Columbus Blue Jackets forward Luca Del Bel Belluz (65) scores a goal and celebrates with defenseman Damon Severson (78) against the Toronto Maple Leafs during their game at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, ON. (Source: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images)The Cleveland Monsters beat the Syracuse Crunch 3-2 to take Game One of the Semifinal Series of the North Division in the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs.
The game was already won for Cleveland in the first period as not only did the Monsters limit the Crunch offense to three shots, but Cleveland put up a team shooting percentage of 50.0% - they scored three goals off six shots on Syracuse goalie Jon Gillies, enough for Gillies to be replaced by Brandon Halverson by the start of the second period.
To Syracuse's credit, they vastly outshot Cleveland in the latter two periods by 29-9 and eventually got two goals back.
But the damage from the first period was too much and Cleveland ended up with a well-earned win.
While Monsters goalie Zach Sawchenko did give up two goals in the last two periods, he wound making 29 saves off 31 shots overall, registering a save percentage of 0.935.