SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse Crunch defeated the Cleveland Monsters, 6-5, tonight at the Upstate Medical University Arena.
The win advances the Crunch to 26-19-4-3 on the season and gives the team their only win in the four-game season series against the Monsters.
Goaltender Hugo Alnefelt now has back-to-back wins stopping 22-of-27 shots between the pipes for the Crunch. Daniil Tarasov turned aside 24-of-29 in net for the Monsters.
Syracuse converted on their sole power play opportunity, while Cleveland went 2-for-2.
The Crunch jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 4:14 into the game. Tarasov made the initial save on Declan Carlile’s long point shot, but left the rebound out for Alex Barré-Boulet to chip into the net. Trevor Carrick doubled the lead at 14:35 with a slap shot from the top of the left circle.
Cleveland stole one back 8:34 into the second period off a breakaway goal from Trey Fix-Wolansky, but the Crunch responded just over a minute later when Lucas Edmonds got behind the defense and put Syracuse back up by two.
The Crunch and Monsters exchanged goals throughout the third period. It started just 1:40 into the final frame when Jake Christiansen fired in a slap shot from the high slot while on the power-play. Two minutes later, Edmonds netted his second of the game on the man-advantage with a wrister from between the circles. At 5:59, Josh Dunne capitalized on a turnover, but 31 seconds later, the Crunch responded yet again and Simon Ryfors chipped in a feed from Edmonds who was along the goal line. Yegor Chinakhov added another for Cleveland at the 14:50 mark to make it a 5-4 game and then Gabriel Dumont hit the empty net with 49 seconds remaining in the third. The Monsters continued to push for a comeback off a one-timer by Owen Sillinger with 19 seconds left in the game, but the Crunch held on to take the win.
The Crunch host the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Friday.
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