Monsters Top Syracuse Crunch 4-3 in Overtime at the Q for 10th Win of Season

Provided by the Monsters

The Monsters defeated the Syracuse Crunch on Friday night at The Q in overtime by a final score of 4-3. With the win, the Monsters improved to 10-7-3-0 overall this season and with 25 points, currently sit alone in second place in the AHL’s North Division standings.

Syracuse opened the scoring in the first period with an even-strength tally from Carter Verhaeghe at 4:49 to give the Crunch an early 1-0 lead. Cleveland answered when Paul Bittner scored at 13:50 on feeds from Zac Dalpe and Adam Clendening to even the score at one apiece.

Kevin Stenlund pushed the Monsters in front, 2-1, at 16:22 of the frame on a set-up from Cleveland captain Nathan Gerbe. The Crunch tied the contest up before the end of the period with a power-play marker from Andy Andreoff at 18:30 of the frame, sending both teams into the locker room tied at two.

In the middle frame, Syracuse reclaimed the lead when Alex Barre-Boulet netted a power-play goal to give the Crunch a 3-2 advantage at 3:03 before a third-period equalizer from Cleveland’s Clendening knotted the game at three at 10:25 thanks to five-on-five feeds from Sonny Milano and Kole Sherwood.

In overtime, Sherwood finished off a close-range rebound try at 3:33 thanks to helpers from Dalpe and Tommy Cross to secure a 4-3 home win for Cleveland.

Monsters goaltender Jean-Francois Berube stopped 21 of the 24 shots he faced to improve to 7-5-2 on the season, while Crunch net-minder Eddie Pasquale stopped 34 of the 38 pucks he faced to drop to 4-2-2 on the year.

Next up for the Monsters, it’s a Saturday rematch versus the Crunch with full coverage, live from The Q, underway at 1:00 pm.