CLEVELAND, O.H. (SYRACUSE CRUNCH) –
The Syracuse Crunch fell to the Cleveland Monsters, 4-2, tonight, Oct. 21, at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
The Crunch split the weekend pair with the Monsters and now sit at 3-1-0-0 on the season.
Crunch goaltender Evan Fitzpatrick turned aside 23-of-27 shots. Jet Greaves recorded the win stopping 31-of-33 shots in net for the Monsters. The Syracuse power play was held scoreless on five chances, while Cleveland went 1-for-4.
The Monsters jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead with back-to-back goals early in the game. They opened scoring when Nick Blankenburg fired in a wrister from the right circle while on the man-advantage at the 4:10 mark. Less than two minutes later, Hunter McKown grabbed the rebound from Trey Fix-Wolansky’s shot off the post, cut across the slot and backhanded the puck into the net.
Syracuse responded to make it a one-goal game 5:13 into the second period. Joe Carroll drove down the right side and sent the puck into the crease for Felix Robert to poke in. Halfway through the frame, Cleveland regained their two-goal lead. Fitzpatrick made the initial stop, but a rebound came out for Stefan Matteau to clean up.
The Crunch stole another one back eight minutes into the final frame. During a battle in the crease, the puck kicked out behind the netminder for Shawn Element to push across the goal line. Cleveland again stifled a comeback effort and added an insurance goal late in the game when Eric Robinson dug the puck out from along the end boards and centered it for Owen Sillinger to score.
The Crunch return home to host the Utica Comets on Friday, Oct. 27.
