Syracuse Crunch fall to Monsters, 5-4, in overtime

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse Crunch fell to the Cleveland Monsters, 5-4, in overtime tonight at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Gabriel Szturc led the Crunch with his first two AHL goals, while Dylan Duke contributed a goal and two assists and Derrick Pouliot tallied two helpers. The Crunch earned one point as they move to 8-7-3-3 on the season. Syracuse is now 0-1-1-0 in the four-game season series against the Monsters.
Matt Tomkins stopped 28-of-33 shots in net for the Crunch. Jet Greaves earned the win turning aside 16-of-20 shots between the pipes for the Monsters. The Syracuse power play was held scoreless on two opportunities, while Cleveland went 3-for-4.
The Crunch were first on the board with two goals just 1:14 apart late in the first period. Steven Santini opened scoring when Greaves made the save on Max Groshev’s shot, but the rebound came out into the right circle for the defenseman to send in. Just over a minute later, Duke tipped the puck past the netminder as he cut across the crease. The Monsters quickly responded and cut the lead in half with a power-play goal with just eight seconds remaining in the first period. Joseph LaBate was down low to tip in Stanislav Svozil’s long shot from the blue line.
Syracuse built up another two-goal lead 56 seconds into the second period when Niko Huuhtanen sent the puck towards the net for Szturc to score his first AHL goal during a scramble out front. Seven minutes later, Cleveland came back within one with another goal on the man-advantage. Tomkins made the initial save, but the puck dropped down for James Malatesta to chip in.
Szturc potted his second of the night halfway through the third period to put the Crunch back up by two. Duke got the puck behind the net and quickly centered it for Szturc to sweep in. Cleveland then rallied and tied the game with back-to-back goals from Luca Del Bel Belluz just 1:06 apart to force overtime. He snuck a shot in from the bottom of the right circle at the 17:49 mark while on the power play, then fired in a wrister from the left face off dot.
Corson Ceulemans scored the game-winner for the Monsters in the overtime frame.
The Crunch and Monsters close out the weekend series in Cleveland tomorrow.
Single game tickets and ticket packages for the 2024-25 season are on sale now and can be purchased in person at the Crunch office located inside the Upstate Medical University Arena at Onondaga County War Memorial at 800 S. State St. in Syracuse, by calling the office at 315-473-4444 or online through Ticketmaster. For the latest Crunch news, visit www.syracusecrunch.com or follow the club on Facebook (www.facebook.com/syracusecrunch), X (@SyracuseCrunch) and Instagram (@syracusecrunch).
Crunchables: Gabriel Szturc scored his first two AHL goals tonight…Derrick Pouliot has five points in his last three games (2g, 3a)…The Crunch have required overtime nine times this season.