CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Monsters defeated the Syracuse Crunch in front of 9,634 fans at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Thursday night. A goaltending and defensive showcase kept fans nervously awaiting the first (and only) goal, which didn’t come until midway through the third period.
Who stood out? What lessons were learned? Which question looms largest over the series? Keep reading to find out!
Three Stars: Cleveland Monsters vs Syracuse Crunch Game One
Three players stood above the rest in Game One of the AHL’s North Division Finals. It’s no surprise that my awardees, in no particular order, are Jet Greaves, Brandon Halverson, and Justin Pearson.
Jet Greaves
First professional playoff shutout. That’s it. That’s the reason Greaves is one of the game’s three stars.
In my series preview, I included a quote from Monsters head coach Trent Vogelhuber praising Greaves for his confidence and consistency. Greaves, once again, showed nothing but calmness, lightning-fast reactions, and stability in the net.
These are the qualities that made Greaves an All-Star goaltender this year. These are the qualities that make Greaves one of the top goaltending prospects in the AHL.
Brandon Halverson
Brandon Halverson is the Cinderella story of the AHL this season. On a strong Syracuse team, I wasn’t expecting him to be the single standout of the game.
While his defense helped keep his crease clear and cleared away several rebounds, Halverson was exposed to 24 shots across the game. All in all, he had a strong night against Cleveland’s talented forwards.
At no point did Halverson look rattled. He was the exact goaltender Syracuse needed last night, pitching a shutout up until 4:46 of the third period.
Justin Pearson
The only scorer in Game One was Justin Pearson. Through 76 career games in the AHL, all with Cleveland, Pearson has yet to score any goals on special teams. All of that changed in Game One of the North Division Finals.
Crunch defenseman Max Crozier tried to drop the puck to teammate Cole Koepke to start an exit out of their defensive zone. Though, the puck stalled on the choppy ice for the turnover. Pearson immediately picked it up and weaved through two Syracuse skaters. One shot later, Cleveland’s up 1-0.
Pearson has quite an affinity for special goals. He spoke about this to The Calder Times after their series against the Belleville Senators.
I’m so fortunate to be in the role I am… every goal is special, just knowing you’re doing it for the guy next to you. But yeah, some special goals and I’m just having a ton of fun with it.
Justin Pearson on his goals this season
First, it was his first professional goal, launching the teddy bears back in December. Then his first playoff goal iced the series against Belleville. Now Pearson’s first special teams goal was the only goal to take Game One in the divisional finals.
Two Takeaways From Cleveland Monsters vs Syracuse Crunch Game One
Owen Sillinger is a Legitimate Threat
Cleveland Monsters fans know that Owen Sillinger has been one of the most versatile players since joining the team late in the 2021-22 AHL season. In his 164 career games (including this postseason), he has tallied 27 goals and 61 assists.
This postseason, he’s popped to a new level. With two game-winning goals under his belt already, Sillinger was all over the ice on Thursday night. To start the game, he set the physical precedent with roommate Roman Ahcan.
In the second period, he led the way to help Cleveland get some of their first momentum of the game.
Breakaways, physical play- he does it all.
Syracuse needs to watch him as much as they are watching and limiting Trey Fix-Wolansky. Also, they need to keep an eye on James Malatesta, who is largely cut from the same cloth as Sillinger, only more potent. Malatesta made his postseason debut last night.
Scoring Will Only Come Down Low
Halverson and Greaves sent one clear message in Game One. They won’t give up easy goals. If you want to score, you’ll have to be in point-blank range. And that’s if you can get past their brick-wall defense.
Looking at the shot graphic for Game One, Cleveland seemed to figure this out quite early. Nine of the Monsters’ shots came from immediately around the crease. They had another four shots from the faceoff dots or below.
Syracuse’s shots were from a bit further out, with only three around the crease. Perhaps if they set up more for a tip in or force a rebound off Greaves, they might come by goals a bit easier in the series.
Cleveland Monsters vs Syracuse Crunch Game One: One Question
Who Will Drive the Pace?
Momentum was extremely difficult to come by in Game One of the Cleveland Monsters vs Syracuse Crunch. Each team did extremely well disrupting the other’s possession time. From Devante Stephens‘ breakaway being disrupted by Marcus Bjork to Declan Carlile‘s extremely physical play, defense took center stage.
Both the Monsters and Crunch locker rooms need to look within themselves to figure out who will push the pace. No one person can do it alone. It has to be a communal decision and drive to push all 60 minutes and beyond (if needed).
Whoever can do this will take the series.
What’s Next
The Syracuse Crunch and Cleveland Monsters return to the ice on Saturday afternoon in Cleveland, OH. Puck drop is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Eastern. After that, the series shifts to Syracuse, NY, on Wednesday and Friday.
