Cleveland scored three first-period goals and held on for a 3-2 win over Syracuse in Game 1 of their best-of-five North Division semifinal series on Friday night.
The series resumes Sunday in Cleveland (4 ET, 
) before shifting to Syracuse for the final three games.
Justin Pearson, Will Butcher and Corson Ceulemans scored as the Monsters converted on three of their six first-period shots against Crunch starter Jon Gillies, who was making his first Calder Cup Playoff appearance since 2017.
Dylan Duke and Mitchell Chaffee scored for Syracuse, but Zach Sawchenko made 16 of his 29 saves in the third period to nail down the win.
Brandon Halverson stopped all nine shots he faced in two periods of relief work for the Crunch, who finished the night with a 31-15 advantage in shots.
(Cleveland leads series, 1-0)
Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 24 – CLEVELAND 3, Syracuse 2
Game 2 – Sun., Apr. 26 – Syracuse at Cleveland, 4:00
Game 3 – Fri., May 1 – Cleveland at Syracuse, 7:00
*Game 4 – Sun., May 3 – Cleveland at Syracuse, 3:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 9 – Cleveland at Syracuse, 5:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern
