Wilkes-Barre/Scranton broke open a close game with three goals in a 100-second span and rolled to a 5-1 win over Syracuse in Game 1 of their best-of-five Eastern Conference quarterfinal on Friday night.
The Penguins take a 1-0 series lead into Game 2 on Saturday.
Kasperi Kapanen scored twice, Carter Rowney had a goal and two assists and Dominik Uher added a goal and assist for the fourth-seeded Penguins, who are in the postseason for the 13th consecutive year.
Danny Syvret also scored, Jayson Megna and Barry Goers each recorded two assists, and Matt Murray stopped 22 of 23 shots in net.
Matthew Peca scored the only goal for the Crunch, who entered the playoffs having lost nine of their final 10 regular-season games.
Kristers Gudlevskis allowed four goals on 20 shots before being replaced at 7:43 of the second period by Adam Wilcox. Wilcox stopped 14 of 15 shots in relief.
Eastern Conference Quarterfinals – Series “D” (best-of-5)
4-W-B/Scranton Penguins vs. 5-Syracuse Crunch
Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 24 – W-B/SCRANTON 5, Syracuse 1
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 25 – Syracuse at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
Game 3 – Wed., Apr. 29 – W-B/Scranton at Syracuse, 7:00
*Game 4 – Thu., Apr. 30 – W-B/Scranton at Syracuse, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 2 – Syracuse at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern
