Saturday proved to be another gigantic night for the Salt City club. After retiring the number of Dolph Schayes, the late NBA Hall of Famer and champion with the Syracuse Nationals, the Crunch got another 3-1 win, this time over the Rochester Americans. Martindale and Drouin found the back the net for the second straight game with Yanni "Good to" Gourde also getting in on the scoring action. With the win, the Crunch kept a hold of the fourth potential playoff spot in the North Division and put greater distance between the two clubs concerning the spot.
With the five game win streak, the Crunch have control of the fourth and final potential playoff spot out of the North Division. With the fourth spot, the Crunch would have a crossover playoff series with a team from another division. At this moment, even with the fourth spot, the Crunch are still not in the playoff race. Since the crossover series spot pertains to both the Atlantic and North Divisions, teams from both divisions are fighting for that one single spot. Based on overall records, the Portland Pirates would win the final spot and face the Albany Devils, who clinched a playoff birth early this week. The Crunch would be left out of the playoffs for this year.
To make things worse for the Crunch, they have eight games remaining while Portland has nine. If the Crunch were to win all eight games, they would need the Pirates to lose the majority of their remaining games to even get close (five or more). While the Crunch can only reach a max .586 points percentage, Portland can reach .599, which would obviously trump Syracuse.
Like I've stated several times before, the best thing for the Crunch is to just keep winning. As long as they keep the wins coming, Syracuse will better have a shot at the post season. Portland, Rochester, St. John's, and Utica losing would also greatly help the Crunch out, which has actually been happening. No matter, as I've also previously stated, this last stretch of the season is going to a fun one to watch.
Thanks/Credits:
http://theahl.com/playoff-primer-2016-p201276
syracusecrunch.com