In what was a penalty-ridden final twenty minutes of regulation time, Syracuse pulled themselves within one with an early powerplay marker.
Matt Taormina fired a shot that weaved its way through traffic in front to find the roof of Antoine Bibeau’s net. Trailing 3-2 with 17 minutes left to play, Syracuse were swarming over the Marlies. Bibeau had to make three straight saves to keep the lead intact, and the pressure was only relieved when the Crunch were called for too many men.
Toronto’s powerplay failed to tally and they were quickly back on the penalty kill.