The Cleveland Monsters broke through in the Eastern Conference Finals with a 3-2 win over the Hershey Bears in Game 4 on Thursday night.
The Bears still lead the series 3-1 and will have another chance to secure a trip to the Calder Cup Finals in Game 5 on Saturday in Cleveland.
Jake Gaudet’s goal in the third period was the game-winner, giving the Monsters their first victory against Hershey this season after eight previous attempts. This win also ended a seven-game losing streak to the Bears at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse dating back to 2019.
Josh Dunne and Roman Ahcan also contributed goals for Cleveland, while Jet Greaves made 33 saves, including 16 in the third period alone.
Ethen Frank scored for the seventh consecutive game, and Garrett Roe scored his fifth playoff goal after a regular season with seven goals in 48 games. Mike Vecchione assisted on two Bears goals.
Hunter Shepard made 28 saves in the loss for Hershey.
Attendance in Cleveland was 12,814, marking the Monsters’ fifth crowd of over 10,000 fans in six home games this postseason.
(Hershey leads series, 3-1)
Game 1 – Thu., May 30 – HERSHEY 5, Cleveland 4 (OT)
Game 2 – Sat., June 1 – HERSHEY 3, Cleveland 2 (OT)
Game 3 – Tue., June 4 – Hershey 6, CLEVELAND 2
Game 4 – Thu., June 6 – CLEVELAND 3, Hershey 2
Game 5 – Sat., June 8 – Hershey at Cleveland, 7:00
*Game 6 – Mon., June 10 – Cleveland at Hershey, 7:00
*Game 7 – Wed., June 12 – Cleveland at Hershey, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern
