Syracuse, NY (April 27, 2012) - The Syracuse Crunch's season came to a close with a 4-3 overtime loss to the St. John's IceCaps tonight at the Mile One Centre in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
Despite goals from Mark Bell and Emerson Etem, and a six-of-seven outing from the Crunch penalty kill unit, the IceCaps rallied from a 2-0 deficit to advance to the second round of the Calder Cup Playoffs. St. John's won the best-of-five series 3-1.
Bell gave the Crunch a 1-0 lead 5:12 into the opening frame when his long-range shot floated past IceCaps netminder Eddie Pasquale. Right wing Etem extended the Crunch lead just 36 seconds later when he found the back of the net with a one-timer shot off a pass from Nick Schaus. The Crunch carried the two goal lead into the first intermission; shots on goal at the end of the first were 13-12 in favor of the Crunch.
St. John's responded at the start of the second period with a goal from Carl Klingberg. Klingberg took a pass from Mark Scheifele and tucked the puck past Crunch goalie Iiro Tarkki to make it 2-1 at the 2:49 mark of the second period. John Albert tied the game 1:29 later with a wrist shot from the top of the circle. St. John's outshot the Crunch 12-6 in the period.
The Crunch escaped the middle frame with a 3-2 lead thanks to Etem's second goal of the game. Etem redirected a Mat Clark shot past Pasquale at the 15:35 mark of the period.
St. John's evened the score with a power-play goal from Ray Sawada at the 6:55 mark of the third period. Tarkki made the initial save but Sawada was able to put home the rebound to make it a 3-3 score which would hold through regulation.
Derek Meech's slapshot beat Tarkki 5:01 into overtime giving the IceCaps a 4-3 win and ending the Crunch's season.
Crunchables: Emerson Etem's first period goal was his first professional playoff point…Mark Bell's first period goal was his third of this playoff series…The Crunch have not won a game when facing elimination since 2002 (vs. Chicago), and are 4-10 all-time.
**Courtesy Syracuse Crunch**
