The Cleveland Monsters fell to the Syracuse Crunch 4-1 on Sunday afternoon at Rocket Arena. With the loss, the Monsters are tied in the best-of-five North Division Semifinals, presented by truenorth Convenience Stores, 1-1.

Syracuse got the scoring started with a goal from Lucas Mercuri at 3:52 of the opening frame followed by three goals in quick succession from Gabriel Szturc at 10:18, Jakob Pelletier at 11:07 and Tommy Miller at 13:15 to give the Crunch a 4-0 lead through the first 20 minutes. Following a scoreless second period, Cleveland’s Mikael Pyyhtiä scored the only goal of the final frame at 6:54 assisted by Luca Del Bel Belluz to make the final score 4-1 Syracuse. 

Cleveland’s Ivan Fedotov stopped two shots and Evan Gardner stopped 10 shots in defeat while Syracuse’s Brandon Halverson made 32 saves for the win. 

The Monsters head to Syracuse where they will play Game 3 of the North Division Semifinals presented by truenorth Convenience Stores against the Crunch on Friday, May 1st at Upstate Medical University Arena at 7:00 p.m. Follow the game with full coverage on SportsRadio 99.1 Powered by Rock Entertainment Group, 1390 The Gambler WNIO-AM, AHLTV on FloHockey and the Monsters Hockey Network.

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GAME SHEET – GAME PHOTOS – GAME HIGHLIGHTS*

*Game highlights will appear as soon as possible following video processing.