Jet Greaves put up 33 saves in his return to Cleveland as James Malatesta potted two goals to lift the Monsters over the Belleville Senators.
The Cleveland Monsters continue terrorizing the North Division with a dominant 5-1 victory over the Belleville Senators in the only AHL game on Thursday.
Anchored by 22-year-old goaltender Jet Greaves, who stopped 33 of 34 shots in his first game back in Cleveland since a brief call-up to the NHL's Blue Jackets, the Monsters steamrolled the B-Sens in the first of two straight meetings between the clubs.
James Malatesta and Marcus Bjork broke open the scoreless game 80 seconds apart in the latter portion of the second period.
Cleveland would rattle off three straight goals in the third period, with Malatesta potting his second of the game, with tallies from Roman Ahcan and Corson Ceulemans before Garrett Pilon would bust the shutout bid for Greaves at 16:29 of the third period.
Cleveland pushed their record against North Division rivals to 7-3-1 on the season, moving to 2-0-1-0 against the Sens in '23-24 and 10-6-1-2 over the past five seasons.
Overall the Monsters sit atop the North with 31 points (15-7-1 record). The club holds a strong .821 winning percentage when scoring first, with an 11-1 record while leading after two periods.
Greaves, who moved his 2023-24 AHL record to 10-3-0-1 with a 2.92 GAA and .906 SP, was strong in a pair of starts for the Blue Jackets in December.
The Cambridge, Ontario native put up a rock-solid 41 saves opposite 42 shots in a 5-2 win against the Blues on December 8th, dropping a 5-2 loss to the Panthers two days later, stopping 31 of 34 shots.
The Monsters and Senators rematch tonight in Cleveland.