The Cleveland Monsters beat the Syracuse Crunch 4-3 on Friday evening at Upstate Medical University Arena. With the win, the Monsters lead the best-of-five North Division Semifinals, presented by truenorth Convenience Stores, 2-1.

Syracuse’s Spencer Kersten scored the only goal of the opening stanza at 10:08 to put the Crunch up 1-0 heading into the second period. Cleveland’s Riley Bezeau put the Monsters on the board with an unassisted tally at 0:08 followed by an additional goal from Guillaume Richard at 8:04 off feeds from Mikael Pyyhtiä and Luca Del Bel Belluz but the Crunch’s Nick Abruzzese responded at 14:15 making it an even 2-2 through 40 minutes. Syracuse’s Ethan Gauthier slotted in a goal at 3:06 but Cleveland’s Richard snagged his second of the night assisted by Dysin Mayo and Del Bel Belluz to level the score at 3-3, sending the game into overtime. Monsters’ Hudson Fasching netted the game-winning goal at 10:05 of the extra time with helpers from Jack Williams and Mayo to give Cleveland the 4-3 victory. 

Cleveland’s Zach Sawchenko stopped 31 shots for the win while Syracuse’s Brandon Halverson made 28 saves in the loss. 

The Monsters stay in Syracuse where they will play Game 4 of the North Division Semifinals presented by truenorth Convenience Stores against the Crunch on Sunday, May 3rd at Upstate Medical University Arena at 3:00 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.