For the third straight season, playoff hockey has come to Cleveland, with the AHL affiliate of the Blue Jackets battling for the Calder Cup.
The Monsters finished third in the AHL North Division and earned a first-round bye in the postseason before drawing second-place Syracuse in a best-of-five series in the division semifinals. Cleveland won Game 1 on Friday night to take a 1-0 lead.
Cleveland is no stranger to playoff hockey under head coach Trent Vogelhuber, winning a first-round series last year and advancing all the way to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final two seasons ago. The Monsters also captured the Calder Cup back in 2016.
READ MORE: Monsters kick off playoff run | CBJ Prospects page
Stay tuned for updates from Cleveland's postseason run.
AHL North Division Semifinal
Schedule
Game 1 (April 24): Cleveland 3, Syracuse 2
Game 2: Sunday, 4 p.m. in Cleveland
Game 3: Friday, May 1 at Syracuse
Game 4: Sunday, May 3 at Syracuse
Game 5: Saturday, May 9 at Syracuse
Recaps
Game 1: Cleveland 3, Syracuse 2
In the end, the best and worst thing that might have happened to the Monsters on Friday night was taking a 3-0 lead through the opening period of play.
Those three goals were enough for Cleveland to take a 1-0 series lead in front of 10,110 home fans in Rocket Arena, but it also made for a nervy finish as Syracuse pushed throughout the final two periods, outshooting the Monsters by a 28-9 margin in the final 40 minutes.
But the first-period goals from Justin Pearson, Will Butcher and Corson Ceulemans were enough as Cleveland began its postseason with a victory. Zach Sawchenko earned first star honors, as the goalie stopped 29 of 31 shots against and held the fort down the stretch.
The opening 20 minutes were all Monsters, as Pearson got the scoring started just 4:35 into the game. Crunch goalie Jon Gillies misplayed a puck behind the net and Hudson Fasching found the fourth-year Monster in front to put Cleveland ahead.
Then, the Monsters got a pair of goals just 3:54 apart to take a commanding lead. Butcher scored from the top of the left circle on the rush with 5:34 to go in the first to make it 2-0, then Luca Del Bel Belluz found Ceulemans open back door for the first-rounder to finish and make it 3-0.
Syracuse cut the lead to 3-1 when Cleveland-area native Dylan Duke scored on a breakaway early in the second, and Mitchell Chaffee's rebound goal 4:02 into the third made it 3-2. But Sawchenko stood tall the rest of the way and got some help from Ceulemans, who cleared a puck off the line midway through the third.
