The Toronto Marlies secured a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals on Sunday with a stunning 3-2 win over the Cleveland Monsters in the deciding Game 5 of the teams’ North Division finals series.
Toronto pushed the North Division finals to the limit with a 5-2 win over Cleveland in Game 4 at Coca-Cola Coliseum on Friday night.
Cleveland rode another stifling defensive effort to a 4-0 victory at Toronto on Wednesday night, taking a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five North Division finals.
Cleveland took a 2-0 lead for the second game in a row, but this time the Monsters fought off a Toronto comeback to even their best-of-five North Division finals series with a 3-1 victory on Saturday night.
Toronto scored five unanswered goals en route to a 5-2 road victory over Cleveland in Game 1 of the teams’ North Division finals series at Rocket Arena on Thursday evening.
Rest is a funny thing this time of year. Too little rest, and even the best-conditioned teams will eventually begin to sputter and break down at the worst possible time. Too much recovery time, and the precision and crisp play needed for a long push through the Calder Cup Playoffs can fade quickly.
Zach Aston-Reese finished off a feed from Brendan Gaunce with 7:53 gone in the third overtime period on Sunday to give Cleveland a 2-1 win over Syracuse and a 3-1 series victory.
Hudson Fasching scored 10:05 into overtime to give Cleveland a pivotal 4-3 road win over Syracuse in Game 3 of their North Division semifinal series.
Looking to build on their Game 1 momentum, the Syracuse Crunch scored four times in the first period of Game 2 and defeated Cleveland, 4-1, to even the teams’ best-of-five North Division semifinal series.
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.
