Click here to see official scorer's sheet
First Period
The Moose started on the offensive, forcing Crunch goalie Karl Goehring to stretch for three big saves in the game's first 90 seconds. But Syracuse responded by testing Cory Schneider and assuming a 5-4 shot lead by the five minute mark.
Just over six minutes into the game, Moose sniper Brad Moran took a high-sticking penalty to give the Crunch the game's first powerplay. But the home team shut down the visitor's man advantage and then soon experienced their own scoreless powerplay when Syracuse's Brett Motherwell served a full two minutes for holding.
With six minutes left on the clock, Derek Dorsett beat Shaun Heshka in a foot race and descended in on Schneider. The rookie goalie made the stop, but veteran defenceman Danny Groulx was assessed a hooking penalty on the play.
Just like earlier in the period, the unsucessful man-advantage was immediately followed by another one for the opposing team, and both the Moose and Crunch dropped to 0-for-2 on the powerplay.
A late interference penalty to Manitoba's Maxime Fortunus put Syracuse up a man but down three shots heading into the second period.
Second Period
The Moose killed Fortunus' penalty and then another, limiting the Crunch to one shot in the frame's first six minutes. Eager to continue the game's perfect penalty killing, Syracuse then stifled a third Manitoba powerplay, helping maintain the scoreless deadlock through the midway point of the game.
At that point, seven and a half periods of gritty playoff hockey erupted into the first fight of the series. After a group tussle near Schneider's net, Greg Rallo and Dorsett broke off from the group and went toe-to-toe along the boards. By the time play resumed, four different players had been assessed penalties, with the Crunch coming out on top with a two minute powerplay.
Moose penalty killers prevailed once again. Upon the return of five-on-five play, Jannik Hansen got a breakaway but fired just above the net. The puck bounced back out into play, and though Goehring stopped an original shot, the disc landed on Michael Grabner's stick and he fired it home to score the game's opening goal.
Four minutes later, the Crunch got their equalizer. Immediately after successfully killing Manitoba's fourth powerplay, Syracuse Captain Zenon Konopka bounced the puck off Rypien and into the net to tie the game 1-1 heading into the third period.
Third Period
An interference penalty to Clay Wilson at the end of the second and another Crunch penalty three minutes into the third kept the Moose on the powerplay for the early part of the final frame. But the club struggled to keep the puck in the Crunch zone, tallying only two shots and surrendering three shorthanded attempts.
Despite the failed powerplays, the Moose broke the 30-shot mark with nine minutes left in the game but were shut down by Goehring's athletic goaltending. Although the Moose eventually cracked the Crunch goalie, the third-period buzzer had already sounded, forcing overtime for the third straight game.
Overtime
The teams matched eachother shot-for-shot leading up to a cross-checking penalty to Syracuse's Derick Brassard eight minutes in. After a minute of attempting to set something up, the Moose created a handful of great scoring chances but missed rebounds and a sturdy post kept the home team from earning the game-winning goal.
The visitors wouldn't suffer the same fate. After receiving a feed from Motherwell, winger Tom Sestito strode in from the blue line and wired a wrister through traffic to secure a 2-1 overtime win and 2-1 series lead for Syracuse.
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| SCORING |
1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| Syracuse |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| Manitoba |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Apr 22, 2008 - MTS Centre FIRST PERIOD:No Scoring Penalties - B. Moran Mtb (high-sticking) 6:11, B. Motherwell Syr (holding) 9:00, D. Groulx Mtb (hooking) 13:55, D. Cullen Syr (holding) 16:19, M. Fortunus Mtb (interference) 18:41 SECOND PERIOD:1. Manitoba, M. Grabner (2) (J. Hansen, B. Moran) 12:19 2. Syracuse, Z. Konopka (1) 16:37 Penalties - R. Rypien Mtb (tripping) 2:13, J. Lindstrom Syr (slashing) 5:51, D. Dorsett Syr (fighting) 9:31, T. Sestito Syr (roughing, elbowing) 9:31, Z. FitzGerald Mtb (roughing, roughing, misconduct) 9:31, G. Rallo Mtb (roughing, fighting) 9:31, C. Wilson Syr (interference) 14:25, C. Wilson Syr (interference) 20:00 THIRD PERIOD:No Scoring Penalties - A. Picard Syr (tripping) 3:30, G. Rallo Mtb (holding) 12:12 OT PERIOD:3. Syracuse, T. Sestito (1) (B. Motherwell, Z. Konopka) 11:00 Penalties - D. Brassard Syr (cross-checking) 8:06
| SHOTS |
1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| Syracuse |
9 |
8 |
8 |
5 |
30 |
| Manitoba |
12 |
10 |
11 |
3 |
36 |
POWER PLAYS:Syracuse Crunch 0-6. Manitoba Moose 0-7. GOALTENDERS:Syracuse Crunch Goehring 7-6-0 Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 71:00 SV: 35 GA: 1 [W] Manitoba Moose Schneider 1-4-0 Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 71:00 SV: 28 GA: 2 [L]
Attendance:
6,596
- SYR - Karl Goehring
- MTB - Cory Schneider
- SYR - Tom Sestito
- This North Division Semi-final series continues Friday, April 25th at 7:30pm.
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Updated: Apr. 22, 2008 at 10:39 PM CDT
