The Cleveland Monsters fell to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms 7-3 on Friday night at the PPL Center. Following a regulation loss by the Belleville Senators Friday night, the Monsters have clinched their spot in the 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs. With the loss, the Monsters are now 35-25-5-6 and in fifth place in the AHL’s North Division standings. The Monsters will face the Toronto Marlies for the North Division First Round of the 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs in a best-of-three series.
Cleveland forward Luca Del Bel Belluz opened the scoring at 6:26 of the first frame with Mikael Pyyhtiä on the assist for the 1-0 lead. Lehigh Valley answered with two goals, one from Olle Lycksell at 6:50 and another by Garrett Wilson at 8:04 while shorthanded to give the Phantoms a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.
Monsters centerman Dylan Gambrell locked the game at two with a goal off feeds from Roman Ahcan and Samuel Knazko at the 5:18 mark of the second frame. Guillaume Richard at 6:13 of the same period pulled Cleveland ahead, 3-2 off a Del Bel Belluz assist to lead through two stanzas.
Lehigh Valley’s Ty Murchison tied the game, 3-3 at 4:21 of the final frame, followed by Rodrigo Ābols taking the lead for the Phantoms at the 5:27 mark making it a 4-3 game. Phantoms’ forwards Lycksell scored his second of the night at 6:23 along with Ābols doing the same on the power play at 12:15 to make it a 6-3 game. Garrett Wilson closed things out with an empty-netter at 19:40 for a 7-3 Phantoms victory.
Cleveland’s Zach Sawchenko made 27 saves in defeat while Lehigh Valley’s Cal Peterson stopped 28 shots for the win.
The Monsters wrap up the regular season with a road matchup against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Saturday, April 19, at 6:05 p.m. at Mohegan Arena. Follow the games with full coverage on FOX Sports 1350 The Gambler, AHLTV on FloHockey and the Monsters Hockey Network.