Monsters advance to Eastern Conference Finals after 6-4 win against Crunch

Photo courtesy Cleveland Monsters

SYRACUSE, NY – The Cleveland Monsters beat the Syracuse Crunch 6-4 on Wednesday night at Upstate Medical University Arena. With the win, the Monsters lead the North Division Finals best-of-five series to move on to the Eastern Conference Finals to face the Hershey Bears.

Jake Gaudet struck first with a goal at 14:16 of the opening frame assisted by Tyler Angle and Jakub Zboril, but the Crunch responded with a power-play tally from Alex Barré-Boulet at 16:38 sending the teams to the first intermission tied 1-1. The Monsters led off the middle frame after Stefan Matteau converted on the man advantage at 11:02 with helpers from David Jiricek and Owen Sillinger. Syracuse came back scoring two goals from Cole Koepke at 16:47 and Jordy Bellerive at 17:52 sending Cleveland to the final intermission trailing 3-2. A flurry of offense exploded in the third period beginning with Alex Whelan at 1:02 off feeds from Justin Pearson and Josh Dunne. Dunne added a goal of his own at 9:29 assisted by Whelan and Bjork, but the Crunch responded with a tally from Barré-Boulet at 16:32 to once again tie the score. The Monsters put away the game starting when Luca Del Bel Belluz recorded a marker at 17:42 off a feed from Trey Fix-Wolansky followed by an empty-net tally from Roman Ahcan assisted by Bjork securing the 6-4 win.

Cleveland’s Malcolm Subban stopped 25 shots for the win while Syracuse’s Matt Tomkins made 21 saves in defeat.

The Monsters and Bears drop the puck on the Eastern Conference Finals on Thursday, May 30, at 7:00 p.m. at Giant Center. Follow the games with full coverage on FOX Sports 1350 ‘The Gambler’, AHLTV and the Monsters Hockey Network.

Single game tickets for Games 3, 4, and 5* of the Eastern Conference Finals are on sale now! Click here to purchase single game tickets.

Fans have two additional options to secure seats for the Eastern Conference Finals at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse:

1. Buy 1 Ticket, Get 1 Half Off! – Through this special offer, buy a ticket to any Eastern Conference Finals Home Game and get half off another ticket in select seating locations. Click here to take advantage of limited time offer.

1. 2024 Playoff + Monsters Hockey Club – Sign up for a Monsters Hockey Club membership and receive the next home playoff game FREE! Click here for more information on Monsters Hockey Club memberships.

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Scoring:

		1st		2nd		3rd		OT		Final
CLE		1		1		4		–		6
SYR		1		2		1		–		4

 

Shots/Special Teams:

		Shots		PP		PK		PIM
CLE		27		1/3		3/4		14 min / 7 inf
SYR		29		1/4		2/3		12 min / 6 inf

 

Goaltenders:

		Goaltender		Outcome		Saves		GA		Playoff Record
CLE		Subban		W		25		4		1-0-0
SYR		Tomkins		L		21		5		0-1-0

 Cleveland Monsters Official Press Release