A dominant opening period was enough to lift the Syracuse Crunch to a 3-0 victory over the Rochester Americans on Saturday evening.
Syracuse leads the best-of-five series, two games to none. Game 3 is set for Friday evening in Rochester.
Ryan Jones and Gage Goncalves scored in the first period, while the Crunch became the first team in six years to allow zero shots on goal in a playoff period.
Syracuse then killed off nine minutes’ worth of Rochester power-play time in the second period, and Goncalves iced the game with an empty-netter with 32.6 seconds to go in the third.
Max Lagace (2-0) finished with 18 saves to earn his first career playoff shutout.
Malcolm Subban (0-2) stopped 29 of 31 shots for the Amerks.
North Division Semifinals (best-of-5)
N2-Syracuse Crunch vs. N3-Rochester Americans
Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 21 – SYRACUSE 3, Rochester 2 (OT) | Recap
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 22 – SYRACUSE 3, Rochester 0
Game 3 – Fri., Apr. 28 – Syracuse at Rochester, 7:05
*Game 4 – Sun., Apr. 30 – Syracuse at Rochester, 3:05
*Game 5 – Sat., May 6 – Rochester at Syracuse, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern