SYRACUSE -- The Syracuse Crunch scored four second period goals and Iiro Tarkki posted a shutout, stopping all 25 shots he faced as the Crunch rolled to a 4-0 win tonight over the Toronto Marlies at the War Memorial at Oncenter. The win pushed the Crunch’s preseason record to 2-0-0-0, outscoring the Marlies by an 8-1combined margin in both games.
Toronto looked like the fresher team early, outshooting the Crunch by an 11-4 margin in the game’s first 20 minutes. Tarkki, the Finnish-born free agent signing, stood tall in goal for the Crunch, turning aside every Toronto shot that came his way in the first period. Tarkki also held the fort during three first period power plays for the Marlies, including 51 seconds of 5-on-3 time.
The Crunch finally notched the first goal of the game just two seconds after their first power play of the game expired when Kyle Palmieri slid a cross-ice feed from Mathieu Carle underneath a diving Ben Scrivens to give Syracuse a 1-0 lead at the 4:05 mark of the second.
Josh Brittain followed Palmieri’s marker seven and a half minutes later when he scooped up a loose puck at the left side of the crease and tucked it underneath the crossbar to make it a 2-0 Crunch lead.
Rick Schofield made it a 3-0 at the 16:47 mark and Nathan Smith extended the advantage to 4-0 when his slapper from the slot found its way past Scrivens with just 33 seconds left in the frame. The Crunch outshot Toronto 20-9 in the middle stanza.
The game turned chippy at the 7:38 mark of the third, as Toronto’s Korbinian Holzer was given a double minor for roughing and a game misconduct after punching Palmieri to the ice after play had stopped. Palmieri was given two minutes for slashing on the play. Tarkki looked cool, calm and collected down the stretch, sealing the victory for the Crunch.
The Crunch open their 2011-12 season with a visit to Binghamton on Friday, October 14 before Mirabito Opening Night on Saturday, October 15 vs. Adirondack at the War Memorial at Oncenter.
CRUNCHABLES: The Crunch released defenseman Stephen Mallaro from his tryout following tonight’s game…Mark Bell, Dan Sexton and Sean Zimmerman all wore an “A” tonight as alternate captains…
Courtesy: Syracuse Crunch
